DeMarcus Cousins, Rajon Rondo passionately debate the future of John Calipari at Kentucky
DeMarcus Cousins and Rajon Rondo aren’t quite on the same page about the future of John Calipari at Kentucky. Whether or not to bring Calipari back has been a hot topic of discussion over the past few days since the Wildcats lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
It marked the second time in the past three seasons that UK has been bounced in the first round. Additionally, the Wildcats have not advanced past the second round since 2019, and the fan base is beginning to grow restless.
An the podcast Bully Ball with Rachel Nichols, Cousins, who played under Calipari from 2009-10, was quick to defend the coach. Rondo, however, played under Tubby Smith and explained that he believed the current results aren’t cutting it.
“How do we get to this place where we’re now disrespecting the guy who created the standard?” Cousins said. “He’s brought more positivity to this university and to this fan base than any negativity.”
“He has one ‘chip, though,” Rondo shot back.
Cousins made the point that it’s difficult to reach the standard every season at a place like Kentucky, but that Calipari’s track record should speak for itself. He led the Wildcats to a national championship in 2012, as well as four Final Four appearances in his 15 seasons.
Cousins believes with time, Calipari will get things going in the right direction again.
“I don’t understand how we get to the point where our next-best option is to replace this coach,” Cousins said. “That doesn’t even make sense to me. With what? … Everything Calipari brings to a program is going to go down if they replace this guy. Everything is going down.
“No matter what university, no matter what legendary coach, they all went through a dry spell of losing tournaments, not really meeting the standard that year. It happens with every program. We’re talking about the category of elite coaching. Cal is an elite coach.”
Rondo fired back with the fact that Calipari has only won one title during his time in Lexington, suggesting he isn’t quite as elite as Cousins thinks.
“How many ‘chips Cal got?” he said. “It’s been over a decade. It’s about, ‘what have you done for me lately?’ …It’s the University of Kentucky. It’s been one of the greatest colleges of all-time way before Cal got there. He didn’t just come there and set the standard that it’s winning basketball now. It’s been that. …I never said ‘fire Cal.’ All I’m saying is he has to get the guys to buy in.”
In the end, it’s likely that Calipari will return for the 2024-25 season. CBS Sports insider Matt Norlander reported that the Wildcats are “unlikely” to move on from Calipari. Part of the reason is that they would owe the coach a $33 million buyout if they were to do so.
Rondo clarified that despite his comments, he isn’t necessarily of the opinion that Calipari should be fired either. He just believes that the coach needs to work harder to adapt to the new world of college sports that NIL has created.
Getting the right players in the program and convincing them to buy in in paramount, and it begins with the head coach, in his opinion.
“These guys are looking at the damn draft boards every day,” Rondo said. “Mentally, it’s like, ‘OK, I want to best for the team but my agent’s calling me. I got the NIL money coming in.’ These are just different times that these kids are going through to buy in and understand that it’s about sacrificing every night on the floor. I don’t think they did that completely in understanding, ‘we need to focus on winning instead of looking at the draft board.’ That starts with Cal and the staff getting ready to buy into that system.”