Getty Images John Calipari is an easy coach to dislike.
If the fact that he has slid by unscathed as the programs that he ran prior to Kentucky had Final Fours vacated isn’t enough, the fact that he is the face of Big Blue Nation and completely unapologetic for recruiting players with the main goal being to get them fast-tracked to the NBA while rumors swirl about the NCAA violations he commits on a daily basis is probably enough to put him on your bad side.
Perhaps the harshest criticism that Coach Cal has taken over the course of his career is the fact that he cannot coach. That he’s a recruiter, a coach that simply rolls the balls out onto the floor and allows the talent he has amassed to take over. As one columnist put it, Coach Cal runs “a glorified AAU team.”
And that is, perhaps, the most inaccurate critique of Coach Cal. When it comes down to it, Coach Cal can coach. As Luke Winn (and John Ezekowitz before him in the College Basketball Prospectus season preview) noted, the past two seasons, he has changed the style that his team plays during the season to highlight the strengths of his team. More specifically, he’s slowed down the pace that his team plays at. This season, Kentucky has gone from a team that averaged 70.7 possessions in non-conference play to one that averages 62.6 possessions in SEC games — a massive change — and it has resulted in Marquis Teague becoming a much more effective point guard. He did the same thing last season and it was a key factor in Brandon Knight‘s transition form an overwhelmed freshman to the No. 8 pick in the draft.
Calipari took the time to sit down with Mike DeCourcy of the Sporting News for a long question and answer session, and he addressed this very topic.
“They’re not ‘all one-and-dones,’” he said. “That is the disclaimer so you don’t have to say, ‘Boy, he really gets guys better. Their program, their style, prepares kids.’ You’re telling me that Eric Bledsoe was a “one-and-done”? You’re telling me Daniel Orton was a ‘one-and-done’? You’re telling me Shawne Williams, when I was in Memphis, was a ‘one-and-done’? Can you tell me who thought that? Because they need to be drug-tested.”
You can dislike the way that Coach Cal runs a program. That’s your prerogative.
But criticizing his ability to develop talent and coach a team is both unfair and incorrect.
Rob Dauster is the editor of the college basketball website Ballin’ is a Habit. You can find him on twitter @robdauster.
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- charlutes - Mar 5, 2012 at 5:20 PM
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Are you kidding? This is why I like the guy: He’s not a thief, trying to milk what are essentially slave athletes so that an institution can keep all the money they generate. He’s actually getting these kids to the NBA where, you know, they get a paycheck. What a joke this whole stay in college crap is. The NCAA is the worlds biggest pimp.
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- coach1959 - Mar 6, 2012 at 9:18 PM
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I’m with you. Amazing that the ‘naysayers’ re John Calipari just don’t recognize the NBA rules govern the one-and-done program. He is simply guilty of recruiting more of the best players available. They are envious or angry because the Anthony Davis kind of players aren’t playing for their “favorite” team.
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- kybasser - Mar 7, 2012 at 12:13 PM
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I find it very funny to see all the Coach Cal can’t coach comments. It seems finally that more and more mainstream sports media reporters are starting to recognize the error of this faulty thought process. After all, if it were merely that you recruit a great class, roll the ball out and they perform at a very high level, how is it that ST. John’s has suffered so terribly this year? They had a great recruiting class, in fact, if memory serves me correctly, it was a big class. Yet they are now down to 6 scholarship players, and they have a poor record.
You have to be able to get the players to play together, bond and become a team, and you have to get them to play team defense. Check out Coach Cal’s teams. Sure they are all a little different offensively, and that is because he coaches to the the strengths of his team, but mostly they are all the same in defensive style and efficiency. Defense has to be taught and coached, and players don’t naturally want to defend, especially the majority of star high schoolers who have never really had to play defense as they were too valuable to their HS team.
Thanks for a nice and positive article, as the change is gaining momentum….
Go CATS!!!!!!
