With a title and 4 FF's Cal gets a B-. He took over an NIT team.
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Leave it better than you found it
- Thread starter thunderradar
- Start date
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.
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.
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.
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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.
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
Rupp:A
Hall:B+
Sutton:F
Pitino:A
Tubby: D
BCG:F
Cal:B
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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
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.
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.
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.
If you'd just bump Joe B half a grade we could be in total agreement. Why you wanna be like that? lol
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.
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.
Better in what way? A few marginal returners?
We added a championship and four Final Fours, I'd say that is better than received.
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.
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.
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.
