Rumblings within the program

[Sejonesy]

He probably should. Also, college basketball is broken. His replacement needs to be Kentucky focused and do his best to bring in guys who bleed blue. The mercenary nature of the game has crossed a tipping point, imo.

This isn’t the 80’s. Yeah, let’s get left in the dust and not recruit the best players and only those that bleed blue. What exactly does bleed blue mean anyways? Just recruit local kids that grew up loving the Cats? Sounds like a disaster and would never happen if UK wants to stay competitive. Kids come to schools for the coach for the most part and now for NIL. This isn’t going to change other than getting the occasional Reed Sheppard from time to time.

 

[ukcatz12]

Not doubting what you heard. I think it would beneficial for everyone if he did. But like it’s been stated here a million times he isn’t walking away from 30-40 million dollars. I wouldn’t.

Would you walk away if you already had tens of millions of dollars and just wanted to retire and enjoy a stress free life for a bit? I probably would.

 

[Dontworryboutit23]

I do not expect anyone to believe me and that’s fine. But I also was told Adou was returning (which he did) and there was a change coming to the starting 5 ( which there was) I posted both on here. Take this for what you want

Fair enough. If there is any world where this info you have is correct today, I will come back and apologize and give you your credit

 

[MidseasonTweak]

I almost guarantee he will be back.

 

[Padsfs07]

This isn’t the 80’s. Yeah, let’s get left in the dust and not recruit the best players and only those that bleed blue. What exactly does bleed blue mean anyways? Just recruit local kids that grew up loving the Cats? Sounds like a disaster and would never happen if UK wants to stay competitive. Kids come to schools for the coach for the most part and now for NIL. This isn’t going to change other than getting the occasional Reed Sheppard from time to time.

The funny thing is we have all these legacy players and guys whose dad played for Cal, or guys whose brothers or parents played at UK coming in. We are getting the best players in Kentucky and likely to get more - Allen, Fredrick, Sheppard, Perry, Moreno, Johnson, Weis, Bender, Kinney. It's the most legacy, most Kentucky-oriented teams we've had since Tubby Smith was coaching, maybe even the early Pitino years.

 

[UKBB4Ever]

Cal is not going anywhere after this season except to the recruiting trail.

No one at UK wants him gone. Not one single booster with the power to influence decisions wants him gone. Cal does not want to go.

Cal has always said he intends to coach to around age 70.

Health could certainly alter anyone’s plans but Cal enjoys good health at the moment.

I always thought I would be retired at my age now. Probably even told people I would be.

Things change. I enjoy good health and enjoy my work now.

No reason to stop. Same with Cal. He’s not done coaching. So if he left here he would be going elsewhere.

That’s just not happening.

 

[catlogic15]

Leave UK and replace Payne at Louisville. .
”That’ll teach the Bennies”.

 

[UKWildcats1987]

This is probably not true……but one can hope.

Now here come the following comments:

1. Be careful what you wish for 🙄

2. Who you gonna get to coach? (As if 100 other coaches can’t get the same results as Cal in recent years)

3. Be prepared for a huge drop off in talent. (What has that talent done recently?)

The challenging part will be finding the guy that can get the 2009 to 2019 level results or close to it. People need to understand its probablh not realistic to expect the new guy to get 4 final fours in 5 seasons n this NIL and transfer crazed era.

I'd be happy with 1 title and 3 final fours I'm 8 to 10 seasons. Maybe we finally find the guy who can win the 2nd title here. No one since Rupp has managed to do that.

I'd be happy if Cal took a payout and retired. Best for all involved but have 0 confidence in barnie. I hope he proves me wrong.

 

[gracetoyou]

Not true. Go home troll

 

[JFCats22]

Yeah, I totally believe this.

 

[Dontworryboutit23]

Also when cal does quit I fully expect him to go the Coach K route and announce before the season so he can get the full media tour and get to do all the other stuff he wants

 

[WeWant9]

This is my thought as well. No way Cal's ego would allow him to just step away at the end of the year without any fanfare. He would definitely want the ass-kissing and hoopla around his final season.

Could you imagine Cal trying to be honored at SEC road games lol. It’d be worse than when unc fans chanted “F**k Coach K” for his last game at unc.

 

[cats2010]

Why would he spend all this time and energy recruiting high schoolers and getting a very good player reclassify if he were not coming back for the next year. Everybody this is bait, don’t overthink this

No clue if this is true or not but coaches are always recruiting. Bama has/had recruits lined up for next year before saban announced his retirement. In fact Mincey moved into his dorm two days before sabans announcement and had no clue. Doesn’t mean they will stay but a coach will never say I’m not gonna be here, not my problem. If anyone would it would be cal but I don’t even think he would go there. I question is coaching acumen a million times over but not his character.

