“Those kids are the reason why I’m here.”
The words came this morning from an emotionally exhausted, John Calipari. He said goodbye to the Derrick Roses, Tyrek Evanses and Robert Doziers. After spending a whirlwind, four days negotiating an eight-year, $31.65 million dollar deal, he officially took over Kentucky’s program late, Tuesday evening.
The new Wildcats, head coach landed one of college basketball’s most sought-after jobs. Prior to leaving Memphis, he also landed one of the top recruiting classes in the last decade. He received verbal comments from the #1 and #4 ranked high school seniors in America. With this power move, would those recruits continue to be the new, Memphis Tigers, find other schools or follow Calipari to the Bluegrass State?
With Calipari’s hiring, life in the Southeastern Conference (SEC) just got real interesting. Kentucky suffered two, consecutive “down” years. They finished 40-27 under former Texas A&M coach, Billy Gillespie. After losing in the NIT quarterfinals, the school hustled him out the door, like rotten garbage. ESPN cameras captured the embarrassing display early, Monday morning.
Calipari left Memphis for Kentucky. His former AD (athletic director) allegedly promised to match the Wildcats’ offer. But, he couldn’t match the level of competition in the SEC. He couldn’t match the respect and opportunities at a national championship Calipari wanted. The Tigers dominated their Conference USA. But, sports pundits accused the league of being “junior varsity” in college basketball’s realm.
Kentucky’s boosters came through in landing the sport’s “big fish”. Academy-winning actress, Ashley Judd obviously played some type of role in drawing Calipari to Big Blue. But with a $2.5 million, signing bonus, the gamble has to pay off with a Sweet Sixteen berth or better in two years. All that money and no NCAA championship won’t be considered sound investments; especially in these economic times.
