Calipari says he doesn't care about Championships

[Chelo]

He knows his coaching won't win him championships....so now saying he doesnt care about titles just getting his players drafted.

“Last year we started the season with a goal. You may think that goal was to win the national title, win all the games," Calipari said at the Alltech REBELation conference, where he was awarded Alltech’s 2015 Humanitarian Award. "It was to get eight players drafted."

“We had a historic year, fell short of a national title, but seven players will be in the draft this year,” the coach said, and if Alex Poythress didn't get injured, "we would’ve had eight," he added.

What a Jerk! Wonder what the Alumni think about this quote!

 

[UConnSwag11]

He's a salesmen. He already has his title. All he has to do is bring in the top recruits to make the fans happy and win in a shltty shltty conference. That's it. He's selling to the kids, even though these kids are already first round/lottery picks. If he doesn't bring in the best talent he's screwed

 

[CL82]

Nah he's a pathological liar who doesn't want to admit that he couldn't win it all with the most talent in the country.

 

[caw]

All I heard is that he missed his goal.

 

[StingLykOllie]

Although I wasn't suprised, this blew my mind. If you look at this article from a completely unbiased sales perspective, its just an incredible recruiting pitch.

 

[Scoe]

Clearly John Wall, D Rose and Anthony Davis wouldn't be in the NBA if it wasn't for the Squid. I guess that line about getting 8 guys drafted is a built in excuse for not winning a national championship as is his freshmen line.

 

[caw]

Although I wasn't suprised, this blew my mind. If you look at this article from a completely unbiased sales perspective, its just an incredible recruiting pitch.

Is everyone sure seven UK players will be drafted? I know I wouldn't want Harrison 2 on my team.

 

[TheChamps990411]

Wow! This guy is soooooo fullashit and ill prove it. The crap hes been selling for years at UK is that he gets his kids to buy into a team concept and put their individual goals behind team goals. What is a more important team goal than winning a title? Now its getting guys to the NBA?bMan this guy is a clown.

 

[willie99]

OK Rick Barnes. Dude's a liar, and let me suggest UK is paying him to win championships

he's just a

 

[UConn Esq]

In the story "The Fox and the Grapes" by Aesop, a fox sees some high-hanging grapes and wishes to eat them. When the fox is unable to think of a way to reach them, he decides that the grapes are probably not worth eating, with the justification the grapes probably are not ripe or that they are sour.

Hence the common phrase - "sour grapes".

 

[TasteofUConn]

He's channeling his inner Jim Boeheim.

 

[Palatine]

So what if that girl won't go out with me. I really didn't like her anyway.

 

[willie99]

Went to a UK board just to see what they're thinking.

Let me sum it up this way: Squid is a liar, of course he wants to win it all, he's just saying that to impress recruits.

Although this guy acts like he might be a tad smarter than the rest. Cal is a wonderful recruiter and he is by far my favorite UK coach of all time. I understand he is a master salesman and is constantly working on his image that he is projecting out to the recruits and tailors his words and actions accordingly. I am not blind to what his intentions are when he speaks publicly.

That said, Cal does represent the University and the fans. When me makes statements like the infamous "this is the greatest day in UK history" and "our goal is to get 8 guys drafted not win the national championship" those reflect on the priorities of the University and how it is perceived as an institution and the values of the Big Blue Nation.

Cal's statements are blatantly foolish. They tarnish the University. They tarnish our rich tradition and history. They play directly into the hands of those that label us as nothing more than a feeder system to the NBA. Cal's job is not just to recruit and coach basketball. He's been handed a torch that is incredibly important to the very fiber of all Kentuckians as we take tremendous pride in our program. I think if Cal objectively weighs the gain in recruiting he makes by issuing these kinds of statements against the damage it does to the image of our University then he should conclude that it just isn't worth it. He could have talked about the great job the athletes did in the classroom and he could more often pay homage to the very tradition he seems to think just isn't that useful to him.

Save these remarks for your in-homes. To the recruits. In your public statements be more aware of the tremendous pride people have for the University and the program in this state. Don't sell every last shred of our dignity so cheaply.

 

[willie99]

Some of them actually give Squid credit for his one and done players getting drafted, when each and every one of them would have been drafted right out of high school.

When Squid actually develops somebody for the NBA, that might just be his first time doing such

 

[Chin Diesel]

All I heard is that he missed his goal.

Lol. If you are going to publicly state that you are moving the goal line, you're supposed to be smart enough to move it to achieving a goal. Moving it from one missed goal to another missed goal is golden.

 

[Dove]

Ya think UK and all those boosters want to pay this guy/donate money simply to help a few athletic kids spring board to the League without some kind of return?

 

[storrsroars]

Squid has been saying similar versions of this for awhile now. His theme for the past couple of years has basically been, "I recruit the best kids. I work with scouts to improve their draft position. If along the way they meld as a team, then we should pick up a championship or two."

So the only real surprise here is that he would come out publicly and leave out that last sentence. I can't imagine this sits well with UK's administration or fan base.

 

[caw]

Hey maybe bc the boosters are so unhappy UK is "missing" on targets now...

 

[DarthGrumpy]

Cal just handed Rick Pinto at Louisville one heck of a gift.

 

[Brochacho]

190-38
5 E8, 4 FF, 1 NC

Dammit, KO better stop caring about championships.

 

[mauconnfan]

What a deflection huh?

 

[EricLA]

The thing that is so stunning about that is if those 8 kids had gone to any other school, they all would have been drafted as well. It's not like he did something special in "getting them drafted". The kids were all talented and would have succeeded in getting drafted even if they'd gone to Dayton or URI. So bottom line - he achieved something that any moron could have achieved, but failed in the biggest goal a college hoops team has.

 

[raf46]

He knows his coaching won't win him championships....so now saying he doesnt care about titles just getting his players drafted.

“Last year we started the season with a goal. You may think that goal was to win the national title, win all the games," Calipari said at the Alltech REBELation conference, where he was awarded Alltech’s 2015 Humanitarian Award. "It was to get eight players drafted."

“We had a historic year, fell short of a national title, but seven players will be in the draft this year,” the coach said, and if Alex Poythress didn't get injured, "we would’ve had eight," he added.

What a Jerk! Wonder what the Alumni think about this quote!

Having been in Houston and Dallas, where we beat UK each year, I know the UK nation is really, really upset by that quote. Then they lose last season as well. Sounds like SOUR GRAPES to me.

 

[TheChamps990411]

190-38
5 E8, 4 FF, 1 NC

Dammit, KO better stop caring about championships.

In that time frame Uconn has 3E8 3FF and 2NC

 

[Brochacho]

In that time frame Uconn has 3E8 3FF and 2NC

No they don't Calipari started in 09-10 the Final Four was in 2009.