Can money really buy you an NCAA title?
By now you know that Kentucky backed up a Brinks truck to John Calipari’s house in Memphis to entice the 50 year old coach to come and placate their insane fan base. Calipari now takes over in Lexington and for his trouble(and the expectation UK should win the 2011 national title) he will be paid $3.5 million per season. Calipari also gets a $2.5 million signing bonus and various incentives that could push his annual salary higher. For that kind of money you would think that Calipari has a national title, maybe two under his belt as well as at least half a dozen Final Four berths.
Not so much. At present Calipari has two Final Fours, five Elite Eight appearances and zero national titles on his resume. Word is Steve Fisher is talking to the San Diego St. AD as we speak wondering where his $3.5 million is since he has one national title and three Final Fours to his credit. Unfortunately for Fisher, it does not work that way. When Roy Williams was asked about it on Tuesday he said that was the market. The everchanging salary market tends to predicate itself on paying a coach for what a school thinks he can do versus what he may have already done. UNC and Butch Davis are a prime example of this. When you are talking about the SEC the standard rules on salary go out the window. Well, at least they do when you are dealing with the two most insane fan bases in all of college sports, Alabama football and Kentucky basketball fans. Alabama drops $5 million per season on Nick Saban and UK comes close with Calipari. Again, this is how the business works now. It just seems odd that Calipari is making far more than Mike Krzyzewski, Roy Williams, Tom Izzo and Jim Calhoun, all who have a better resumes.
One more thing. I wonder if any of the intrepid reporters sitting at the introductory press conference this morning were willing to ask Calipari or his new boss how they could justify paying the coach $6 million dollars for the first season in the midst of these trying economic times? If Jim Calhoun, Butch Davis and Roy Williams are evil for the money they make, does that mean John Calipari is the devil?
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If Cal brings his recruiting class with him, then UK will be a force. No matter what, making that kind of cash with that fan base means he better win and win fast. It will be interesting how this plays out.
Kentucky will be a solid team next season. The SEC will have something to cheer for!
technically, calipari has one final four. the umass final four in 1996 was expunged by the ncaa
I know this is a different suject, but did anyone ever here what happen with Will Graves?
Yes and we are not telling.
You can probably piece it together if you look at the Inside Carolina boards, going back a while.
The thing about Calipari and Kentucky that seems a bit weird to me is the fact that Kentucky has a long history of getting popped by the NCAA for rules violations, and Calipari is known to work at the edges of what is acceptable in recruiting, if not past it. Whether it’s the shadowy involvement of Worldwide Wes, although to this point there is no evidence of impropriety, to the ever willingness to engage in package deals, Calipari works the margins.It seems like given both UK’s and Calipari’s history they’re asking the NCAA to take a keen interest in their program again. It seems like a great deal of though would have been given that.
Just win, baby!
Kentucky is a rich state and they need this!
Count me as one of the people who wants to see UK back as an Elite program. IMO, there are 6 crown jewels in college bball (UNC, Duke, UK, KU, UCLA, and IU) and college bball is most exciting when all 6 are are at their best.
Notice that none of the schools mentioned by C.Michael are known for being good at football…. In fact, with the exception of UCLA, they are all probably more well known for not being good at football….
I find it more interesting that only the first two are scandal free…
I would say that only Kentucky has a bad reputation. KU had a minor incident back under Larry Brown, although Self has had a lot of transfers. UNC had some incidents at the end of the McGuire era, that were mostly due to bookkeeping, but McGuire was not unlike Calipari is some ways….