 

[Mike-McD]

 

[dlh331]

Folks who believe this need to take a glance at what COULD be UK’s recruiting class in 2025. We are very strong or in the lead for 5-6 of the top 11 players in a highly regarded recruiting class.

Cal is not leaving that class on the table.

 

[ck-2]

People don't get multi-million dollar buyouts when they retire or leave.

Barney says hold my beer.

 

[Jamal Mercer]

Folks who believe this need to take a glance at what COULD be UK’s recruiting class in 2025. We are very strong or in the lead for 5-6 of the top 11 players in a highly regarded recruiting class.

Cal is not leaving that class on the table.

I remember when our current FR class was talked about like this.

Nobody knows Jack 💩 about recruiting.

 

[502 Wildcat]

I still think we get at least another 2/3 years of Cal, unless we just absolutely tank this season.

He isn't recruiting like a guy looking to retire within a few months. And I don't just mean that in terms of results, I am referring to sheer effort. He is personally going all over the place to watch / meet with prospects. You just don't really see that if a coach is about to retire, because at that point, you are literally lying to kids.

All that aside, he's got a lot of things working in his favor.

- A commitment to modernize his approach to the game.
- His best staff at UK yet.
- Really good 2024 class in the bag already
- Potentially a historically-good 2025 class that he has already acknowledged publicly.

 

[Mike-McD]

I still think we get at least another 2/3 years of Cal, unless we just absolutely tank this season.

He isn't recruiting like a guy looking to retire within a few months. And I don't just mean that in terms of results, I am referring to sheer effort. He is personally going all over the place to watch / meet with prospects. You just don't really see that if a coach is about to retire, because at that point, you are literally lying to kids.

All that aside, he's got a lot of things working in his favor.

- A commitment to modernize his approach to the game.
- His best staff at UK yet.
- Really good 2024 class in the bag already
- Potentially a historically-good 2025 class that he has already acknowledged publicly.

Interesting list. Winning a title isn't on there. Not picking on you, just pointing out the obvious. Nobody really believes winning a title is even in Cal's top three.

 

[Cats192]

I think this year has been the reset. Cal finally caved and modernized the offense. We're getting elite recruits again (even if they don't all pan out). I'm optimistic we're about to have a good 3-5 year run.

I don't think he plans to go anywhewre anytime soon.

 

[UKWildcats1987]

This isn’t the 80’s. Yeah, let’s get left in the dust and not recruit the best players and only those that bleed blue. What exactly does bleed blue mean anyways? Just recruit local kids that grew up loving the Cats? Sounds like a disaster and would never happen if UK wants to stay competitive. Kids come to schools for the coach for the most part and now for NIL. This isn’t going to change other than getting the occasional Reed Sheppard from time to time.

The only thing any players bleed nowadays is green.

Reed may be a one and done. If he is, then all these we only need bleed blue players are gonna take a massive hit to credibility. This isn't Hoosiers, this is real life people. This is a job for all our players, including Reed.

 

[Aike]

This isn’t the 80’s. Yeah, let’s get left in the dust and not recruit the best players and only those that bleed blue. What exactly does bleed blue mean anyways? Just recruit local kids that grew up loving the Cats? Sounds like a disaster and would never happen if UK wants to stay competitive. Kids come to schools for the coach for the most part and now for NIL. This isn’t going to change other than getting the occasional Reed Sheppard from time to time.

Problem is we have camps running these kids and dictating playing time, availability, etc.

Bleed blue would be my first choice.

Second choice is getting players who buy into the cause of dedicating 6 months from October to April to the pursuit of a championship.

Players who understand that financial success and NIL are a by-product of this pursuit.

The guys who only care about getting paid are not the guys I’m looking for if it’s my team. If that means missing out on some elite recruits, so be it.

Give me 3-4 year guys who will run through walls for BBN in pursuit of a title, and understand that they will be richly rewarded in many ways if they do that. To paraphrase Rupp, guys who aren’t smart enough to get that aren’t smart enough to play at Kentucky.

 

[Kattopper]

I am not sure why people are so afraid of him leaving and us not having a good class. Kids more than ever play for money. We have always gotten players. We always will, we have money and can legally pay people. We also have the portal to bridge any gaps needed. Also, if he leaves as some state on here some of the donors will come back on board again. I can tell you one of them I know doesn’t give money to the program anymore strictly bc of Cal. I think UK will be perfectly fine whenever he leaves.

