SEC Coaches give thoughts on Cal and Arkansas

[Fox2monk]

Carrying a purse and dancing on Tik Tok, man this new generation is something else.

Very girlish.. to put it nicely.

 

[CatFanInIlliniLand]

DJ Wagner is the poster child for post 2019 Cal. He is just going to run the guys he made promises to no matter what. Guys like BJ Boston, DJ Wagner, etc could go 0-17 with 8 turnovers and Cal would stay with them. Other players got a quick hook. He definitely became purely addicted with getting guys drafted. Winning seemed to be secondary.

I won’t even start on his refusal to play zone or adapt his offensive style. His cliches got old and boring.

 

[TheAnonymous13]

I assure you- these are not quotes from sec head coaches. Sometimes outlets will hit up staffers, but I’d be surprised if some of these are not totally fabricated.
I’m not disputing the ‘message, but these “off the record” comments are generally laughed at by the coaches.

 

[Creed Bratton]

It would be kind of funny if all those quotes from anonymous SEC coaches were just quotes from Pope.


But that quote from the article pretty much sums it up as far as I'm concerned. The root of all his problems is he just doesn't care. You don't take three schools to Final Fours in three different decades if you're unable to adapt. He just doesn't care enough to do so at this point.

I have heard Matt Jones say that multiple times since Cal left and before as well. My guess is he is that anonymous source.

 

[Short-Dawg-69]

Cal started at UK wanting to win everything and beating up on everyone.

Then moved to the SEC tournament didn’t mean anything.
Built for March.

Then moved to the NCAA didn’t mean anything this year. We have a great team coming in next year.
It’s the fans fault….. it’s our facilities….. it’s our coaches are not paid enough….. it’s our boosters…… I will do it my way……

 

[Bkocats]

I’d like to see an article where sec coaches talk about CMP

 

[Ron Mehico]

I assure you- these are not quotes from sec head coaches. Sometimes outlets will hit up staffers, but I’d be surprised if some of these are not totally fabricated.
I’m not disputing the ‘message, but these “off the record” comments are generally laughed at by the coaches.

Ya I’ve never understood the motivation for a coach to comment on these articles, makes no sense. Just opens them up to be bashed down the road.

 

[TheAnonymous13]

Ya I’ve never understood the motivation for a coach to comment on these articles, makes no sense. Just opens them up to be bashed down the road.

Exactly. And there isn’t a reporter out to whom a coach is going to trash another coach.

 

[K_TIME]

2015 really messed with Cal’s head. Then the screw jobs in 2017 and 2019 further embittered him. Then came covid. Then the death of Terrence Clarke. On top of all this, he aged another decade. All of these things together made Cal what he is today… a shell of his former self.

Eh....I think it's really much more simple

1. John Robic was his main man at Umass, then didn't go to Nets, joined Cal at Memphis and then UK....he left UK 2019.
2. Cal was exposed without his main X/O assistant and was naked.
3. Welsh came in 2023 and at least the offense had an uptick....and dind't follow Cal to Ark
4. Cal has Payne, Bruiser, Chin, Brad (ugh) and Martin at Ark

Simply put....Cal can recruit and he's always been a poor X/O coach and losing his good assistant in Robic and Welsh to a degree....he's always been lifted up by those guys and he's not a good coach without them.

 

[Soupbean]

Wow.

You have to feel better now that you got that off your chest and in writing. Lot of thought. Some good insights

Holy *%&$ wheres the TYLENOL!!

 

[Digger-Cat]

Yeah, Cal can recruit, but he's doing it by making promises, that much is obvious.

So, is it worth it if you have to give bad players endless playing time and lose games because of it?

In this day and age, the players are following the money and if they can go to a good system and school, they're good. There's nothing Cal can sell these players on, outside of playing time promises, that most other schools can't sell them on.

 

[Fox2monk]

DJ Wagner is the poster child for post 2019 Cal. He is just going to run the guys he made promises to no matter what. Guys like BJ Boston, DJ Wagner, etc could go 0-17 with 8 turnovers and Cal would stay with them. Other players got a quick hook. He definitely became purely addicted with getting guys drafted. Winning seemed to be secondary.

I won’t even start on his refusal to play zone or adapt his offensive style. His cliches got old and boring.

