Examining the unusual rollercoaster ride of John Calipari's future at Kentucky
Kentucky’s stunning, season-ending loss to Oakland in the NCAA Tournament has brought out every emotion from their fanbase over the past few days in regards to their program and to John Calipari. That includes for KSR’s Nick Roush as he processes it all with the rest of those back in the bluegrass.
Roush joined for a segment on ‘Andy Staples On3’ on Tuesday to discuss his thoughts on the Wildcats’ defeat and what it means for the future of Calipari. He said that he had to come on the show again after appearing just last week to emote how he was still feeling at the moment, especially since this has now happened twice in just the past three years.
“You know, Andy, I wanted to come on here and, like, scream and do a whole dog and pony show for all you sickos out there who love to see Kentucky lose. I’m happy, you know. I’ll dance for you, right?” said Roush. “But I can’t. It was so weird, right? Like, they did it again! It was so bad. It was sad. I think that was the biggest difference between Kentucky losing to Oakland in 2024 versus Kentucky losing to Saint Peter’s in 2022. There was an anger of, like, how? What is wrong with you?!”
“They’ve just been bad and they’ve been bad in such unusual ways that, like, this team? When you looked at them, they did all of the things that they were supposed to be able to do to go on that run,” Roush said. “To see them flame out because they couldn’t guard a white guy who only shot threes, a set-shooting Jack Gohlke that took three dribbles? You can’t coach that guy from making a shot?”
That’s when Roush got to his heart-wrenching reality about Calipari at this point. With this loss, he felt as though it was like a death in the family. It was like their fans had lost their elderly pet who couldn’t learn any more new tricks. Or, at the very least, they lost one that couldn’t do the great ones that it used to do.
“This wasn’t it. Like, I found out my dog is dying. He’s an old dog, he has got some time to go but his best days are done, right? He’s an old dog, it’s going to happen. That’s how I felt like it was with John Calipari,” Roush stated. “Like, the coach that I knew that was awesome back when I was in college? And gave me some of the happiest moments of my life? He doesn’t have the same pep in his step. He doesn’t sound the same, he doesn’t coach the same.”
“I can’t understand how we got to this point with John Calipari but I was overwhelmingly sad on Thursday night,” said Roush. “Just, like, ‘Well, this is it. Like, he’s done. He clearly doesn’t have it anymore.'”
Roush made it clear that this isn’t just how he feels either. These are thoughts and opinions that have swept over the Big Blue Nation over the last week with message boards lighting up from every take you can imagine. That was certainly the case as they all tried to determine whether or not Mitch Barnhart was going to pull the trigger or not on a firing of Calipari.
“This day on the internet? I don’t know if any of y’all were on KSBoard. If you’re not a member of KSR+ or On3+, wherever you can read it? It has been wild,” Roush explained. “I mean threads – ‘Why not Dawn Staley?’, ‘Why not Will Wade?’, ‘Why not this coach?’. There was a guy who did a Calipari burner and, like, posed as Calipari doing an AMA. It was ridiculous, it was insanity.”
“I mean, six times throughout the day, I thought Cal was either going to be gone or he was going to stay. Andy, as you pointed out on Friday, the buyout didn’t really seem to be an issue. In an unusual twist too, there wasn’t any sort of leaks on it was leaning this way or another,” said Roush.
Still, as of today, Calipari remains and looks to be remaining on as the head coach at Kentucky. That was the thought that started to prevail on Monday, specifically with him appearing on his local radio show. However, even that was still odd to Roush based on the circumstances in which they held it.
“What I thought was weird is that – I don’t know,” said Roush. “Like, Cal, part of his pleading on his coaches show, Andy? He was talking about how much he loved this state and the expectations, this job. He loves this job so much – but he was calling in from his beach house in New Jersey instead of meeting with his boss after one of the worst losses in the history of the program. So, it’s just a little weird.”
There’s no getting around the place that Kentucky finds themselves with Calipari at this point. It’s now a complicated relationship that is getting more so by the day as they look back at the good ‘ole days while also coming terms to what the present has been like.
It’s not over yet, though, and doesn’t seem to be ending, at least for now. That sets up what should be a long offseason in Lexington and, eventually, a potentially volatile 16th season under Calipari.