Thread: Jon Rothstein goes 'One 2 One' with Coach Cal

Jon Rothstein, of CBS Sports, sat down recently with John Calipari for a half hour interview special. They touched on things like what it’s like to be in Lexington, which Cal called “a basketball junkie’s paradise” because there is no offseason. He said its “season, recruiting season, preseason, then season again.”

Cal said the biggest thing he’s learned since he got to UK was the extent of the fans’ passion.

The next topic they turned to was the possibility of winning a title with a team of one and dones. Rothstein asked Cal at what point he knew he could do it. Cal deferred somewhat, but said that he didn’t yet know that.

Cal’s success was tied (and will perhaps always be) to his recruiting ability. Rothstein asked Coach Cal what he gets more satisfaction from, chasing a recruit down or getting his signature. Cal responded that he loved seeing a young man develop.

When asked how he develops a relationship with guys he only coaches for one year, Cal spoke about how he deals with them on a personal level and the way he recruits “I don’t beg them…I keep it real.”

Cal spoke about how he develops loyal relationships with the young men and offered each of the 5 players who left early for the draft last season, who still maintained their classes after they knew they were leaving so not to hurt UK’s APR, as proof.

Cal said as a coach you have to build trust and loyalty, but you also have to build skills and a brotherhood and confidence. He said he builds the tools for them to develop their own confidence, so they don’t depend on him or anything else for it.

In the last segment, Rothstein mentioned Cal’s quote about last year’s NBA draft being the greatest day in the history of UK basketball. He said its about the players, that if UK wins a title and no one is drafted he will be disappointed.

Cal spoke about how his family has gone from his parents who couldn’t speak English, to his daughter who is going to be a Doctor. He said if he takes care of the players who play for him and keeps their development as his focus, they will take care of ‘that’…that being a National Title.

Many things are said about Coach Cal…he’s a politician, he just knows the right things to say. But it goes much deeper than the surface level turn of phrase, Coach Calipari has done what he asks every player who comes to Lexington to do, he has bought in to the spirit of every word he says.

The last question Rothstein asked Cal was, if his story becomes a movie one day, who will play him. To which Cal replied, “Someone with a big nose!”

Thanks for the update on the interview tonight.





Go Cats'