Leave it better than you found it

[1STSergeant]

With a title and 4 FF's Cal gets a B-. He took over an NIT team.

 

[ciphercomplete]

Kenny Brooks had 2 girls return for the women's team one (Rowe) bleeds kentucky blue.

Quite the assumption that you are making about Tyler. Do you know her?

Just saying no coach leaves players behind.

Nah man, I'm referring to your statement that one player (Rowe) bleeds blue. You are implying that the other returnee (Tyler) does not. So do you know Tyler?

Also, no one could follow the former women's coach.

 

[bthaunert]

If we are truly rating if they left it better than when found it, here is my order from best to worst:

Rick Pitino - A+ - took over a program in shambles and left it as the top program in college basketball
Joe B - A- - Rupp left a really good nucleus that was still nationally relevant, and since Joe B was his lead recruiter, he gets credit for it too
Calipari - B - I know most will disagree with this, but he took over a program that was really no longer relevant on the national scene (4 straight unranked seasons) and left it as a much more relevant program. The transfer portal makes it very hard to compare to previous coaches and what they left because the landscape of college basketball changed so much.
BCG - C - took over a mostly irrelevant program and left with it still irrelevant, just a tad worse. Left Cal with Patterson, Liggins, Jorts and Miller. All major players in the first 2 years of the Cal era.
Tubby - D - took over a program that was at the top of college basketball and left it as mediocre as possible.
Sutton - F - Took over a great nucleus from Joe B and left it as one of the worst programs in a major conference.

 

[MrHotDice]

In Cals 15 years how many times did he have the Number 1-2 recruiting class? And pissed it away for the NBA. F HAS TO BE HIS SCORE.

 

[bthaunert]

The last five years performance, or lack there of, should be enough to give Cal a low grade. GO CATS!!

The conversation is how they left it compared to how they go it. Believe it or not, Cal left the program in a better place on a national platform than when he took it over.

 

[Ron Mehico]

I give Cal a B. The Kentucky name, relevance, brand, and appeal are extremely high and Kentucky is a huge marquee name. As someone who doesn’t live in Kentucky it seems you Kentucky guys don’t realize how irrelevant we were after Tubby and then BCG. Just no name brand appeal at all, no one cared about UK other than people from Kentucky. My ratings:

Rupp:A
Hall:B+
Sutton:F
Pitino:A
Tubby: D
BCG:F
Cal:B

 

[HeismaNole]

If we are truly rating if they left it better than when found it, here is my order from best to worst:

Rick Pitino - A+ - took over a program in shambles and left it as the top program in college basketball
Joe B - A- - Rupp left a really good nucleus that was still nationally relevant, and since Joe B was his lead recruiter, he gets credit for it too
Calipari - B - I know most will disagree with this, but he took over a program that was really no longer relevant on the national scene (4 straight unranked seasons) and left it as a much more relevant program. The transfer portal makes it very hard to compare to previous coaches and what they left because the landscape of college basketball changed so much.
BCG - C - took over a mostly irrelevant program and left with it still irrelevant, just a tad worse. Left Cal with Patterson, Liggins, Jorts and Miller. All major players in the first 2 years of the Cal era.
Tubby - D - took over a program that was at the top of college basketball and left it as mediocre as possible.
Sutton - F - Took over a great nucleus from Joe B and left it as one of the worst programs in a major conference.

Pretty accurate.

 

[Elliott Tim]

I was thinking about the coaches we have had front Rupp onwards and given our recent coaching change I wanted to give each a grade on how they left our program. You can pick and choose your own criteria I thought about players left for the next coach, direction of the program etc. Lets grade and discuss.

Rupp - A+, built the foundation for the greatest tradtion in college basketball
Hall - B, Won a title, yes a little to be desired but didn't leave us in a terrible spot at all
Sutton - F, probation enough said
Pitino - A+, such a great resurgence after probation, and back to back title apperances and left Tubby a plethora of talent
Smith - C, won a title but while competetive not in a direction we needed to go
Gillespie - D+, Brought nothing to the table but can't be an F, no probation
Calipari - C-, I struggled here. Won a title for us, but underwhelming with an overwhelming plethora of talent. Left 0 players upon exit

Will be curious as to how others feel.

Time will tell.

 

[nighthawks8]

I was thinking about the coaches we have had front Rupp onwards and given our recent coaching change I wanted to give each a grade on how they left our program. You can pick and choose your own criteria I thought about players left for the next coach, direction of the program etc. Lets grade and discuss.

Rupp - A+, built the foundation for the greatest tradtion in college basketball
Hall - B, Won a title, yes a little to be desired but didn't leave us in a terrible spot at all
Sutton - F, probation enough said
Pitino - A+, such a great resurgence after probation, and back to back title apperances and left Tubby a plethora of talent
Smith - C, won a title but while competetive not in a direction we needed to go
Gillespie - D+, Brought nothing to the table but can't be an F, no probation
Calipari - C-, I struggled here. Won a title for us, but underwhelming with an overwhelming plethora of talent. Left 0 players upon exit

Will be curious as to how others feel.

Cal wasted a lot of talent I think klutch and all the handlers of players ended up controlling him and he knew he was leaving that is the only reason he ended up adding Indiana back on the schedule

 

[CELTICAT]

Cal took over a NIT team and left as a consistent first weekend exit program. I guess that’s technically better than he found it.

