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John Calipari has long been known as a great recruiter
He has sold Derrick Rose and Tyreke Evans on Memphis.
He has landed the top 3 recruiting classes in the nation since he has been at Kentucky.
Yes, the guy can definitely recruit…but guess what??
He can coach too.
[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
John Calipari has moved that country’s national team, known for it’s baseball, into the semifinals of FiBA Americas tournament for the first time in history.
Yep, EVER….
Coming off a Final 4 run that was probably his best coaching effort to date, has led a team of Louisville alums, Al Horford, Charlie Villianueva, and a bunch of guys that don’t speak english to a couple of games away from making the Olympics.
That in itself is close to amazing…keep in mind he is also caressing another nation while improving another.
Coach Cal is all the way in South American, Argentina to be exact, and he still has the Big Blue Nation on his mind.
Just by reading some of his tweets the past couple of days, aside from Papa John’s and Orange Leaf of course, you know how important it is to Calipari to let UK fans know he is still serving the nation he loves most.
[URL=”http://hootsuite.com/dashboard#”][I]UKCoachCalipari[/I][/URL][URL=”http://twitter.com/UKCoachCalipari/status/108613244993802240″][I] Aug 30, 2:53pm via Twitter for iPhone [/I][/URL]
[I]After the game I was asked if I was feeling the pressure of trying to qualify the DR for the Olympics.[/I]
[URL=”http://hootsuite.com/dashboard#”][I]UKCoachCalipari[/I][/URL][URL=”http://twitter.com/UKCoachCalipari/status/108614623686705153″][I] Aug 30, 2:58pm via Twitter for iPhone [/I][/URL]
[I]I said, You don’t understand, Kentucky is like a country. There is only one thing UK fans want to do and that’s win national titles.[/I]
He has also made sure that the BBN knows he is still staying on top of his players.
[URL=”http://hootsuite.com/dashboard#”][/URL][URL=”http://hootsuite.com/dashboard#”][I]UKCoachCalipari[/I][/URL][URL=”http://twitter.com/UKCoachCalipari/status/107168255805882368″][I] Aug 26, 3:11pm via TweetDeck [/I][/URL][I]I talked with my UK players over the phone yesterday as a team. I plan on doing a teleconference with them once a week until I return.[/I]
[URL=”http://hootsuite.com/dashboard#”][I]UKCoachCalipari[/I][/URL][URL=”http://twitter.com/UKCoachCalipari/status/107168752256299008″][I] Aug 26, 3:13pm via TweetDeck [/I][/URL]
[I]I addressed my expectations of them in the classroom and in individual workouts. From what I’m hearing this team is already really close.[/I]
I know there are fans out there think Cal shouldn’t be doing this, that he should be directing his total attention to the University of Kentucky.
I for one think this is a public relations plus for the University and if John Calipari can keep the ball rolling and make the Olympics with a team that has never even made it to the semifinals of the qualifying tournament, then how could that hurt??
[B]Do you think Cal is doing enough to ease the fan base while coaching the Dominican?[/B]
[B]Are you worried the 2012 recruiting class will suffer because of Cal’s other job?[/B]
