I don’t think he got tricked into it. I think there’s two possibilities:
1) as you suggested, he’s in on the scam and getting a kick back. If this is true than that would absolutely be cause to fire and avoid the buyout so I do think that is less likely than…
2) he wasn’t in on it to begin with and doesn’t get kick backs from ex players or their agents but he is just softer now. I think Stephen A. (As much as I dislike him) hit the nail on the head with his assessment of Cal. This isn’t the hungry, go after the opponent’s throat, win at all costs, John Calipari from UMASS, Memphis, and first half UK Cal. That Cal was more like your dad, give you the tough love and discipline you need and didn’t play favorites at the expense of the team’s success.
The Cal we got now is more like a grandfather who wants to spoil his grandchildren and let the parents discipline them. If we had the old Cal he would’ve called one or both Wagner and Dillingham a selfish mfer on national television at some point this season. If we had the old Cal he would’ve had DJ as the sixth man, Edwards as the seventh, with Rob and Reed starting.
If the new version of Cal was what we had to begin with he would’ve never told Demarcus Cousins that if he didn’t want to finish conditioning that he wouldn’t start. He would start Cousins regardless.
I’m not like most on here. I don’t think Cal is bad coach much like I didn’t think Tubby was a bad recruiter. I think Cal is now an unwilling coach just like I thought Tubby was an unwilling recruiter. Tubby proved he was capable of recruiting big names at UK with the Rondo class (those guys were huge names in high school even if they didn’t quite pan out). And Cal proved to be a capable coach while at UMASS and Memphis where he was getting elite freshmen but also had developed lower ranked talent over the years as well. He did not have freshmen dominated line ups as I remember, but rather, had key freshman plug-ins like Rose, Evans, and Camby.
Whatever the case is I am in the camp that the old Cal isn’t coming back. I’ve been waiting for over a half a decade for that old Cal and it becomes ever more apparent each year that he isn’t walking through that door.