 

[KAB Cats]

I put all blame for any divide between the fans, past players or coaches solely at the feet of John Calipari. He hasn't given the minimal amount of effort to bridge that divide. And that to me is Calipari's legacy: the promotion of "us" (players & coaches) vs them (the fans & university).

I'd also argue Calipari left Kentucky in the worst state of any coach we've ever had. Luckily, it's easier to overcome that in 2024.

If Calipari was a coach who had spent a couple years at a program and bounced to a greater job, taking all players and recruits would be much more understandable. However, he won a national championship at Kentucky, served here for 14 years & claimed many times that he loved the university & job. He even agreed to becoming a lifetime ambassador.

However, his actions has proven that to be all lip-sync and shown the man, while he does care about people, lacks integrity.

Not only did Calipari leave, he joined an in-conference rival, willfully. This isn't like Pitino who was allured by the prestige of the Boston Celtics and came back to a rival after the fact.

And that is now Calipari's legacy, which is a shame.

 

[ukfan1622]

I give Cal a B. The Kentucky name, relevance, brand, and appeal are extremely high and Kentucky is a huge marquee name. As someone who doesn’t live in Kentucky it seems you Kentucky guys don’t realize how irrelevant we were after Tubby and then BCG. Just no name brand appeal at all, no one cared about UK other than people from Kentucky. My ratings:

Rupp:A
Hall:B+
Sutton:F
Pitino:A
Tubby: D
BCG:F
Cal:B

If you'd just bump Joe B half a grade we could be in total agreement. Why you wanna be like that? lol

 

[UKCatnNC]

The conversation is how they left it compared to how they go it. Believe it or not, Cal left the program in a better place on a national platform than when he took it over.

We have our opinions. Thank you for yours. GO CATS!!

 

[trueblujr2]

When you're at a blue blood, there's really only two ways to leave the program better off than you found it. One is to retire as Rupp and Hall Did. The other is to leave for greener pastures, which is difficult when leaving one of the greenest pastures there is. Pitino's greener pasture was the Celtics and a front office position. Smith and Cal can't make that claim because they left for inferior programs. They took steps down.

 

[Hoskins91]

Nothing ever ends well, otherwise it wouldn’t have ended.

 

[Slowwalker]

Part of Cal leaving us nothing is the portal. Had the same rules been in place for every other coach that came before him, the cupboard would have been pretty bare for the next coach as well. With the NIL, most players would be stupid not to enter the portal as a negotiating tactic even if they don’t plan on leaving. Not defending the guy, but that is reality.

 

[Bluegrassking]

Billy G left things in better shape than Cal, granted this is the product of the times with the transfer portal.

Better in what way? A few marginal returners?

We added a championship and four Final Fours, I'd say that is better than received.

 

[Disappointed Cat]

I was thinking about the coaches we have had front Rupp onwards and given our recent coaching change I wanted to give each a grade on how they left our program. You can pick and choose your own criteria I thought about players left for the next coach, direction of the program etc. Lets grade and discuss.

Rupp - A+, built the foundation for the greatest tradtion in college basketball
Hall - B, Won a title, yes a little to be desired but didn't leave us in a terrible spot at all
Sutton - F, probation enough said
Pitino - A+, such a great resurgence after probation, and back to back title apperances and left Tubby a plethora of talent
Smith - C, won a title but while competetive not in a direction we needed to go
Gillespie - D+, Brought nothing to the table but can't be an F, no probation
Calipari - C-, I struggled here. Won a title for us, but underwhelming with an overwhelming plethora of talent. Left 0 players upon exit

Will be curious as to how others feel.

Give Cal and F.

 

[kywildcatsfannumber1]

Cal gets an F. When the following coach has to completely rebuild the roster after a coach who was setting all-time low points in recent years...What he did in 2012 doesn't factor into leaving it better than you found it.

 

[BBBLazing]

Eddie Sutton had nothing to do with the probation I am told. That was all on Cliff Hagan, Dwayne Casey and some alumni. The program was already out of control. Hall had been told to do whatever to catch UCLA. Everyone knew that Wooden was cheating. Eddie may have turned his head but he inherited the problem. The 100 dollar hand shakes had been reported and the program was under close scrutiny. The NCAA has always hated UK and have nailed them every chance they had beginning with the football team in 77

Started well before then. When we got shaving points and playing ineligible players in 51 they canceled our next season in basketball.

 

[Woodrow_Call_1998]

Started well before then. When we got shaving points and playing ineligible players in 51 they canceled our next season in basketball.

I bet you could tell some really good stories to fans on here about stuff from the past.

 

[Tf2217]

I was thinking about the coaches we have had front Rupp onwards and given our recent coaching change I wanted to give each a grade on how they left our program. You can pick and choose your own criteria I thought about players left for the next coach, direction of the program etc. Lets grade and discuss.

Rupp - A+, built the foundation for the greatest tradtion in college basketball
Hall - B, Won a title, yes a little to be desired but didn't leave us in a terrible spot at all
Sutton - F, probation enough said
Pitino - A+, such a great resurgence after probation, and back to back title apperances and left Tubby a plethora of talent
Smith - C, won a title but while competetive not in a direction we needed to go
Gillespie - D+, Brought nothing to the table but can't be an F, no probation
Calipari - C-, I struggled here. Won a title for us, but underwhelming with an overwhelming plethora of talent. Left 0 players upon exit

Will be curious as to how others feel.

Not sure Cal can get anywhere close to a C if the metric is "how you left it".
Cal left the program with literally nothing, so he goes to bottom of list by default.