If we miss the tourney next year which is highly likely and he doesn’t get fired, you’ll know for sure it’s the buyout. Even if it’s the same result as this year and not fired, you’ll know. In no world do I see the team performing good enough to keep his job next year. So we’ll see in about a year.
Was it the buyout , or you think Admin was actually not that motivated to can him ?
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Highly likely that we miss the tournament? I gotta laugh at this point.
This is like sticking with an old car because it used to be awesome.
Coach K also had an Elite 8 as a bridge between those two embarrassing losses in 2012 and 2014 and a national championship just a few years prior.
Cal tried a different roster in 2022 and it failed. He's the common denominator in all of this. And the difference in rosters doesn't even touch on the fact that this guy is woefully prepared all the time in scouting opponents and adjustments.
We have so many unrealistic expectations that it's beyond imagination.
But I know that messes like this didn't happen overnight and they most likely won't go away overnight.
Basketball is a hobby , but it’s also deeply ingrained in who I am , you don’t know my passion for the game and quite frankly you don’t know my passions in life . So I don’t felt sorry for . I’ve spent 50 years with the Cats , I played for 40 years . Yeah it’s a part of me , for the good and bad . But this isn’t June and we are talking about a random recruit , this is about Cal , the Face of Kentucky basketball and he’s made it a punch line .. so yeah .. I care — go ahead and judge me
Lack A Mitchie is the real problem... He has no balls for this job when it get's tuff and the tuff has to go Barney comes out of his shell and cries himself asleep... Barney is a coward and only take's the easy way out...
GBB
GBB
Mitch’s Twitter is a lighting him up .
I was not judging you my friend and I'm sorry it came across that way.
I just shared my take.
I lost a son in 2017 and it has changed my perspective of life .
I don't take life as serious as I did before that.
Then I contracted covid in 2021 and it evolved into pneumonia.
I was in the hospital for 8 days and by God's grace came out of it alive.
I now realize every day I live is a gift from God.
Life is a choice and how you and I choose to view life is our choice.
Have a great day!
Tim
Did K have a losing record?
2010 - Natty
2011 - Sweet 16
2012 -Lehigh
2013 Elite Eight
2014 Mercer
2015 Natty
2021 - Losing Record
2022 -St. Pete
2023 -Second Round
2024 - Oakland
One is not like the other. You're just trolling at this point.
Pneumonia sucks; I dealt with a lot when I was little. One of the episodes put me in ICU for 3.5 months; another extended my hospital stay from 14 days (ish) to 3 months (abdominal surgery).
Sorry about your loss; thankfully, I have never had to encounter this, nor have my parents. Parents is not meant to outlive their kids. IRL, I want Kentucky to win, but it does not change my life a bit, and life goes on. But on this board, I might act a little more serious about this than I really am, since this is a UK basketball board. I used to eat, breathe, sleep UK basketball, but then I got older.
It sounds like the buyout was covered.
I think Mitch is afraid. We have to pay Cal 33 million. Then you gotta buyout whoever your next coach is. Then you're gonna have to give them a fat salary. You're potentially burning a lot of donor/booster money that could have been used for NIL.
Secondarily, there's a fear that Cal goes to USC or SMU and goes scorched earth. I'm fine taking the chance. But Barnhardt doesn't want to be the AD who fired a hall of fame coach. He also doesn't want to be the guy that pissed off and woke up that coach.
I think Mitch was in between a rock and a hard place. But I think NOT making a move is a bigger risk. You've had 4 straight years of Calipari failing. You're gonna stake your job on him?
I think Mitch is afraid. We have to pay Cal 33 million. Then you gotta buyout whoever your next coach is. Then you're gonna have to give them a fat salary. You're potentially burning a lot of donor/booster money that could have been used for NIL.
Secondarily, there's a fear that Cal goes to USC or SMU and goes scorched earth. I'm fine taking the chance. But Barnhardt doesn't want to be the AD who fired a hall of fame coach. He also doesn't want to be the guy that pissed off and woke up that coach.
