Saturday, Feb. 1, Coach John Calipari will return to his former home where he spent 15 years. Coach Cal now coaches for the Arkansas Razorbacks who play the Kentucky Wildcats on Saturday at 9:00 p.m at Rupp Arena.
With Coach Calipari returning for the first time since leaving the Cats, fans have mixed emotions. Some may celebrate his former accomplishments or express their frustration that they have with him. In my opinion, it is important to look at what he did for the program and what he didn’t do.
Success:
Coach Cal accepted the coaching job in 2009, which was a dark time for Kentucky basketball. The Cats won a championship in 1998, but from 1999-2010 Kentucky went without a Final Four, which is not common for the Wildcats. When Cal was hired, he saw immediate success leading the 2010 team to an elite eight. This led to Cal being well liked by the fans and it only went up from there. The next four out of five years, Calipari led the wildcats to four Final Fours in five years (2011, 2012, 2014, 2015), winning a national championship during the 2012 year. Cal put the Cats back on the map.
His teams constant success led to an extremely high number of NBA draft picks. During Calipari’s coaching career, he helped 50 players get drafted professionally. Calipari is second all time in wins at Kentucky with 410. There is no doubt that Coach Calipari made a huge impact on not just Kentucky, but on college basketball as a whole.
Downfall:
While Calipari saw immediate success at Kentucky, it did not last. In 2015, Calipari’s Wildcats were (38-0) entering the Final Four. This team held nine NBA players, along with #1 overall pick and Naismith award winner (Best player in college basketball). This team dominated all year long but fell short in the 2015 Final Four to Wisconsin. This led to the downfall of Coach Calipari. How could a team so good lose to Wisconsin? Nevertheless, the fans of Big Blue Nation kept experiencing heartbreak.
The years following, which was the 2015-2016 season, the Wildcats lost in the the second round to Indiana.
In 2016-2017, the Wildcats lost to UNC on a last second shot in the Elite Eight.
The 2017-2018 team lost to Kansas State in the Sweet Sixteen.
At this point, Cal had blown some big games. But then he started to lose some that did not make any sense. He started to not produce in the tournament at all with the 2018-2019 team losing in the second round. Following a canceled covid year. Calipari’s 2020-2021 did not even make the NCAA Tournament. Calipari’s horrific run kept getting worse and worse.
In 2021-2022, the Wildcats lost in the first round to Saint Peter’s.
In 2022-2023, the Wildcats lost in the second round to Kansas State. (These two teams also had a Naismith Award Winner: Oscar Tshiebwe). These two losses early in the tournament began the fans to really start questioning Calipari’s decision making and coaching.
Finally, in 2023-2024, the Wildcats lost in the first round to Oakland.
This was the final straw with the fanbase. The fans were split with some wanting him to go and some wanting to stay; however, Coach Calipari decided to leave the program and join conference contender Arkansas.
Now the Wildcats are coached by Mark Pope, who used to play for Kentucky. He knows what it means to be a champion, winning one in 1996 for the Wildcats. Pope said when he was hired, “I understand the assignment, we are here to win banners.”
But this game isn’t as much about Pope as it is about the polarizing return of the Cats’ once beloved coach.
So the question is… do you boo Coach Calipari? Or do you celebrate him?