Welch

[BlueInBrooklyn]

Kind of amazed in all the BBN and media excitement, not more is made of the one major hire this offseason, which is John Welch.

Veteran NBA assistant, chief offensive strategist, and lead on player development.

Cal: “He loves the game and will be a tremendous asset to our young players and our staff. John has worked closely for decades with Vance Walberg, who developed the dribble-drive offense, and was a pioneer of bringing it to the NBA. With the strength of our guards and perimeter players we need to get back to that style of play. John will be involved heavily in our offensive strategy and will be our lead coach in on-court player development.'

Maybe this isn't all a happy accident and instead of just "Cal learned offense" it's more realistically "Cal hired the right O-coach."

Cal deserves all the credit, but like many CEOs (which he is) maybe the credit is getting the right people.

 

[Midway Cat]

Completely agree.

He's responsible for overhauling our entire offensive system. The players we have in this particular recruiting class have made the transition easy, but Welch is the reason we're playing this style.

I've been waiting my entire adult life for Kentucky to play this way again. Whatever he wants, pay it.

 

[K_TIME]

I get UK has more/better guards than years' past.....but this is a world different type of play from guards, spacing, guys knowing their spots, etc....than in any years past. I am pretty sure Welch is the difference and probably most important off season addition to the program....and we need to keep him no matter what.

 

[davekersey]

The Welch hire was astonishing. One of the best coaches in the country and the players love him and learn from him. UK is very fortunate to have him on board

 

[WildcatNC]

I give Welch most of the credit for the improved offense personally.

Cal deserves credit for finally doing what needed to be done. Never really replaced Robic till now.

 

[Son_Of_Saul]

Welch and Ulis provide so much for our bench.

Rumors are still circling that Rondo might join the program next year.

Cal looks like he might be changing a bit.

 

[Smashcat]

The hires of Welch AND Martin were outstanding. How long have we been asking why isn't UK shopping for international players? Martin is hired and we immediately get one, Big Z.
Now UK admissions fumbling his approval is another story.

 

[drew_ukfan]

Shoutout to Chin too

No one mentioned him, don’t want a Chin left out in the cold

 

[drew_ukfan]

Give Welch whatever he wants like you said. This is the most fun Kentucky basketball has ever looked. What recruit wouldn’t want to play this style?

 

[Fox2monk]

Kind of amazed in all the BBN and media excitement, not more is made of the one major hire this offseason, which is John Welch.

Veteran NBA assistant, chief offensive strategist, and lead on player development.

Cal: “He loves the game and will be a tremendous asset to our young players and our staff. John has worked closely for decades with Vance Walberg, who developed the dribble-drive offense, and was a pioneer of bringing it to the NBA. With the strength of our guards and perimeter players we need to get back to that style of play. John will be involved heavily in our offensive strategy and will be our lead coach in on-court player development.'

Maybe this isn't all a happy accident and instead of just "Cal learned offense" it's more realistically "Cal hired the right O-coach."

Cal deserves all the credit, but like many CEOs (which he is) maybe the credit is getting the right people.

I’ve seen a ton of people credit him this year.

 

[TopCatCal]

Completely agree.

He's responsible for overhauling our entire offensive system. The players we have in this particular recruiting class have made the transition easy, but Welch is the reason we're playing this style.

I've been waiting my entire adult life for Kentucky to play this way again. Whatever he wants, pay it.

Give Welch whatever he wants like you said. This is the most fun Kentucky basketball has ever looked. What recruit wouldn’t want to play this style?

Agree, agree, agree our offense looks awesome for a change. BUT, THERE'S ALWAYS A but that worries me is. We've all seen it from Calipari pretty much every tournament. He will start coaching his chicken $h!t basketball UK will get a 10 or 12 point lead with 7 or 8 minutes left then he will start having his players try to dribble out the shot clock then we lose our momentum, the game starts getting close, our players tighten up. the other team catches us, ties the game, we go into overtime & we lose a 2 or 3 point game. It's the Calipari way. If I had a crystal ball that showed that Cal wouldn't do that in the up coming tournament, then I would put my money on this UK team cutting down some nets in April.

 

[bucsrule8872]

Calipari finally has a great coaching staff. He has cut away most of the dead wood and added some phenomenal coaches.

 

[crawfords corner]

I was right there with RalphDalton telling everyone about this guy. He loves basketball. Eat, sleeps, and drinks it. On top of that you won't find many with the work ethic and dedication the man has. If he could practice for days on end with players and never sleep he'd probably do it. He's tireless as it is.


*Like a KP in the gym wotht the guys, but on steroids. It's quite amazing actually.

 

[bowfreak]

There is no doubt the offense looks 180 degrees different, but is it all Welch? Cal's current roster is not like anything he's ever had before. He has no other realistic option. I am by no means discounting Welch, but its not like Cal can play bully ball with these guys.

 

[502 Wildcat]

Welch will go down as one of the most impactful UK basketball hires of the last decade+

Everyone is rightfully crediting him, at least in large part, for the style UK is playing right now, but it really goes beyond that.

He'll be here for a while, but even when / if he does leave, he has finally broke the quasi mental barrier with Cal and opened his eyes to this kind of change. Many great coaches have had this kind of breakthrough. In fact, I would say it is what separates good coaches who have success through a single era or timeframe, with the all time greats like Coach K and Rupp who achieve success over a very lengthy period of time.