I think Mitch was in between a rock and a hard place. But I think NOT making a move is a bigger risk. You've had 4 straight years of Calipari failing. You're gonna stake your job on him?
We make enough money from the sec that it could have been paid. Mitch ultimately cares about all the little programs equally and prioritizes the afterthought sports as long as he’s in the top 25 for the phony “Directors cup” then he’s happy.
Reality is Football and Basketball are the 2 most important. Followed by Baseball, Voleyball, WBB, SB in whatever order. You cut the budget for 2 years to the meaningless sports tk keep the coffee for basketball and football full and then you rebudget once the storms weathers.
So what if we aren’t listed on the Directors Cup for a couple years. The only person that cares about that are ADs looking to stroke their own ego. However Mitch has put that on a pedestal and paraded our relative success in the standings before. Mitch would take a bunch of top 25 teams and no titles if it meant a Directors Cup “mythical champ” over having a real champion in a major sport but the other programs suffering.
Feed Football and Basketball and everyone else will eat a little too. Starve Your big dogs and the pack dies
Reality is Football and Basketball are the 2 most important. Followed by Baseball, Voleyball, WBB, SB in whatever order. You cut the budget for 2 years to the meaningless sports tk keep the coffee for basketball and football full and then you rebudget once the storms weathers.
So what if we aren’t listed on the Directors Cup for a couple years. The only person that cares about that are ADs looking to stroke their own ego. However Mitch has put that on a pedestal and paraded our relative success in the standings before. Mitch would take a bunch of top 25 teams and no titles if it meant a Directors Cup “mythical champ” over having a real champion in a major sport but the other programs suffering.
Feed Football and Basketball and everyone else will eat a little too. Starve Your big dogs and the pack dies
This is the big news for me. Many of us absolutely do not want Mitch anywhere near the next hire, and I think this guarantees that unless John suddenly hits his stride again. If that happens then Mitch certainly will deserve his flowers for this decision and everyone will go home happy.
Hahahahahaha comparing Cal to Coach K hahaahahahaha wooooowwww
If you look at the athletic department’s financials it shows this is not to be true. Even after that massive media rights payment the entire department profited $5 million.
But even if we assume the SEC money was enough, massive buyouts like this never come from actual athletic department funds, especially at a public university. Tuition goes up every year and to then turn around and use university funds (even just athletic department funds) on a $33 million buyout for a basketball coach is awful publicity.
Mitch wasn’t prepared. That’s all this came down to.
Honestly, I have had my eyes opened to how many Cal lovers are still out there and also to how many fans just seem to be completely OK with what is going on. I think most people on this message board are finished with Cal, but tons of people on Twitter and Facebook seem to still support him or have this idea that they must support him in in order to be true fans of the university.
I think the buyout obviously plays a huge role, but I think they also realize that the money will continue to roll in. People are still going to buy merch for their kids and people are still going to go to the games and tune in behind the television. There are too many apathetic and ignorant fans out there.
I am not watching again until he is gone, but if too many years go by I’ll probably just be done watching college basketball altogether.
People like this need to be reminded that Duke’s head coach has no experience and has his team further than John Calipari has been in five years. That same coach will also beat Cal by double digits next season.
That makes so much sense now. Coach K copied Cal and that’s why he was so successful all those years! Omg you’re just like a modern day Columbo
It was a combination of things. Finances was a big part but there is an X factor that is not public. The federal class action lawsuit in california regarding college athletes and NIL is going to result in a huge settlement. Each power 5 school has been told what they will have to contribute to the settlement. It’s a HUGE number but has been budgeted for by UKAA . When u take that into account…plus Cals buyout…plus the new coaches buyout….plus the new coaches salary…plus paying for the assistant coaches that will be fired…plus the salaries for a whole new staff….you are looking at $100M plus this fiscal year. Factor that in with no clear cut candidate to take the job….status quo was chosen.
