A lot like Tom "The Snake" Crean, coach John Calipari had to take the job. Kentucky basketball is like the New York Yankees, Notre Dame Football, Boston Celtics, Dallas Cowboys and there are a few basketball schools that would be included (Indiana, North Carolina, UCLA, and Kentucky).
He told the R.C. Johnson, the Athletic Director of Memphis that "he couldnt offer anymore money because its Kentucky." Sounds fimilar if you are a Marquette fan. The money that was offered was monumental... 8 years 31 million dollars with incentives laced into the contract.
Now a great coach like Calipari gets a basketball team that returns Jodie Meeks and Patrick Patterson which could easily make it back to the Sweet 16 if not further. I think that was one reason why Calipari took the job because he knew right away that he would get a cushion which a lot like Roy Williams when he took the North Carolina job, he wont need.
This is also a great fit for Calipari because he knows exactly how to handle the media better than anyone else they could of brought in. Memphis also had a big time fan base not to Kentucky standards but Calipari knows how to handle the boosters as well.
The great thing about this hire is there are three very interesting subplots to the Calapari hire. Number one is what are they going to do with the huge Memphis recruiting class? The Tigers were supposed to bring in Xavier Henry (#1 in 2009), DeMarcus Cousins (#4 in 09), and rumored to be getting John Wall (#6 in 09) plus include Lance Stephenson as well whose in the top 20 who was favoring Memphis. Kentucky only has one scholarship left and who knows if any of those guys would be willing to accept a lesser role.
Another big subplot is the Rick Pitno Factor. I had no idea that Pitno has been Calipari's mentor for years and years. This also makes it clear that they are in some sort of Italian mob together. Now they are in the same state and Calipari essentialy is trying to do the same thing Pitno did at Kentucky. The Louisville-Kentucky battle next year will be in the top five games to watch and could be for a long time to come.
The final one involves coaching again and this one is the rivalry Calipari has with Tennessee head coach Bruce Pearl. They HATE each other and the Memphis-Tennessee rivalry grew because of this. I would assume that the Kentucky-Tennessee matchups both in Knoxville and Lexington have now become more amplified. Also this has to be an ego shot to Pearl now knowing he is the third best in the SEC East when it comes to coaches.
The College Basketball "Offseason" already off to a fast start.
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