Cal's Actual Goal Was...........

[J.Jennings]

Here's what i know about BBN nation. If he goes another 5 years pulling in top recruit year in and year out but can't manage to win a title, WE WILL TURN ON HIS *** in a New York minute. Sorry to be so blunt but that's just the way it is. It will go from being "happy just to be here" to "let's find a guy who can do this" and actually get over the hump. If Calipari goes another 5 years with only 1 Championship to show for, i'll be ready to move on from the Calipari era.........

[Joneslab]

If he continues to say stuff like this fans will undoubtedly turn on him without a title.

But if he continues to recruit like he does another title will eventually come. The odds will tip and at some point we'll get another one. The only way he falls off is if he continues to recruit like he did this past off-season.

But I don't think that's going to happen. Next year's class is ridiculous and he's already changed his recruiting methodology. I read the other day that he has 14 offers in already.

I believe that this class and the next class will be the foundation of a championship.

It's hard to tell about Cal, though. Outside of 2012 his best coaching jobs have been with those two flawed teams. So you never know. But I do think he'll get at least one more assuming he stays here.

[Joneslab]

I also think we'll have a bad loss in the NCAA Tournament somewhere along the line.

Cal has stayed away from them so far. Partly because he's had good teams, but he's also had some luck (Princeton, etc.).

So I think there will be a team that gets knocked off early in that tournament at some point. It happens to everybody.

[BBNalldayeveryday]

Like others have said above me, most of it I think is just Cal implementing a new salesman shtick for future recruiting. The thing he has to try and understand though before making comments like that is the fans are fans of the Kentucky Basketball program first, and the players secondly. I think even more so now due to the fact that we've obviously had so many one and dones in the last few years.

Some have took his comments as if it was almost like Bill Belichick saying, we try and have good years just so we can get guys to the Pro Bowl, where obviously Belichick just wants Super Bowls, and they think Cal should look at it the same way where winning national championships is what should be his main concern first as the coach of the University of Kentucky, and not rather he can get x amount of guys to the NBA that year or not.

[DA#23]

My theory is this, that something or someone has put a burr under his saddle, and he's showing the world who's boss. To me, this is Cal's way of saying I'm the man and, as long as I'm the HC at UK, I'm going to do things my way and I could care less what anyone thinks about it.

Enormous conspiracy reach from me, but I wonder if UK/Capilouto supposedly taking a while on the contract has rubbed him a little bit?

[Matt Dillon]

Enormous conspiracy reach from me, but I wonder if UK/Capilouto supposedly taking a while on the contract has rubbed him a little bit?

That could very well be, in my opinion, Matt.

[Blue Heaven]

I love Cal but dang! I really can't say anything that hasn't been said in this thread already. I'll admit sometimes that I just wish he would SHUT UP. It's easy to see why opposing fans despise him. Of course jealousy plays a part in it, but I never heard that much hate about any of our previous coaches. I don't feel for one minute though that Cal doesn't want to win it all. When he was hired, he said something to the effect of that when we get this right, you will see us cutting down nets, going to Final Fours and winning Championships. He's done a pretty damn good job of backing that up. The "getting this right" part is what sparks threads such as this one. It hurts sometimes, but at least he isn't kicking back and expecting the name KENTUCKY to sell itself.

[J.Jennings]

Well im still a Calipari fan at the end of the day and glad he's here. If wins title after title, he can say whatever he wants i suppose...........

[Wonderstruck]

I don't buy for one second that this was some kind of recruiting pitch by Cal that he masterminded one day. He doesn't have to recruit that way. We will have seven players drafted from this team. The proof is in the results. He doesn't have to say that the goal was to get players drafted and not win a national championship. It's just mind boggling to me that Cal, as smart as he is, didn't have the foresight to know that this was going to cause a stir. Or maybe he did know and didn't care.

[Joneslab]

I don't buy for one second that this was some kind of recruiting pitch by Cal that he masterminded one day. He doesn't have to recruit that way. We will have seven players drafted from this team. The proof is in the results. He doesn't have to say that the goal was to get players drafted and not win a national championship. It's just mind boggling to me that Cal, as smart as he is, didn't have the foresight to know that this was going to cause a stir. Or maybe he did know and didn't care.