I don’t think he cares about winning at all honestly.

 

[JPFisher]

I don’t believe that Mark Pope would ever say anything like that.

"Well, gosh darn, I think he's an electric coach – a great coach. He's inspiring young men. He's having some troubles right now but we know he's an elite level coach with some ELITE kids, and he'll have his boys playing fierce sooner than later." -Anonymous

 

[Digger-Cat]

Alan Cutler gives Seth Greenburg a piece of his mind. Love this.

 

[Blueworld_3.0]

All of this begs the question of why Barnhart painted himself into a corner with that ridiculous contract extension? The signs were already there that Calipari was falling off his game. Especially after so much talk about the two men never getting along. Very strange.

 

[HeismaNole]

I have no doubt Cal would’ve been bought out this year if he returned.

It’s hard not to pay attention to Arkansas with a morbid curiosity. It’s like watching your ex wife’s life fall apart.

 

[CatsFanIL]

There's a quote from The Baron that keeps coming to my mind where CCC is concerned.

" If a Coach is determined to stay in the coaching profession, he will develop from year to year. This much is true, no coach has a monopoly on the knowledge of basketball. There are no secrets in the game. The only secrets, if there are any, are good teaching of sound fundamentals, intelligent handling of men, a sound system of play, and the ability to instill in the boys a desire to win. "

- Adolph Rupp

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Maybe Cal could still learn something with undisputable wisdom like that. Then again, his ego and hubris prevented that a LONG time ago. Sad.

But, perhaps there will come the day when he can return to Kentucky and take his rightful place as one of the great coaches that already came before him. I certainly hope so. I'd like to see the fans at Kentucky be classy and respectful, welcome him back, as we proceed to BBQ the Hogs on Feb 1. And do it each and every time we face him again in the future, if there are any.

We shall see.

Here's the problem with Cal and his "archaic" offense. There's no real movement to guard, and in this era when defenders are more mobile and versatile than ever, that's a huge problem. So really, opponents know they only have to guard a stagnant offense for about 20 seconds and then just defend a simple high ball-screen. That's it, that's the offense. So when teams are able to switch the ball-screen at the end of the shot-clock, it's a stop.

When teams are able to hard hedge and the "shake" guy is someone like DJ Wagner who doesn't shoot well, it's a stop.

When teams go under the ball-screen against guys like DJ, Wheeler, Askew, etc - it's a stop.

 

[kywildcats8]

The last 5 years he was stealing money from us, and if not for Arkansas, still would be but now he's just stealing from them. His "helping families" is the ridiculous fallback excuse for his cult and to excuse all his failings. That reason stopped being a thing 10 years ago. When Wall came here or his Memphis teams, he certainly was the only coach who wasn't bullying kids into staying multiple years and good on him for that. But when Kryzewksi adopted the model it changed for everybody and he couldn't make that claim anymore.

It's been a death by a 1000 cuts. I think most of us were (and are) fine with "one and done" so long as it was a symbiotic relationship. If the players and coaches put their all into what was best for the team which is winning games and titles, then we wish you well after 1 year here. But when Shaedon Sharpe happens, mysterious injuries, players talking about just wanting to get their year here out of the way, a coach playing someone who's not deserving to start over another because they're a 5-star and the better player is a 4-star or he's doing favors for a particular sports agent, it wasn't only no longer symbiotic, it had become parasitic.

Zero #1 seeds in nearly 10 year's, 1 SEC title (both regular season and tournament) in the past 8 years, a losing season, the worst 5-year winning percentage since pre-Rupp the last 5-years, the 9th best (or worst) winning percentage against the Top 25 among then 14 SEC schools the last 5-years, the archaic offense, the every year excuse of '"how young" we are, the dismissal of analytics, the mocking of the "bennies", and just the general "don't give a fuk" from statements about not watching game film on opponents, wanting to go home to play with his dog, watching "Little House on the Prairie" , saying " I don't care about the SEC Tournament " to even saying at the end of the last season "what are they gonna do, fire me?" And those are the ones just off the top of my head. Arkansas ignored all that over the six or so years and focused on our players getting drafted and his history before that. We give Mitch a hard time but that Yurachek guy, God love him for being inept and gullible.

And yet Arkansas still hired him and gave him a lot of $$- crazy