The most vocal segment of Kentucky basketball fans have been singing the blues in the Bluegrass State the past week about John Calipari.
While many prefer seeking a divorce from their 15-year, Hall of Fame head coach, the truth is the current rough patch in this marriage is something both sides must try to navigate and hope things get better.
For now, Kentucky and Calipari are sort of stuck with each other, a union much less about bliss than being in financial handcuffs.
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That’s because an overly generous administration, back in 2019, foolishly gave Calipari a lifetime contract (taking him to retirement after the 2028-29 season) that has a pricey buyout of $33.5 million.
So when the Wildcats were ushered out of the NCAA tournament in the first round by 14th-seeded Oakland — the third consecutive year of not making it to the March Madness second weekend — it was no surprise the social media outcry to give Calipari the boot reached record decibels.
This post on X from Dan Dakich, a 12-year assistant at Indiana and former player under Bob Knight, was notable: “Told you all preseason, #BBN KENTUCKY is irrelevant. . . . they’ve moved into IU #iubb status.”
That needle was rather tame compared to the outrage expressed by UK fans. It was vociferous and relentless, many of them calling for Calipari and athletic director Mitch Barnhart to be shown the door together.
Oakland’s 80-76 victory, in which Golden Grizzlies’ mad bomber Jack Gohlke made10 of 20 three-point attempts, prompted someone named Trent to lob this grenade on X: “March Madness is great because Kentucky has a few future NBA players on their team and they’re getting cooked by a future Enterprise District Manager.”
To be fair, Barnhart did get some support after announcing Tuesday night that Calipari would return for a 16th season, but there’s little question which coach will be occupying the hottest seat in college basketball next season.
Kentucky trending in wrong direction
Nearly a decade ago, Calipari was about as close as anybody to Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski and North Carolina’s Roy Williams in terms of college hoops coaching royalty.
He came to Kentucky after taking both Massachusetts and Memphis to a Final Four, then stormed into a higher level of national prominence by taking the Wildcats to four Final Fours and an NCAA title in his first six seasons in Lexington.
Calipari was almost as beloved as Rick Pitino during the height of his success with Kentucky 20 years earlier. After the ‘Cats made two Elite Eight appearances in Calipari’s next four years, the school loaded up a Brinks truck to give him that sweetheart long-term deal now worth $9 million per season.
Jerry Tipton, who covered Kentucky basketball for 41 years as a beat reporter for the Lexington Herald-Leader and retired in 2022, views the Calipari outrage as a predictable development from a fan base frustrated by one NCAA tournament win the past five years.
“No coach, unless he wins championships on a [John] Wooden-like level, is going to satisfy the Kentucky fans,” said Tipton. “They were unhappy with Adolph Rupp, who won four national titles, toward the end of his tenure, criticizing that the game passed him by.
“Obviously, one win in the NCAA tournament in five years is unacceptable, but $33.5 million is not a small sum. This can’t continue, but who are you going to replace [Calipari] with? You’d have to think [the buyout] was a factor in keeping him. Even without that, I don’t think they would have fired him.”
The numbers suggest Calipari’s overall body of work isn’t worthy of termination. His win percentage of .771 in Lexington, with a 410-122 record over 15 seasons, is topped among active Power 6 coaches by only Kansas’ Bill Self (419-103, .802) over that span.
But in a recency bias sports landscape, particularly in an exceedingly demanding place like Kentucky, the Calipari pendulum in the postseason is swinging in a bad direction.
After COVID-19 cancelled the NCAA tournament in 2020, the Wildcats went 9-16 and 8-9 in the Southeastern Conference the following season, playing a shortened schedule.
The NCAA resume over the past three years isn’t pretty. A first-round loss to 15th-seeded St. Peter’s was the national shocker in 2022. Last year ended with a second-round loss to No. 3 seed Kansas State, then major red flags went up for Calipari after the Oakland debacle.
Tipton, whose last game covering Kentucky was the St. Peter’s upset, wasn’t completely shocked that 13-point underdog Oakland sent the ‘Cats packing.
“This year’s team was good, but not Kentucky good,” said Tipton. “They had trouble guarding people all year. They could beat anybody with their offense, but also lose to anybody because of their defense.”
Calipari benefits from fiscal insanity
The level at which schools are showing elite coaches the money is rather insane.
In Calipari’s case, Kentucky and Barnhart fell victim to the same SEC arms race that has schools sweetening the pot, excessively so, for its football coaches.
Florida handed Billy Napier a seven-year, $51.8 million deal in 2021, paying him like a coach who had already won a national title.
It’s just a dangerous game of high finance to extend coaching contracts out too far. Texas A&M took a 10-year, $75 million gamble on Jimbo Fisher and failed miserably.
Calipari also benefitted from an administration getting carried away with contracts. He has an impressive resume and is still considered a great coach, but why give him a 10-year contract at age 60, then extending it indefinitely for a different role with the school once he leaves coaching?
It’s hard to justify giving any coach, no matter how accomplished, much beyond a seven-year contract because schools can’t assume a high standard of excellence will continue every season a successful coach sticks around.
You might consider doing it when coaches like Florida State football legend Bobby Bowden, Krzyzewski or Wooden — all of whom elevated programs that had limited success before their arrival — were in their prime.
Georgia football coach Kirby Smart, under contract through the 2031 season, certainly deserves more than anybody currently roaming any sideline after delivering back-to-back national championships and narrowly missing a third last season.
Unlike Texas A&M with Fisher, at least Kentucky won a national title under Calipari, but now that lifetime deal it gave him five years ago looks like a massive overpay with only one NCAA victory to show for it.
When Rupp won four NCAA championships from 1948-58, Kentucky hoops fans were forever intoxicated by entitlement. They came to expect the ‘Cats would raise national title banners or make Final Four appearances on a regular basis, never dreaming Rupp would reach just one Final Four in his last 14 seasons.
Now it’s Calipari feeling the heat, wondering if he should rely as much on newcomers – four of his top six scorers, including Rob Dillingham (15.2 ppg) and Reed Sheppard (12.5), this season were freshmen – in the future.
Kentucky gave Calipari a ridiculously lucrative contract to be at the top of his game, but his teams haven’t delivered lately.
“It’s more than a bump in the road,” Tipton said. “This is three or four bumps in a row. It’s almost like a pattern that needs addressing. With all the conjecture [about Calipari’s future], I think he realizes they need to make a [NCAA] run next season.”
Otherwise, John Calipari might become a hoops version of Jimbo Fisher, another SEC coach being paid too much to underachieve.
Gfrenette@jacksonville.com: (904) 359-4540; Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @genefrenette
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: March Madness: Kentucky fans irate with Calipari underachieving on NCAA stage