Don't believe it was this kind of overt recruiting pitch where he hoped he'd make that comment and it would get back to recruits. But Cal is so often in that mode--about himself, about UK, about his history--that I think those comments were just part of his normal rhetoric. And that rhetoric is definitely about selling people--recruits particularly but basically everybody else in the free world--to his vision of the program and himself.

As for whether he knew he'd create a stir: Cal likes playing the goat. In an interview once somebody said of Cal that he enjoys being criticized because that drives him. I've noticed that he'll do this kind of thing with Kentucky fans sometimes. Again, I don't think it was overt; I don't think he was trying to tick people off. But I don't think it bothers him at all that he did.

Some people just like to joust with other people. Cal's definitely one.

[KevinHall]

^ I'm not so sure seven will get drafted. I still think Dakari and maybe Aaron won't be drafted. But I've been fooled before so we will see.

I think Cal knew exactly what he was doing when said those things. He's a smart and savvy. He's said it before but I think his timing of this was awful. He should know how disappointing it was to everyone (fans) in how last season ended. He may get satisfaction that the players,most anyway,will go on and make a nice paycheck in the NBA. By and large the fans don't care about that. Bottom line to all of us is winning. IMO it was slap in the face to all UK fans. I think the fans get it that a by product of his recruiting is that the players will go pro after a season or two. We don't need to be told that winning isn't the thing at UK. IMO this was a way for Cal to justify in his mind that he doing the right thing. I think this time it blew up in his face.

[GOCAT15]

I have always tried to let the things Cal says go over my head, just because as a Kentucky fan it would really be easy for a lot of stuff he says to piss you off.

I understand his whole "players first" thing, and I am fine with that, he can say all of that stuff he wants, and all he has to add to the end of every sentence is that along with making his players better and more prepared for the nba that we win as many games and titles for Kentucky fans as we can.

It's as simple as that, if he would just say something to that effect after he goes into his speeches and tweets everything would be fine. I understand this is all to sell the program to recruits, but saying that you want to win championships isn't going to hurt your recruiting.

[J.Jennings]

I still wonder if this is Cal's way of creating some bad blood to make his exit out of Kentucky a little easier? Maybe it's his way of sending a message to recruits or maybe he's trying to take the pressure off from recruits by saying it's not a "all or nothing situation'?

Cal knows that we take basketball very serious and that we literally take every word to heart..............

Question is this. If you are the University of Kentucky do you pay a guy this much money each and every year that's not coaching to win it all???? It's all fine and dandy to say it's all about the student athlete but we all know that Kentucky basketball is about winning, not about putting players in the pro game. I love the fact that just about every roster in the NBA has a UK player on it but at the same time, our winning ways and tradition is why Cal left a place like Memphis for Kentucky. People are going to argue that CAL has solely been responsible for the recruiting but at the same time, Kentucky has a lot to sell to the recruit once he gets on campus. The tradition, the rock star treatment, the facilities, and all that combined helps a guy like Calipari sell these recruits. Seriously doubt the he could or would ever assemble a team like we had this year at a place like Memphis or some other off the wall school that isn't a basketball power in the grand scheme of things.


Honestly, Cal needs to take his remarks back and apologize to us fans for that remark. It's a situation where he can say "yes" we plan on putting guys in the NBA as well as winning Championships. If Cal isn't playing for Championships, then any 5 star recruit that's going to be a one and done may as well go to a school(Kansas,NC,Duke) THAT IS playing for a Championship.............

[Matt Dillon]

I bet the players would like to be able to say they played on a NC team.

[Joneslab]

Question is this. If you are the University of Kentucky do you pay a guy this much money each and every year that's not coaching to win it all????

If Calipari hadn't won 85% of his games at UK, lost at Rupp a handful of times, been to four Final Fours, won a title, and just come off a 38-1 season I'd agree with you.

Who else could Kentucky ever hire in 2015 who could put up wins like that?

It's kind of the way the corporate world works. You've got a guy who's bringing in this much revenue for the program you've got to fight to keep him.

Because if you don't, then we may make the wrong hire and then we're all sitting around wondering what we were complaining about when Cal was here.