Because of what Welch has brought to the table, this or some version of this is now likely to be Cal's style going forward, and he will likely have a guy in that role through the rest of his career.

 

[ck-2]

Love the Welch hire. My only fear is when it gets down to crunch time will Cal listen to him or revert back to his Caliprarie self?

 

[Cal-4-Three]

Coaching is just like life. It's all about the people you surround yourself with. Nobody can do it on their own. Kudos to Cal for noticing and making the change.

 

[BlueSince92]

I’ve seen a ton of people credit him this year.

Yeah this guy is in this for the me factor somehow. But Welch himself is a goldmine as we keep saying, and will take us places as long as Cal doesn’t flinch and go away from the plan as soon as the bigs come back and he has the option of doing that. (As we keep saying.)

 

[westerncat]

UK is playing ball now like it used to be at UK years ago. Great hire in getting someone like Welch to upgrade the offense. Love watching UK again.

 

[mcwildcats04]

Where was Welch prior to this hire? Wonder how the hiring came about in the first place. Who had the idea?

 

[Kybluedude]

Don’t be surprised when his son, Riley, develops as a fine young coach.

I remember when he drew up a scoring inbounds play for us in a big win as a GA. Says a lot that Cal ran it and gave him credit.

 

[davekersey]

Don’t be surprised when his son, Riley, develops as a fine young coach.

I remember when he drew up a scoring inbounds play for us in a big win as a GA. Says a lot that Cal ran it and gave him credit.

Was about to post something about that very thing. Riley is a very astute young man

 

[WeWant9]

Kind of crazy to think that a few years ago our staff consisted of Justus, Barbee, and Lucas. Cal did what he needed to get one hell of a staff again.

 

[bigbluelou]

Kenny Payne may be available soon, too. So...there's that.

 

[Cats192]

Calipari finally has a great coaching staff. He has cut away most of the dead wood and added some phenomenal coaches.

Yup.

I think Cal felt rock bottom after missing the tournament in 2021. He's been trying to overhaul things.

There was talk back in January that he was asking for additional staff positions to hire an offensive coordinator, and Mitch wouldn't go for it.

I know the guy is stubborn and wants to do things a certain way. But I really do think that hit a boiling point after we missed a tournament, and he's been working hard to change things since then. We really didn't get to the current state of UK basketball overnight.

I give Welch the credit for the offensive improvement. I give Cal credit for realizing we needed to bring someone like Welch in. Now Cal can focus on doing Cal.

 

[sportspm]

It’s a win/win. Makes the team so much fun to watch. Makes the fans happy. Makes Cal look better.
I was wondering why more people wasn’t talking about John Welch. Best hire Cal has made imo.

 

[Aike]

I’ve seen a ton of people credit him this year.

Yeah no joke. We’ve been talking about him for months. Gets brought up in every thread about the improved offense, spacing, etc.

 

[CB3UK]

Loving the offensive pace of play this year as well as scoring margins

 

[IbnSaran]

Give Welch whatever he wants like you said. This is the most fun Kentucky basketball has ever looked. What recruit wouldn’t want to play this style?

Agree on Welch, but I would say most fun since the 90s. 96 was really fun.

 

[drew_ukfan]

Agree on Welch, but I would say most fun since the 90s. 96 was really fun.

fair enough, I was 6 then, remember bits and pieces of the 90s teams, watching with my dad. But I don’t recall following the team every game till 00-01

So most fun I’ve ever had watching them

 

[Mulder14]

Agree, agree, agree our offense looks awesome for a change. BUT, THERE'S ALWAYS A but that worries me is. We've all seen it from Calipari pretty much every tournament. He will start coaching his chicken $h!t basketball UK will get a 10 or 12 point lead with 7 or 8 minutes left then he will start having his players try to dribble out the shot clock then we lose our momentum, the game starts getting close, our players tighten up. the other team catches us, ties the game, we go into overtime & we lose a 2 or 3 point game. It's the Calipari way. If I had a crystal ball that showed that Cal wouldn't do that in the up coming tournament, then I would put my money on this UK team cutting down some nets in April.

The one thing hopefully is we have guys that can beat you off the dribble now. We haven’t had that in the last couple of years. So maybe if the game starts to slow down it won’t be as painful to watch. Ncaa becomes more half court the farther you go in the tournament

 

[UKBB4Ever]

Agree on Welch, but I would say most fun since the 90s. 96 was really fun.

Was Welch on Cal’s staff when he beat that team with 1 player and 4 ball boys?

 

[UKBB4Ever]

Yup.

I think Cal felt rock bottom after missing the tournament in 2021. He's been trying to overhaul things.

There was talk back in January that he was asking for additional staff positions to hire an offensive coordinator, and Mitch wouldn't go for it.

I know the guy is stubborn and wants to do things a certain way. But I really do think that hit a boiling point after we missed a tournament, and he's been working hard to change things since then. We really didn't get to the current state of UK basketball overnight.

I give Welch the credit for the offensive improvement. I give Cal credit for realizing we needed to bring someone like Welch in. Now Cal can focus on doing Cal.

That never happened. Cal never asked Barney for permission to do anything.

And if he did Barney would OK it.

That’s a false story pushed by Matt Jones and the CHC.