Yeah, I completely agree. I have some possible explanations but I don't understand all of it. He won a title. That was a big one that changed in 2012. His passion to win dropped after that, but that wasn't the biggest one. The team that nearly went undefeated until losing in the Final Four to Wisconsin really changed his outlook on winning as well. The lifetime contract in 2019 changed him, too. But the biggest part was Covid-19, in my opinion. It changed him. He's always been a bleeding heart liberal (sorry folks, I don't care about that for UK fans- don't care what your politics are if you bleed blue). But, Cal's entire outlook on life changed during Covid. We saw it immediately with his worst season in his career that next season. He started treating everyone with kid gloves. He wouldn't push players anymore. He wouldn't put wins ahead of sending players to the NBA. He decided his purpose in life was to make NBA millionaires "fighting generational poverty." UK stopped coming first. Titles stopped being the focus.
And now at Arkansas, it's the same. He just recently gave a speech about what will go on his headstone or said at his funeral and how he doesn't care about wins, about hall of fame, about winning championships, about measurable accomplishments, but about helping people. And what does that mean? He's focused on getting players to the NBA. That's it. If his teams don't win the SEC or make a Final Four or win a title, but he gets 3 into the NBA, that's success.
Now, the crazy thing is, he COULD do those things simultaneously. That's how I excused him when he called an NBA draft night in 2010 "the greatest night in UK history." I thought he would send guys to the NBA while winning titles. And he then went to a Final Four and won a title over the next 2 years. But he didn't keep it going after 2015 or so. And after Covid, he' lost the will to make it happen. He just won't push his players to make it happen because he wants them happy and healthy more than he wants them winning. I think it's a fall-back position for him. He knows he's lost his edge. Arkansas fans, I hate it for them because they've bought into the hype. And he's brought in talent, like he always does, so they love that. But they won't love the results in the end. And they'll be stuck because he will have another highly rated class coming in next year, and on. But it will take a generational talent (like Anthony Davis) to win him a title. That is just the truth.
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