The embarrassment is the people who are condoning what has been going on the past few years and are ok with UK being second tier because that's supposed to be the acceptable way now because high expectations are considered "toxic". Cal knew how high expectations were here and stated thats why he wanted the job in the first place, and he seemed to embrace it for at least the first 6 years but now mocks people for the same high expectations that he once credited them for having to create the environment that he wanted to work in.
We have a coach who is paid a lot of money to win and has supposedly stated that his mission differs from that now. That would be like me showing up to work, not doing what I'm asked to do and then being upset when I get in trouble and telling my boss the work I'm going to do from now on is different from what I'm being paid to do but it's better work because I say it is.
If that's what you're goal is then fine, be an agent, a manager, or someone who works with under privileged high school kids to help get them to college or works on the side to get college players NIL deals. Don't be a coach at was once the "Winnngest program in college basketball" and turn them into still the winningest program in college basketball because "Kansas is going to get hammered."
That's what we've become. We're only #1 if someone else gets wins taken away. And anyone with a brain knows that you can't win a championship or go to the FF4 every year. That's given. Obviously there is going to be down years occasionallytoo. But a program who is supposed to be a top program is never even a #1 seed anymore because the coach lost his fire and picks his teams now like he's the last one at the buffet and is just going to take the little the crusty edges of what's left of each item and hope his meal was better in the end than the other people who got to the buffet first or the people who can cook for themselves at home. But also won't critique the food or eat somewhere better because he doesn't want to break the buffet cook's spirit.
And it's not just about having a team that underperformed, it's about how the situation is handled. Someone who supposedly knew how passionate the fanbase was and how high the expectations were can't just man up and say "You know what, I get paid a lot of money to do a job and I haven't been doing it to the level that I'm expected to. I lost focus and I'm sorry. I'm going to put to put a team together that is going to kick a** and take names and goes through any team that stands in their path. These blackouts and white outs on the road won't be a thing anymore because we're going to run teams out of their own gym so bad, the fans won't want to show up to see them get blown out." Or just something to get fans hyped and back on his side. Instead he mocks them and relies on the people who probably give themselves all 5 out of 5 on self evaluations at work to come to his defense.
You know this whole thing with Cal reminds me of my uncle. When he was younger he used to love to deer hunt, and he'd shoot a buck as soon as the opportunity presented itself. But as he got older, there were several opportunities that he could have killed one but found he got more enjoyment now from just watching them than shooting them. The difference is, my uncle doesn't get paid 10 million dollars to kill deer. If so, he'd probably still do it regardless of what his new found enjoyment is.