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Posted by Tiptree (Member # 844) on 02-18-2021, 09:42 PM:
 
I have seen a lot of calls for Cal to be fired as our coach. Let me get a grip on this idea.
 
Posted by Tiptree (Member # 844) on 02-18-2021, 09:44 PM:
 
And, for those of you who want him fired, please post your ideas as to who would be better. Include in your reply how likely it is that we could actually hire that person.
 
Posted by MEL (Member # 141) on 02-18-2021, 11:14 PM:
 
Tip... I am suggesting that you hire "K" !!! [Big Grin]
I am sure Norm would back this idea !!!

MEL

[ 02-18-2021, 11:14 PM: Message edited by: MEL ]
 
Posted by m hamilton (Member # 127) on 02-19-2021, 04:50 AM:
 
We like K right where he is, being a thorn in your side Mel!
 
Posted by PaulCat (Member # 513) on 02-19-2021, 07:58 AM:
 
Tip, I wonder about your wording in the poll. It seems to me that you're strictly talking about this season only. I wish these were additional options:

Cal is not gonna be here forever. At some point he will be replaced. Why not now? I believe it was Frank Maguire who said something like "at Kentucky, they had it before you and they'll have it long after you're gone." Trust me, UK will survive even when Can is no longer walking the sidelines and obnoxiously yelling "FOUL! FOUL!" after his players miss stupid shot after stupid shot.
If Cal could put the University first and just quit recruiting for the NBA then I would welcome him forever. But I don't think he will ever do that, and honestly I think he would be just an average coach if he didn't have a sure-fire NBA talent to carry his teams.
 
Posted by Tiptree (Member # 844) on 02-19-2021, 11:30 AM:
 
PaulCat, you are free to make your own poll.
 
Posted by Bama Cat (Member # 153) on 02-19-2021, 12:22 PM:
 
It's a foregone conclusion that probably 90% or more of the BBN would like to see more national championships. And we deserve more than he has brought us. I guess you could say he has made some of the players lives but he is ruining our outlook on UK basketball. He even brings a few of the lesser players up to where they can also play pro ball, even if it is G league or overseas. But my opinion is he is on a downward slope for the past 5 years. We are now seeing some of the lesser players make a NBA team but they are not lasting more than 1 or 2 seasons before they go overseas. I feel he is not really getting the best players for the last 3 years or so while K was getting 2 or 3 of them every year. Now K has hit the skids also. I believe Roy, K and Cal are all past their prime and won't be coaching much longer.

[ 02-19-2021, 12:24 PM: Message edited by: Bama Cat ]
 
Posted by ukman (Member # 3032) on 02-20-2021, 11:19 AM:
 
My vote would be he deserves another year, but if there is not improvement, or we slide more, then get rid of him. My fear is we hold onto him until he is ready to go, and he takes us down several notches. As far as replacements I think Nate Oats would be a good possibility, Mark Pope as mentioned in another post. Jay Wright(1st choice)- proven winner, and knows how to build TEAMS and players. Kenny Payne- great recruiter, great with the players. I'd have to really think bout to get more names, but those are just a few off the top of my head.
 
Posted by PaulCat (Member # 513) on 02-20-2021, 11:37 AM:
 
I like Nate Oats as well.

I now talk is cheap, but didn't Wright say he didn't want the UK job when they hired either Gillispie or Cal (can't remember which time it was)?
 
Posted by ukman (Member # 3032) on 02-20-2021, 11:46 AM:
 
He may have said that. It takes a certain guy to be able to want all the pressure that comes with the UK job. But you also get alot of benefits as well. He is certainly someone I would ask again. Another guy might be Butch Beard at TT.
 
Posted by Tiptree (Member # 844) on 02-20-2021, 12:34 PM:
 
Keep in mind the MASSIVE buy-out it takes to fire Cal. With limited ticket revenues and even lower TV revenue, I don't think UK Athletics can afford to fire Cal.
 