The math really doesn’t make sense that way though. Yes, next year it drops by 8 million dollars, but you’re also paying him 9 million for that year so basically it costing them an additional million to keep him another year. Plus loss of revenue by a fan base disgusted with your actions.
He isn’t staking his job on it. He put just enough safeguards in place that if and when Cowl fails again he can say he did his due diligence and gave him a chance while protecting the University. People are sorely mistaken if you think Mitch would intentionally hook his wagon to that train wreck.
This may upset you, not my intent, but I would think the boosters with deep pockets would have to threaten to take their money elsewhere.
Why should they have to pony up the money to fix a problem created by perhaps inept leadership?
JMO
I am now beginning to see why they might have just said "To hell with Calipari, he thinks he knows everything, let HIM fix this mess" and decided to sit back and watch him rot on the vine and possibly leave on his own, saving UK a WHOLE BUNCH of money.
No it doesn’t upset at all . No one knows what type of job stakes poker / chicken game was played
Its all about money as long as people spend money on going to games and buying UK merchandise nothing will happen
I don’t think firing Cal was even considered this year.
We are fans. We want the best for our team and for our team to win a lot. We don’t care what it costs. Just do it! That’s our perspective.
University administrators could give a f less about wins and losses. They are looking at whether the program still is profitable as a performance metric. They also probably knew that firing Cal and hiring a coach away from another school would’ve cost the university nearly $50 million over the course of the next five years or so. I truly believe administration opinion runs a couple years behind fan opinions. A lot of us, myself included, had this year as a make or break year for Cal. The administration seems to be just now be aware of how angry the fans are surrounding the head basketball coach position.
If Mitch was smart, he’d spend next season sending out feelers to potential replacements. UK cannot screw this next hire up, and like it or not, it takes more than simply being a “good Xs and Os guy” to be successful at UK.
Gotta be able to kiss babies, take pictures and deal with intense media and fan scrutiny. Any ole coach won’t cut it here.
We are fans. We want the best for our team and for our team to win a lot. We don’t care what it costs. Just do it! That’s our perspective.
University administrators could give a f less about wins and losses. They are looking at whether the program still is profitable as a performance metric. They also probably knew that firing Cal and hiring a coach away from another school would’ve cost the university nearly $50 million over the course of the next five years or so. I truly believe administration opinion runs a couple years behind fan opinions. A lot of us, myself included, had this year as a make or break year for Cal. The administration seems to be just now be aware of how angry the fans are surrounding the head basketball coach position.
If Mitch was smart, he’d spend next season sending out feelers to potential replacements. UK cannot screw this next hire up, and like it or not, it takes more than simply being a “good Xs and Os guy” to be successful at UK.
Gotta be able to kiss babies, take pictures and deal with intense media and fan scrutiny. Any ole coach won’t cut it here.
only chance we have is avg age of college player's goes back down to 22.I believe Cal and Mitch think that.will put us back in top.
We’re at the point where Cal apologists like him genuinely try to compare Coach K to Calipari.
It’s actually bewildering.
I think there's an element of fear and hesitation inside the UK athletic dept over canning someone as visible and "out front" as Calipari. UK is afraid of the PR storm and more importantly, what Calipari will say publicly (true or not) after he cuts ties with Kentucky. Calipari will have his defenders in the media...Vitale, Greenburg, Bilas (to an extent), etc. that will have his back no matter what. We've seen it before with OTS. Barnhart certainly won't stand up for the program as we have seen.
As corrupt as things are in general, who knows the extent of the real truth.
Boosters (without Craft) approached Mitch and let him know the money was there if he wanted to make the move . They weren’t eager to cough up that kind of money but were willing to do it. They did not try to influence Mitch one way or the other. Mitch was blindsided and totally unprepared . He may or may not have contacted his long time favorite Scott Drew through back channels to see if the timing was right.But either way, he did not get an absolute “yes” from Drew .
Mitch had no appetite for an extended coaching search at this time. He was already in the middle of a Womens basketball coaching search and did not want to feel rushed into the situation. I’m sure the hiring of BCG after being spurned by Donavon was still in his mind .