 

[CatsFanIL]

Honestly, with Cal's last year, I go back and forth...

Part of me thinks he pulls a Saban - doesn't say anything until eliminated in the post-season

But part of me sees Roy Williams (not so much Coach K), where everyone knows it's coming, and a succession plan has been established.

 

[BBUK]

GOOD DEN! 🤣

Huh?

 

[jrpross]

I’d still love to see something worked out with him in some sort of ambassador role.

 

[bigblueinsanity]

He probably should. Also, college basketball is broken. His replacement needs to be Kentucky focused and do his best to bring in guys who bleed blue. The mercenary nature of the game has crossed a tipping point, imo.

I agree but that won't produce the results unreasonable fans expect. It's all a one year window anymore at this level of cbb and money trumps all. It's gross but it is what it is.

One very clear positive with cal is he gets a discount to a degree because of the high chance of NBA success if you come here. Some smart camps see the value in that as more or less deferred compensation so we are able to compete in nil without being quite so slimy. The next staff won't have that advantage.

So any top tier staff post cal will need to have a few purely financial people to help sell the marketing opportunities. It will be disgusting, but that will be the cost of victory. Or we can just roll with guys playing for the game itself and be mid tier. There isn't much in between

 

[gracetoyou]

Folks who believe this need to take a glance at what COULD be UK’s recruiting class in 2025. We are very strong or in the lead for 5-6 of the top 11 players in a highly regarded recruiting class.

Cal is not leaving that class on the table.

Exactly! From what I gather that could be his last year. Cal will be at UK next season. I have zero clue where OP got that.

 

[502 Wildcat]

Interesting list. Winning a title isn't on there. Not picking on you, just pointing out the obvious. Nobody really believes winning a title is even in Cal's top three.

This is simply a list of things that I believe will keep him here another few years, if it were a list of desires on my part: winning a title would certainly be #1.

 

[TFCats11]

If this happens we need to immediately offer Reed a 3 year deal to be a Player/Coach. ~$7m/year plus whatever he’s getting from NIL ought to make him whole from potential NBA losses.

I know this is satire, but I could absolutely see Reed being the HC one day😇

 

[H00SIER-Cat]

2. Who you gonna get to coach? (As if 100 other coaches can’t get the same results as Cal in recent years)

Lots of guys. Beard, Drew, Few, Shaka Smart, Oates , Musselman, Richard Pitino, Thad Motta, or any number of guys I've seen suggested by the Rafters faithful in the last 4 or 5 years.

 

[H00SIER-Cat]

But he would have to agree to that and it's only $1 million a year and that would end in 2029. That's drastically different than saying the university would pay him if he decided to walk away from the program.

[Insert any emoji here]

 

[know1]

Please let this be true. It's about 5-6 years too late, though.

 

[BBUK]

Tubby, Tubby, Tubby.... (BUT, I sure wouldn't mind his ball-line D about now...)

 

[OmahaCats]

I honestly don’t think Kentucky will get a coach that will be an upgrade.

 

[TheDude73]

He probably should. Also, college basketball is broken. His replacement needs to be Kentucky focused and do his best to bring in guys who bleed blue. The mercenary nature of the game has crossed a tipping point, imo.

Great in theory, but unfortunately Kentucky doesn't exactly breed the best of the best basketball players. A few, yes, but not likely enough to field a regular team of "bleeding blue" Kentucky kids.

Sure, there are probably kids from other states that adore Kentucky, but even then, kids drooling over a particular school is quickly becoming a thing of the past, thanks to NIL, today's thin-skinned kids, and the transfer portal.

 

[ukjenning44]

I pray he does step away. The game has passed him by and he’s becoming an embarrassment.

 

[MakinMusic]

Not if the University has no intention of moving on from him. He can't come to the table and say, "Give me $20 million and I'll walk away". That's not how it works. The only way he gets any buyout is if the university makes a decision that they want to move on from him.

As I mentioned, mutual agreement.

 

[MakinMusic]

Yes, but UK has zero incentive for this. Why would we pay for him to retire? We are in the top 10 this year.

Also, we are talking about Barnhart and Capilouto. They seem very risk-averse.

Who knows what they are all thinking?? They may be over the situation too. We just don’t know. Regardless, if the two parties want to part ways, they will work it out.

 

[Skyguyb27]

I think that he is thinking about retiring, but he is recruiting hard for the next two years.

I would think Cal would want to announce his retirement before the year starts so he can make a big deal out of every game, receive gifts. We are talking about Cal.

I don’t think Cal would go the way of K. The media doesn’t like Cal like that so it wouldn’t be a year long love affair.