Coach Cal just held a press conference outside his home. He had a lot of carefully crafted things to say "the future is bright for this program" and yet never mentioned anything about taking our current players and our recruits with him. We will be posting a more in depth look at this interview later today but in the mean time sound off below your reaction to what he had to say!-g
3 comments:
i want see the transcription of what Cal said outside of his home today, Wed 4/1/09. i need to be able to read it for myself, and have a chance to read between the pre-fabricated lines to find closure with this whole situation.
my take on the whole debacle: i understand the school of thought which says "this was just a business decision for him. appreciate what he did in Memphis while he was here. he elevated the program to new heights." while true in a sense, this viewpoint omits a few very pertinent details with respect to how Cal handled his departure.
1) he basically fled town without saying a word. make no mistake. there were Tues 3/31/09 press conference(s) which were CANCELED at his request. (not quite as bad as Art Model leaving Cleveland w/ the Browns, or the Baltimore Colts leaving town in the middle of the night unannounced, but pretty damned close.)
2) word on the street was that he'd canceled the 3/31 press conferences and would instead be issuing a "written statement". how true. that written statement proved to be a classless and insensitive text message to Andy Katz at SI which said "I'm accepting the UK job! Go Big Blue! - Coach Cal". that's a stand-up guy for you. a real class act. that message, ladies & gents, was in essence, his letter of resignation to the U of M and to its fans. very sad, actually.
3) don't for a minute believe that Cal was agonizing over this decision since before this past weekend. it's just not reality. Memphis fans are understandably biased, but the factors figuring into his decision are impossible to dismiss.
a) Coaching at a much more storied basketball institution. Kentucky has won numerous national championships. it's his chance to be paid obscene money to step into the spotlight. he's gonna take it.
b) coaching in the SEC as opposed to CUSA. (egos are very real factors here.)
c) money. not necessarily the end-all-be-all, but it matters. when you consider a job offer, do you consider the pay? of course. same thing here. don't be fooled. Memphis might have been able to match the money, but they can't give Cal the SEC and they can't wave a magic wand over the U of M & transform it into the bball-prestigious U of K overnight. it's just reality.
i believe that his mind was made up by sunday, and the rest of it was simply acting & grandstanding by a guy we know to be a great actor & manipulator. this time, it's just memphis that got played.
4) the recruits & players that are/could be leaving for U of K. all those exit clauses in the recruiting contracts weren't in there for no reason. it's just really unfortunate that U of M's basketball program will likely be dealt a very heavy blow for the next few years.
I don't wish the guy ill, I just hope he gets what he truly deserves, whatever that is...
- Seb
F_ck John Calipari!
F_ck him for raping our program of all the new recruits and for the other players that are likely to leave.
I hope folks realize that we're likely to be barely able to field a team next year. Sure, I guess we can get a hold of a few crappy 1 and 2 star players and have a glorified high school team. WTF? Can you imagine...we won't even compete in C-USA much less win it. That winning streak of ours will be OVER, game #1.
Calipari committed the cardinal sin of coaching--he's leaving the program in worse shape than he received it. BTW: How's UMASS doing these days, John?
Our only hope is to hire a big-time coach SOON and pay him a rock-solid salary and hope the hell he can keep some of the players we have and perhaps talk a few of the recruits into staying. The new coach wil be key.
Short of that, next season is lost. We'll be lucky to win 15 games and the program will lose money--we have to be honest, Memphis fans will NOT pack the stands like Indiana fans do even when their team sucks.
All the major players have committed for 2009-2010--very few are left to sign in April, so next year is our next legitimate shot, provided we get a Top Tier coach who can recruit or hire assistants who can get it done.
I'm so pissed. If that piece of sh_t Gillespie would have fulfilled his obligations to the Kentucky program (and it was not just about wins/losses), we wouldn't even be having this conversation.
Think about it: The undisputed #1 recruiting class in the nation, probably pre-season #1, and you fill in the rest...a more than legitimate shot at the National Championship. And now?
Lucky to go 15-20.
F_ck John Calipari.
And R.C. Johnson better pull a fucking rabbit out of his hat. Moron.
Seb, maybe you're right. He's always been a great salesman, and as Memphis fans we've bought into everything he's done with the team and the city. Maybe the whole act of him walking around on the phone outside his house, then facing the crowd and throwing up his hands in frustration for not being able to come to a decision, was in fact, an act. Either way, most Memphis fans are pissed that we didn't even get a decent goodbye from him. It's like that father who abandons his children, only to call a few days later from another state and say, "Sorry, it was great being your father, but I had to go somewhere else." It shows a lack of tact, and that's the nicest way I could figure out to put that.
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