John Calipari explains John Welch hire, teases more staff additions

John Calipari has already added one member to his coaching staff this offseason, and based on his comments today, he’s going to add at least one more. At today’s press conference, Calipari was asked about John Welch, the longtime NBA assistant and father of former walk-on Riley Welch who joined the staff in May. Before discussing Welch, Calipari teased some more additions.

“I’m going to talk about John, but I’m going to talk about staff at another point because I still imagine a couple of things, a couple of pieces and I’ll — again I don’t know if I’ll explain it all to you why I’m doing what I’m doing. Because I don’t want that out there.”

One of those pieces is likely Chuck Martin, Calipari’s former assistant at Memphis who is currently on the staff at Oregon. Last week, word broke that Martin is expected to join Kentucky’s staff as the program’s fifth on-court assistant alongside Welch, Orlando Antigua, Chin Coleman, and Bruiser Flint. In January, the NCAA approved an increase of two coaches in men’s and women’s basketball. That rule is set to take effect starting July 1, so the news could potentially come as soon as tomorrow, but Calipari gave a slightly longer timeline.

“Still got other stuff to do with staff, and probably within the next 10 days to two weeks, we’ll lay everything out.”

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How “Johnny Gym Rat” is fitting in so far

As for Welch, Calipari is thrilled with his new hire, who earned the nickname “Johnny Gym Rat” for his long hours in the gym.

“For John, I wanted a workout guy that was a coach, that loved being in the gym. They called him ‘Johnny Gym Rat.’ He was with the [LA] Clippers, he was with Denver [Nuggets], he was with Sacramento [Kings]. He is in the gym. That’s what he wants to do, and that’s where he wants to be.”

Calipari said he’s known Welch for 25 years, going back to when he first started using the dribble-drive offense (side note: Chuck Martin is also a dribble-drive disciple).

“He was one of the guys that came in and we spent time and I went out and spent time to really learn [the dribble-drive]. So I know — like I told him, I need all these breakdowns to peel into what we’re doing in the dribble drive with this group. He’s been great.”

Welch is already shaking up Kentucky’s offseason routine. Earlier this week, a one-minute clip of practice made the rounds on social media, and in the background, you can see the Noah Shooting System, a tool that tracks shot quality and quantity using live data and analytics. Kentucky has had the Noah Shooting System for a few seasons now, but sources tell KSR’s Jack Pilgrim that Welch has made it part of the Wildcats’ daily routine.

“He’s going to be good,” Calipari said of Welch. “The players love him. He loves being [in the gym].”