Jason King over at Rivals has a mailbag feature that’s usually entertaining because you get to hear how fans feel about the players/coaches at their own school. Sometimes it’s positive, sometimes negative, but there are fans from all over the country.
[URL=”http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/news;_ylt=AlAfIDEnbiDBVPi3zc418GvevbYF?slug=jn-king_mailbag_making_a_list_070911″]This morning’s mailbag[/URL] had two letters regarding John Calipari, and I’m glad King included both. The first was a comment by a UK fan from Owenton, KY who is not a Calipari fan:
[QUOTE]Jason, This is one Kentucky fan that would be happy if Calipari left yesterday. I have been a season-ticket holder since Rupp Arena opened in 1976. I think he is vastly overpaid. If you go back and look, Tubby Smith’s record at Kentucky for the first two years is almost identical to Calipari’s except that Tubby has a national championship banner hanging in Rupp Arena. John Calipari did not make Kentucky basketball, we had 1,980 something wins when he came to Lexington and will have many more after he leaves. Your article on July 2 stated that you wondered if fans would feel like Calipari was overpaid if he was at your school; well, I am a true blue fan that definitely thinks he is not worth the money.[/QUOTE]
I liked King’s response (although his math is a little off, the last Final Four appearance by Kentucky was 1998, which was 13 years ago):
[QUOTE]You’re right. Calipari didn’t “build” Kentucky basketball. But don’t forget, Kentucky basketball had also gone seven straight years without advancing past the first weekend of the NCAA tournament before his arrival. How were those times? Fun? And this season marked the first time in 16 years that Kentucky had appeared in the Final Four. My guess is that most Kentucky fans weren’t too happy with that, either.[/QUOTE]
The second letter was positive, but this one by a fan in Salt Lake City, UT:
[QUOTE]I enjoyed your article on Calipari and the other coaches. I agree with you that when Calipari is in your corner it changes how you feel. I am a life-long Kentucky fan and was queasy about Coach Cal until I started looking at exactly what he has done [or hasn’t done, to be fair]. Every action he has taken has been for the betterment of the kids he has dealt with. There is so much Kentucky hate out there. It amazes me. What exactly has Calipari done? At Massachusetts, Camby dealt with an agent. I seriously doubt John Calipari picked the guy out and introduced Marcus to him. At Memphis, the NCAA clearinghouse said Derrick Rose could play and so Calipari played him. Is that his fault? He comes off “slick,” there is no doubt about that, but he cares about basketball and the kids he mentors way more than any other coach I have watched at UK. Every single last kid he comes in contact with is better off because of that relationship. How are Derrick Rose and Marcus Camby and Eric Bledsoe doing in their chosen careers [it’s a rhetorical question]? The way I see it, the only thing Calipari is guilty of is taking on some questionable 17-18 year-old decision-makers and making their lives better. No, Calipari hasn’t won a championship, but to my eye that is more because he cares about what he feels the players’ needs are and less about his own self-promotion. If Calipari feels a kid is ready for the NBA, he doesn’t let his ego stand in the way of making that happen. One-and-done is the world we live in, not some fantasy made up in John Calipari’s mind to screw-over everybody out there that thinks all athletes are student-first that wear letter jackets and join the debate team. Just lay off Calipari people. Or at least look a little deeper at the situation.[/QUOTE]
I likewise appreciated King’s response:
[QUOTE]Calipari certainly isn’t perfect. But, contrary to some opinions, he’s not the anti-Christ, either.[/QUOTE]
