by Zach Rosen
@UKCoachCalipari:I’ve said many times that I’ve got the best job in the country. Still the speculation runs wild and I can’t stop that…
@UKCoachCalipari:I want to address this with the Big Blue Nation one last time, I will be coaching at Kentucky next year. Now let’s finish what we started!@UKCoachCalipari:Now, do I have to respond to these rumors too?
Why can’t a guy get a little love? An indisputable comment made like that has to be enough to make the most jaded fan have a little peace of mind. So why do Wildcat fans across the bluegrass still have a bead of sweat forming on their brow? Because one year ago this month he said this:
“I love Memphis, I want to stay here”
” Memphis is where I want to coach. . . and there are people that will come at me”
Those, among other comments made publicly, were a shaky reassurance to Memphis fans that their coach, a charismatic uber-recruiter that had coached their team to national prominence and a comfortable seat in the rankings. Less than two weeks after making that comment, Calipari was a lock to head for the bluer pastures of Kentucky and the perfect storm of basketball was set in motion.
The best coach in the land combined with a basketball obsessed fanbase well in the millions created a monster that has still yet to be realized at its full potential. So what’s a guy gotta do to convince people he’s staying? The short answer is, nothing. The long answer is that you have to back it up. The only thing that will give people assurance is staying around and denying all the rumors. Tom Izzo has coached Michigan State since 1995 and even with that stretch of consistency, his name was still mentioned in the last UK coaching search.
Rumors will always be floating, anybody with a keyboard and an imagination can start one. After a coach makes a statement like the one’s Cal has made, you are supposed to be able to breath out a sigh of relief and move on. But remember a few years ago when Rich Rodriguez left for a coaching job at Michigan after not only repeatedly saying he was staying, but signing a new contract as well. Trust is a finite commodity, and if you throw that kind of currency on a fire, the smoke signals from that will float far higher than any smoke you make from your credentials. Let’s hope that Calipari’s currency is avoiding inflation and the re-tooled administration keeps him happy.
But let’s be honest, Calipari couldn’t ask for much more here or anywhere. And to be honest, he is responding to these rumors directly now, which is a first for him in recent years. Maybe he has learned a lesson or two dealing with the BBN? For now, it seems that Calipari’s heart is in Kentucky.
He’s getting paid, but more importantly, he loves attention. And when you have the entire state waiting with bated breath at every tweet or audio clip, you’re getng the kind of attention you want. Calipari may be a narcissist, but who isn’t? There is no way any other team, NBA or otherwise, can give him the kind of fan support and media attention that he is given here. If he went to Chicago, he might get his name in the local papers and occasionally an ESPN sound bite. Here, when he tweets about his great hamburger, modems fire up from Pikeville, to Paducah. If that isn’t flattery, then what is? Calipari knows which side his bread is buttered on, and we can finally trust that what he says is the truth. Maybe…
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