Posted by PaulCat (Member # 513) on 02-20-2021, 12:42 PM:
 
Hopefully Mitch wasn't stupid enough to not have an "out" in that contract.

Would Cal ever bow to the pressure and just leave like Tubby did?
 
Posted by PaulCat (Member # 513) on 02-28-2021, 12:31 AM:
 
It's now more than likely that we'll end this season with a losing record. That is unacceptable.

And we'll probably lose three freshman to the NBA draft. That's just unbelievable.

[ 02-28-2021, 12:35 AM: Message edited by: PaulCat ]
 
Posted by SCWC (Member # 2464) on 02-28-2021, 08:12 AM:
 
Cal has a lifetime contract with UK, approved bu none other than the great Mitch Barnhart. Cal will be at UK as long as he wants to be, Unfortunately. His last really good team was the 2015 team that should have won a national championship with an undefeated season. That was when I gave up on Cal as a coach. He had the two best teams in the NCAA on that team and could not bring home number 9. It has been down hill since that team. The following year he lost in the first round of the NIT to some nobody team from Pa.
 
Posted by Bama Cat (Member # 153) on 02-28-2021, 10:20 AM:
 
stay
 
Posted by ALA_KAT2 (Member # 1559) on 02-28-2021, 06:55 PM:
 
He needs to go, but with his contract, UK can’t afford to fire him. Even without the massive buyout, I don’t think Cal would be terminated. He’d be given a couple years to get back on track.
Having said that, personally I’ve been ready for him to go for several years, primarily because he values putting kids in the NBA ahead of developing continuity on UK’s college team. He’s hi-jacked our program and turned it into an NBA development team. He’s arrogant to the point that he appears to take no advice from his assistants, just screams and yells constantly at the players while they’re trying to run plays in the game. He has very little game management skills and has admitted to not watching film on opponents before critical games. Therefore, I suspect that his game preparation suffers also. I could go on but I’m tired of one-finger typing on my iIPhone. II hope he gets tired of all the criticism and moves on. The sooner the better.
I’d replace him with Nate Oates, Billy Donovan, Scott Drew, or any number of up and coming coaches.
 
Posted by catmandoo (Member # 1284) on 02-28-2021, 07:46 PM:
 
Cal wiii be back if he wants but if the Big Blue Nation turns on him I would bet he would leave on his own accord.. I for one thinks he deserves to stay and coach the Cats as his record says it all.

1930-72 Adolph Rupp* 876-190 .822
1972-85 Joe B. Hall 297-100 .748
1985-89 Eddie Sutton* 88–39 .693
1989-97 Rick Pitino* 219-50 .814
1997-2007 Tubby Smith 263–83 .760
2007-2009 Billy Gillispie 40-27 .597
2009–Present John Calipari* 305-71 .811
 
Posted by PaulCat (Member # 513) on 03-01-2021, 07:46 AM:
 
Don't let that .811 winning percentage fool you. Cal is famous for padding the pre-conference schedule with a ton of cupcakes so that his freshman can gain some confidence. Look what happened this year when Cal finally scheduled some worthy opponents. We started 1-6.

Ever notice how we don't play in the Maui Invitational or the big pre-season tourney in Alaska anymore? We play one big game in the Champions Classis with Duke, Kansas and Michigan State and that's about it. I miss that we don't play in the Maui event, but we'd most likely get smoked because our team wouldn't be ready at that point in the season.
 
Posted by Tiptree (Member # 844) on 03-01-2021, 12:25 PM:
 
All of our coaches padded the schedule with plenty of cupcakes and 'easy' tournaments. Who doesn't? Cal's big change was moving some of the home-and-home series with meaty opponents to neutral sites, which is good for the team's tournament preparation, but bad for fans. He also seeks out opportunities for new contracts for neutral site games, like the ones he played in Madison Square Garden.

This was my earliest complaint about Cal -- he short-changed season-ticket holders for the benefit of his team. Now, I am more OK with that than his "NBA Prep School" approach, but it just indicates that he takes the fans' support pretty much for granted.
 
