Kentucky Coach Job Open

[DCurrent]

Any College Ball fans out there?

Being from Kentucky, we eat, sleep, breathe, crap, and bleed basketball... and it's no secret Calipari wore out his welcome a while back. Now it looks like he's off to Arkansas. So who takes the big chair? Coaching at Kentucky is both the very best, and the very worst job in high level basketball. You get treated like a god - and you make millions. Then you make millions more in endorsements. You even make millions if you get fired (Calipari had a 30mil buyout in his contract). But... you have to feed the monster. We don't accept compromise. We won't tollerate "good". We are the winningest team in college history (in both % and absolutes) and you better make sure we stay that way. Every year has to be a potential banner hanger or you are public enemy #1.

Who do you think will step up to the challenge?

The impact of Coach Cal's move from Kentucky to Arkansas

John Calipari is headed across the SEC. As his 15-season career in Lexington ends, what does the move mean for both schools?

www.espn.com

Four Big Names Who Could Replace John Calipari at Kentucky

Some big names have emerged who could step into the role of Kentucky head coach after John Calipari leaves the program for Arkansas.

www.newsweek.com

https://twitter.com/x/status/1777447754941505739

 

[Whackadoo]

I had no idea the Wildcats were so big in the US.

I've never followed Basketball much, until the Frenchie Victor Wembanyama joined the Spurs last year.
That’s when I started watching a bit of ball game. In our countries, when Wembanyama joined the NBA the hype was surreal.
I acknowledge the talent of Wembanyama but find him quite slow. I don't know if he'll ever adjust to the speed of the NBA.

Thanks to your post I'll follow the progress of the Wildcats more carefully.

 

[DCurrent]

I had no idea the Wildcats were so big in the US.

Immense. I just posted a few links, but any time there's a shake up at Kentucky it's front page news on every sports outlet across the country. Even overshadowed the season championship game (which was last night between UConn and Purdue). We can (and have) poached coaches from the pro ranks, and the school itself is considered a factory for pro players. In fairness, there are a few other schools that can do that too, but by and large the Kentucky head coach position is considered the royal throne of basketball - with all the good (and bad) that implies. Mess it up, and you're off to the guillotine. So not everyone wants the job.

My office is right next to the players lodge, and every year people camp out in cities of tents that cover the entire campus for about two weeks before the ticket lottery. Not for a game. Not even for tickets to a game. For the possible chance to buy a ticket to watch the first season's opening practice session!

Mind you, I'm not one of those lunatics, I just follow the results.

DC

 

[DCurrent]

And we have our new coach. Mark Pope from the 1996 NCAA championship team is coming home.

@Whackadoo, here's one little example of how big UK basketball is here. Over 5,000 people had to be turned away from the press conference, after Rupp Arena was filled to capacity (it seats ~21,000 - the largest dedicated college basketball arena in the country). Not even a game... just the press conference from hiring a coach.

Just watch the first couple of minutes and see what they do to bring him in the building.

 

[Whackadoo]

Never seen a crowd this extatic during a press conference. Feels surreal.

Sounds like this Mark Pope left his stamp on the college. I can't imagine the pressure.

But hey, it probably feels like being Zeus on Mount Olympus.

The Pope Has Arrived (yoursportsedge)

note: and seriously how many people did they cram into that tour bus?

 

[DCurrent]

Never seen a crowd this extatic during a press conference. Feels surreal.

Sounds like this Mark Pope left his stamp on the college. I can't imagine the pressure.

But hey, it probably feels like being Zeus on Mount Olympus.

The Pope Has Arrived (yoursportsedge)

note: and seriously how many people did they cram into that tour bus?

He was captain of the National Chamption 1996 team, nicknamed "The Untouchables", because that's what they were. 34 wins, 2 losses for the season. I was pretty young, but I remember pundits joking they should have been ranked 1 and 2, because the starting lineup was the best in the country... but the bench was the second best in the country!

1995–96 Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball team - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Pitino was a super aggressive coach anyway (still kind of is), and was huge into cardio, but having such incredible depth made it even worse on other teams. We really didn't even have a true starting lineup. He just kept the whole dang roster on constant rotation, going balls to the wall full throttle every minute of every game. Constant, in your face, full court press. Raining threes and ally oops. 20-30 point blowouts were pretty much perfunctory most of the season. Mid major teams sometimes couldn't even get the ball inbounded, never mind accross half-court.

One really brutal game I recall watching was against TCU. Final score, 124-80. You almost (almost, lol) felt sorry for them.

DC

 

[DCurrent]

note: and seriously how many people did they cram into that tour bus?

I was thinking that too, lol. Quite a few of them were former players that showed up. But I was like... They're still coming... OK, still coming... What, did they stick a few in the luggage racks?

DC