Cal to Arkansas

[KB21]

I know there are some Kentucky fans on here.  Thoughts?   

[kg01]

I'd wait for some better sources on that.  Jmho. 

[Spud2nique]

Calipari is an ahole. 

[JTB]

This is shocking 

[kg01]

6 hours ago, Spud2nique said:

Calipari is an ahole. 

Per the twitters, he's R-Kansas's ahole now.  Sheesh, that escalated quickly.

This is him getting out before the reaper, imho.  Really buh-bad look after that ridiculous interview with him talking about the buh-billions Kentucky players were making in the NBA and how great Kentucky was/is. 

But I've said too much.  Time for our resident cats to pee on Cal's grave.  Paging @AHF and @bird_dirt..... 

[KB21]

 

[TheNorthCydeRises]

Now UK may steal Bruce Pearl from Auburn. Should be interesting to see if that develops today.

[AHF]

This is great news for UK.  Because of his Paul Hewitt like contract it was going to cost UK somewhere around $30M to fire him.  Results have not been there for a long time.  A bit scary given his amazing recruiting but most Uzk fans are going to be very happy to see this because nobody has been happy with his coaching.

[AHF]

These are the sorts of things UK fans have been circulating:

[KB21]

When reports of Chris Jans getting an interview started circulating, a Mississippi State fan mentioned that MSU should go after Will Wade.  I told him that the only way the SEC will allow Wade back into the conference is if Kentucky wanted him.  It will be interesting to see if Kentucky looks at Wade. 

[AHF]

Final comment for the moment, I am not angry at Cal for this.  He had an extensive meeting with the AD after the season which had to make clear he was on thin ice and may have encouraged him to find another job before he was let go.  I think he genuinely prioritizes the future success of his players over the team’s success in recent years.  That may make him the wrong guy for Kentucky but there is some merit to that as well.

[kg01]

7 minutes ago, AHF said:

This is great news for UK.  Because of his Paul Hewitt like contract it was going to cost UK somewhere around $30M to fire him.  Results have not been there for a long time.  A bit scary given his amazing recruiting but most Uzk fans are going to be very happy to see this because nobody has been happy with his coaching.

Couldn't resist a shot, could you?  Why you gotta bring up old junk?  

[AHF]

1 minute ago, kg01 said:

Couldn't resist a shot, could you?  Why you gotta bring up old junk?  

Both of them had unique evergreen contracts that made them very difficult to fire.  Usually you can just wait until the buyout decreases but you couldn’t with them and that is very unusual.  I wasn’t taking a shot at Tech.  My Tech grad brother and father have made the comparison repeatedly because of how hard it was for Tech to swallow that poison pill and how hard it would be for UK to do the same.  Cal and Hewitt are the only two coaches I know who got this kind of deal.

(Hard pass on any coach with potential bribery issues in recruiting.)

[Diesel]

3 hours ago, AHF said:

This is great news for UK.  Because of his Paul Hewitt like contract it was going to cost UK somewhere around $30M to fire him.  Results have not been there for a long time.  A bit scary given his amazing recruiting but most Uzk fans are going to be very happy to see this because nobody has been happy with his coaching.

AHF, I need you to pull your UK strings and get them to call Quin Snyder.   Snyder is the high profile hire that UK needs right now.  Not Bruce Pearl. 

[Diesel]

3 hours ago, AHF said:

These are the sorts of things UK fans have been circulating:

WOW?!!

They talked so badly about Tubby when he was the coach.   You would have thought that he just lucked into a good situation. 

[bird_dirt]

8 hours ago, TheNorthCydeRises said:

Now UK may steal Bruce Pearl from Auburn. Should be interesting to see if that develops today.

Gross

[bird_dirt]

UK fans are going to miss Cal’s recruiting, that’s for sure. 
Won’t miss the terrible - or I should say Non-coaching. I am sure if we could get a decent coach, the UK name will draw enough talent to make the team more competitive. 

[AHF]

17 hours ago, bird_dirt said:

UK fans are going to miss Cal’s recruiting, that’s for sure. 
Won’t miss the terrible - or I should say Non-coaching. I am sure if we could get a decent coach, the UK name will draw enough talent to make the team more competitive. 

UK shouldn't have to settle for a "just decent" coach given how much money they can pay and the resources / upside for the coach.  The UK name won't do the recruiting alone but it definitely will help.  I don't expect Cal will recruit the same kind of elite depth he had on the roster this year when he is recruiting to Arkansas.  That said, they have NIL money there and that combined with Cal will be plenty to land some high level talent.  So I think this could be a real positive for the Razorbacks.  

UK can take a step back on recruiting and do a lot better with some maturing players and better coaching.  But there is still nothing a coach does that is more important than recruit which is where Tubby ran into problems after he exhausted the players that Pitino left him.  

Hoping this is a win-win-win for UK, Cal, and Arkansas in the big picture.  If Cal takes this as a challenge to his ego and is actually motivated to prioritize wins again, it could work out really well for them.

[bird_dirt]

[AHF]

This worked out well for everyone.  Cal could have held the team hostage like Bud did with us but walked away on his own without demanding some huge pay day to go coach for another team.  Win for UK.  Cal walks away with his head held high and without an ugly fight that tarnishes his legacy in Lexington and gets to go to a program that has a lot of money they are ready to invest.  Win for Cal.  Arkansas hasn't had a ton to cheer for in a long time so Cal will step onto the campus and provide electricity from day 1.  Win for Arkansas.

(As an aside, he may be better served by only being able to get 70% of the recruits he could get at UK so he isn't constantly recruiting all one and done players and if he combines this with more of a focus on winning it will be really good for the Razorbacks.)