Mike DeCourcy of the Sporting News spent some time with Coach Cal recently. They shared some doughnuts and talked about Cal’s legacy and whats going on in Lexington.
Cal said [I][LEFT][COLOR=#000000][FONT=sans-serif]the pinnacle of our profession, of what I do, is right here.[/FONT][/COLOR][/LEFT]
[/I][LEFT][COLOR=#000000][FONT=sans-serif][I]When I go back to players, there’s no better place to present to young people than here. You’re under a microscope. Some of the stuff that goes on in other places cannot go on here. Just, you can’t. Players can’t hide here on the basketball court. There’s no rock, there’s no crack big enough. You’ve got to be able to play.[/I]
[I]The fan base is what you dream about in coaching—until you’re here. And then you almost have to laugh about it, or it’ll overwhelm you. You’ve got to take them for what they are, which are passionate basketball fans who watch the tape three times.[/I]
[I]You deal with all that. But, there’s no better place for me to help young people reach their dreams.[/I]
Cal and Decourcy touched on alot of gems, I will include the link so you can read the entire article, but I wanted to include this quote by Coach Cal on the future of the NCAA.
[I]They’re not going to be around long. The NCAA will not. Before I retire from coaching, they will no longer oversee college athletics. They will, but it won’t be the four power conferences—they’ll be on their own. And the main thing is, do you really care about these kids? They’ll get mad that I say it. The NCAA Tournament, for example. It’s more about the selection committee getting on TV, everybody getting their tickets on the aisle, down low, all the parties they go to, the traveling. But we don’t take the parents of the participants. But they take their kids and their families.[/I]
[I]The officials will get better hotels than some of their teams. And I know it for a fact. The decisions they make on the $2,000 (expense allowance for student-athletes)—it should have been $4,000. It’s a stipend. It’s not salary. It’s not “pay-for-play.” It’s a stipend. It’s expenses. And then schools vote against it. All this stuff piles up to where people are going to say, “Enough’s enough.”[/I]
[URL=”http://aol.sportingnews.com/ncaa-basketball/story/2012-03-05/kentucky-coach-john-calipari-ive-got-maybe-the-best-job-in-basketball?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter”]Source[/URL]
[/FONT][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000][FONT=sans-serif]Ring the alarm, shots fired by Coach Cal.[/FONT][/COLOR][/LEFT]