NEXT YEAR the buyout is a little less , but more importantly, Mitch has 12 months to put out feelers, target a coach, FULLY vet him (personally too) and pull the trigger when the season disappointingly ends.
I guarantee Cal did not want to do that joint interview with Mitch . He also doesn’t like the things Mitch is putting in place, in terms of overseeing the program. That propaganda interview was a 30 minute long “vote of confidence “ that most all coaches get before they are fired , and Cal knows it . For the first time Mitch has leverage over Cal . Cal better come up with some kind of special year next season.
John Calipari is currently a lame duck coach.
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He also was only 2 years out from his last championship when they lost to Lehigh, then they made the E8 the next year before losing to Mercer the year after that. Little different than what Cal has done recently.
I don’t think it was a buyout issue. I’m serious, I really don’t think people understand how deeply many dislike Cal... including some very wealthy and influential people. The money was never going to be the issue. All they needed was a reason to finally say enough. The loss in Nashville and the loss in Pittsburgh was more than enough to finally push the needle to that point. Moreover, Cals attitude made the situation even worse. Cals post tourney selection show interview was disgusting. He acted like he was saying ok, fire me. He doesn’t care. Instead of saying we need to win.
I don’t agree with everything Matt Jones says, but he is right about Cal being on an island. He’s so isolated he thinks he is Caesar. He really doesn’t care if he’s fired, bc he’s already got his message ready for that. He will turn former Cats who are NBA players against UK, he will exit playing the victim card, and he will laugh victoriously to the bank.
This simply won’t end well, but he is okay with that scenario. Bc Cal is really only about one thing: Cal.
I think the AD was aware but shocked at how angry the base was after the loss to Oakland. I simply don’t think Mitch was prepared. I don’t think he even has a list, which every AD in America should have on hand in case a coach leaves. Mitch has a year to get his crap together. I’m one of Mitch’s biggest defenders but not on this. If this continues to fail, and it likely will, then Mitch must pay for this sin as well.
My biggest concern in all of this is the change in UK in general toward basketball. The people in charge aren’t old UK basketball die hards. They are a new breed who is less interested in sports, kind of elitist academics, and they may not ever put pressure on from a admin standpoint unless Cal did something to shame the school.
UK is way different than when I went there 30 years ago.
There is no shame in being the Basketball school. Being that school is what brought many students to that school. Some of those students went on to change the world. All bc they attending a school bc of basketball success. There is no shame in embracing that, but this new breed pushes against that.
I don’t agree with everything Matt Jones says, but he is right about Cal being on an island. He’s so isolated he thinks he is Caesar. He really doesn’t care if he’s fired, bc he’s already got his message ready for that. He will turn former Cats who are NBA players against UK, he will exit playing the victim card, and he will laugh victoriously to the bank.
This simply won’t end well, but he is okay with that scenario. Bc Cal is really only about one thing: Cal.
I think the AD was aware but shocked at how angry the base was after the loss to Oakland. I simply don’t think Mitch was prepared. I don’t think he even has a list, which every AD in America should have on hand in case a coach leaves. Mitch has a year to get his crap together. I’m one of Mitch’s biggest defenders but not on this. If this continues to fail, and it likely will, then Mitch must pay for this sin as well.
My biggest concern in all of this is the change in UK in general toward basketball. The people in charge aren’t old UK basketball die hards. They are a new breed who is less interested in sports, kind of elitist academics, and they may not ever put pressure on from a admin standpoint unless Cal did something to shame the school.
UK is way different than when I went there 30 years ago.
There is no shame in being the Basketball school. Being that school is what brought many students to that school. Some of those students went on to change the world. All bc they attending a school bc of basketball success. There is no shame in embracing that, but this new breed pushes against that.
I’m right there with you I’m still having one hell of a time accepting why Mitch the Moron didn’t $hit can his @ss. I just don’t think I will ever get over it I just don’t. I’m still supper pissed off about the whole situation and how they have let the program I have grown up loving fall so deep into mediocrity!!!
