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John Calipari: Sticking with Kentucky for Life?

By Daniel Tran

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John Calipari reaffirmed his commitment to the Kentucky Wildcats. Is it a business ploy or is he truly riding it out at the college level for good?

It is rare to find a college basketball coach that has spent time in the NBA rushing back to compete at the professional level. It’s almost has if once they got a taste of what they thought was going to be the sweetness of the highest level of competition, all they got was the bitter taste of diva-like stars and a business side of the NBA they were in no way prepared to deal with.

It looks like those factors contributed to the NBA failing once again to lure John Calipari back to the professional level. After much speculation about the opening with the New Orleans Pelicans, the Kentucky Wildcats head coach will be staying put at Lexington for at least the time being.

On paper, the job with the Pelicans is absolutely perfect for Calipari. Not only will he take possession of a team that reached the NBA playoffs in a tough western conference, he would also be reunited with two of his former players, Anthony Davis and Tyreke Evans. But even the perfect situation was not enough to lure Calipari away from the castle he has built for himself in Kentucky.

So if taking over a team that is up and coming with players he is familiar with not tempting enough for him to leave Kentucky, what is? Are college basketball fans seeing the latest coach to return from the NBA ranks and become a converted lifer at the Division I basketball level?

Short of taking over a championship team with five all-stars on the roster, things won’t get much better than what John Calipari has at Kentucky. After all, we are talking about one of the great traditional powerhouses of college basketball with fans that rapidly support their team no matter how dire the situation.

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Not only can Calipari spin and sell multiple top recruits year in and year out, he has the freedom to be himself and be as big a star as any player he can bring into the Kentucky basketball program. These are the kinds of luxuries he was not afforded at the professional level according the Chris Broussard of ESPN.

While he was coaching the New Jersey Nets, Calipari was also the executive vice president of basketball operations, having total control of the basketball side of the team, much like he does currently at Kentucky. Coming off a Final Four appearance with UMass, Calipari was supposed to be the savior of the Meadowlands. His early coronation quickly turned into deterioration.

An NBA organization has so many moving parts that it only takes a little wrench in even the most insignificant cog to thrown the whole machine into chaos. His youth worked against him when he tried his hand at the business side of the Nets what to do, alienating him from members of the organization.

Then there was the incident where he called Newark Star-Ledger reporter Dan Garcia a “Mexican idiot,” prompting a $25,000 dollar fine from David Stern, the highest fine ever assessed to a head coach up until that point. If there were any place where a little media savvy is required, it would be one of the largest media markets in the world in New York.

Even after clinching a playoff berth in his second year, Calipari was unable to gain enough support within the organization to save his job after injuries to his key players derailed his third season, going 3-15 in the first 18 games. His exhausting schemes and tough practices wore thin on some of his players who were trying to survive an 82-game season and not risk injury during a hard practice. The New Jersey Nets would fire Calipari after starting the season 3-17.

Though his time at the New Jersey Nets is defined by his inability to compromise, it is that very trait that makes him so successful at Kentucky. When it comes to decision making on players, Calipari does not have to settle on one or two players from a draft pool – he has an entire country to pick from.

In terms of player personnel, Calipari is like a kid in a candy shop with a handful of $20 bills and an empty stomach, going hand over fist for five-star recruits that are young and hungry to impress, willing to be instructed by a Final Four regular and national championship winning coach. Try telling Calipari that that is not a huge improvement over the spoiled millionaires that were more interested in paychecks than winning that he was dealing with in the NBA.

Players are glad to run through a wall for him because it is a means to a dream ending that is so close for these recruits. Sure, that does not mean he is free of kids bellyaching about it, but at least he can sell them on why he is doing it instead of playing workplace politics with players that feel like they already made it to the top.

In terms of time that he has to secure an NBA job, John Calipari is currently 56 years old – not a geezer by any stretch of the imagination, but there is only so much left for him to still have the motivation and competitive fire to move on and readjust to coaching an NBA team. Realistically speaking, Calipari has about a four-year window where he is still thought of as highly in demand before NBA teams start cooling on him because of his age.

After that time passes, how many seasons can you truthfully assess Calpari’s expected effectiveness if you are a NBA organization? At that point, Calipari might be better served staying put and not risking his legacy as a coach by making a late, ill-advised jump to the professional ranks.

Certainly, there is always a chance that situations might change, like an change in athletic directors or a controversy that forces him to leave prematurely (hello, Pete Carroll), but for now at least, John Calipari looks like he is at Kentucky for the long haul. And for a man that most likely still has the bitter taste of the politics of the professional level still dancing on his tongue, the sweet joy of coaching at one of the best universities while drawing the best talent in the country is fine with him.

Next: Pac-12 Year in Review: ASU Sun Devils

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