John Calipari wants Kentucky to return 'gold standard' with facilities

How things could change in college football has all of the attention at SEC Meetings this week, but college basketball also has a presence for the most powerful conference in college athletics. John Calipari and his Kentucky program are looking to bounce back in 2022-23.

The Wildcats are off of a productive season where the team was seen as a national championship contender for most of the year, but that did not stay the case in March. An unlucky run of injuries came at a bad time, and the Wildcats limped to the finish line losing to No. 15 seed Saint Peter’s to begin the NCAA Tournament. That has left many in the Big Blue Nation frustrated and wanting to rebuild.

Calipari happens to be in that same boat and feels good about his roster heading into the next season as the players report to campus this week. However, the rebuilding the 14th-year head coach wants to do is off of the floor.

“I think I got the best job in basketball, and I believe that,” John Calipari said on the Paul Finebaum Show on Tuesday. “Yeah, I’ve had some opportunities to look and leave. But at the end of the day, you look at this situation, we have a chance to win it every year. Our recruiting, and again, Mitch and I are meeting because my thing about it’s unacceptable if we’re not the gold standard in facilities and everything else. Not acceptable if Midnight Madness isn’t something that’s talked about for a month. Unacceptable. We need the campout going again.

Big Blue Madness is, of course, a staple in Kentucky basketball fanhood as the megaevent acts as the unofficial start of college basketball season in October. However, the facility point is key and seems to have a lot to do with recruiting as there is an arms race in college athletics and now the Wildcats live in a world where basketball is being taken seriously at multiple programs in the SEC.

The head coach has gone on records multiple times saying that the men’s basketball team needs some facility upgrades. There have been no specific requests given, but a good amount of time has passed since Calipari’s program got some new shiny toys on campus.

“We slipped a little bit in some of the facilities,” Calipari said. “Now I’m not saying our facilities are bad — they’re not bad — it’s not the gold standard. Mitch and I are going to sit down and talk. Ok, what’s the path? How do we get that going to where anybody that walks in our campus and sees any facilities knows ‘wow, look at this’.”

Sounds like Calipari and Kentucky’s athletic director are going to have a very important meeting to discuss issues within the basketball program very soon. All signs point to that conversation being very essential as the Wildcats are still chasing national title No. 9 and are looking to end a seven-year Final Four drought.