the fact that Arkansas has a NIL program set up with Tyson and Walmart behind them to pay...
the fact Kentucky does not have an NIL program and Cal has to recruit.....
now he has people building his team for him....
is the biggest factors in why he left....
Guarantee it is why he left, but there's no denying his laziness, stubbornness, arrogance, and poor coaching is a greater part of the same package of factors.
If he didn't alienate EVERYONE that could/would have funded NIL, INSULT the fanbase, kill rivalries and refuse to play better schedules, and keep saying that "X doesn't matter, but Y does" when he's just failed at "X" then he wouldn't have ANYTHING to use as an excuse.
He backed himself into these corners and NO ONE was buying his bullsht anymore.
At some point, Bernie Mddoff had to make good on his promises at the expense of those that had just bought in without knowing what was going on beforehand. The momentum of investments after the 2012-2015 run had begun to run dry. All he had left was "the NBA draft" and his turnstile role in "ending generational poverty" was being exposed more and more.
The goal was the title for him. Not for UK or anything related to the program, but to redeem him from the vacated FFs and reinforce his brand. Nothing else mattered. 8M can manufacture a lot of smiles, but only for so long when the shine wears off.
The title was TWELVE YEARS AGO. 2015 was NINE YEARS AGO. To the sophomores and juniors in high school, that 2012 is ancient history they never experienced EXCEPT if they lived in KY. There's no more credit issued on that
Cal has ALWAYS had other people building (and or coaching) his team for him. We shouldn't gloss over that fact either. He's the sales manager. The closer. But he's had a lot of help.
He could do really well at Arkansas. He still has to address all the things that he failed to do here. That's what happens when you don't accept responsibility at the time. It just keeps snowballing behind you til it catches up to you.