Posted by catmandoo (Member # 1284) on 03-01-2021, 03:43 PM:
 
Duke had Coppin State and Bellarmine on their schedule this year.
 
Posted by SCWC (Member # 2464) on 03-01-2021, 04:02 PM:
 
Rupp did not pad the early season with cupcakes like Cal does. The SEC was a weak conference during the Rupp era and to get his teams experience against better teams, he scheduled better teams than any coach ever at UK for the pre conference schedule. With the schedule Cal has, UK is normally guaranteed ato win 10 or 11 games before they play any team of quality. Cal is much more interested in getting players to the NBA than he is getting national championships for UK. He would never have won the one he did had he not inherited a Ky kid who stayed four years by the name of Darius Miller.

The mere fact that Rupp arena has not been sold out or the students have not taken their allotment of seats over the past few years tells you more about the spiral of Ky bgaketball than anything.

[ 03-01-2021, 04:04 PM: Message edited by: SCWC ]
 
Posted by m hamilton (Member # 127) on 03-01-2021, 06:10 PM:
 
I'll have to take your word for it, SCWC as, even at my age, I was only 7 years old whenever Joe Hall took over the helm of the KY Wildcats!
 
Posted by m hamilton (Member # 127) on 03-01-2021, 06:12 PM:
 
I disagree with Cal playing 10-11 games before playing a game of quality as we've played in the Champions classic for the last several year, many times we haven't even played a game before we face a perennial top 15 team in the country! Most times we open the season with this game!
 
Posted by SCWC (Member # 2464) on 03-01-2021, 07:31 PM:
 
You are right, the Champions classis does give us a good opponent but look at the schedule Cal puts together every year, other than that all games are played in Rupp against extremely weak opponents. He is normally assured of 10 teo 11 wins before going into conference play. Louisville is normally a decent opponent too.
 
Posted by Bama Cat (Member # 153) on 03-01-2021, 10:39 PM:
 
I just looked at my stack of schedules I've kept since way back in tubby's time. The final year of Tubby Ball We played 10 easy games which we won all of them. We also went to Maui that year and lost both games to UCLA and Depaul but we also lost to UNC. Looks like Cal just continued what Tubby was doing to me.

[ 03-01-2021, 10:40 PM: Message edited by: Bama Cat ]
 
Posted by PaulCat (Member # 513) on 03-01-2021, 11:44 PM:
 
Bama Cat, in Tubby's final year we played two ranked teams in the Maui Invitation as well as UNC, Indiana and Louisville pre-conference. His second-to-last year we played two ranked teams in the Guardians Classic as well as UNC, Indiana, Louisville and at Kansas. I wonder if you were looking at Billy Gillispie's final year. That was cupcake city!
 
Posted by Bama Cat (Member # 153) on 03-02-2021, 11:45 AM:
 
No I pulled out the actual schedules which also showed the won lost of each game. Here was that result:

Miami(OH) W
Miss Valley St W
DePaul W
UCLA L
Memphis L
Charleston W
UNC L
Chattanooga W
Indiana W
Louisville W
Santa Clara W
UMass W
EKU W
Houston W

We were 11-3 preseason and 25-9 overall

We went 12-4 in the SEC
We won 1 and lost 1 in the SEC tourney
We won 1 and lost 1 in the NCAA Tourney

Not too bad for a coach who was being given the boot. Compared to this season.

[ 03-02-2021, 11:47 AM: Message edited by: Bama Cat ]
 
Posted by catmandoo (Member # 1284) on 03-02-2021, 12:26 PM:
 
We have had 4 coachs that have coached the Cats 10 years or more, here they are and their records.

1.Adolph Rupp 875-190 82.2% wins
2.John Calipari 338-91 78.9% wins
3.Tubby Smith 263-83 76% wins
4.Joe Hall 297-100 74.8% wins
 


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