John Calipari admits return to Rupp Arena will be emotional but "I'm not bitter in any way"

Give John Calipari credit; he has spoken openly about his return to Kentucky this week. With Arkansas on a midweek bye, Cal could have found ways to avoid the media ahead of Saturday’s trip to Lexington. Instead, he did his third media appearance of the week today, sitting down with reporters to preview the game instead of sending an assistant, as has been the case all season.

Naturally, Calipari fielded several questions about how he will handle his first game back in Lexington as Arkansas’ coach. He echoed his remarks from earlier in the week in which he said he expects to hear some boos when he and the Razorbacks take the floor. And he made it clear that if that happens, it will not impact how he feels about the Kentucky Basketball program or its fans.

“Look, I’m an opposing coach walking in the building, and I get that,” Calipari said. “And I’m not bitter in any way. What I did was right for me and my family, but it was also right for Kentucky, and Mark Pope has done a fabulous job. He knows that program because he played in it. He was the right guy for that job, and I’m walking back into that environment, yeah, there may be some boos. There may be a lot of boos. That doesn’t change anything for me. It doesn’t change the history. It doesn’t change my history. None of that is my focus right now.”

“Do I have a soft spot for Kentucky? Yes, I was there for 15 years. We gave our heart and soul, and not only the basketball, yes, we did a lot of stuff in basketball during that time that was pretty special. But we also were involved in communities, when there was flooding, when there were hurricanes, [for] Superstorm Sandy we did stuff, stuff happened in Houston, different things within our state, Ellen and I did things that we didn’t want in the paper, that you just did with people that we knew or people that we felt we needed to help so and I want to do the same here.”

Five former Kentucky players will be by Calipari’s side Saturday night. Adou Thiero, Zvonimir Ivisic, and DJ Wagner followed Calipari to Arkansas, as did Tyler Ulis, who was an assistant on last year’s Kentucky staff. Calipari’s son, Brad, who played at Kentucky from 2016-19, also joined his father’s staff in Fayetteville. Calipari said he expects all five to experience some emotions returning to their former stomping grounds, starting with Friday night’s walkthrough.

“Let me just say this: there’ll be some emotions. Now, walking into Rupp Arena, there will be for me — you’re not going to erase from my mind what we’ve done there. You can’t erase history. It’s what it was. For [Thiero, Ivisic, Wagner], last year, some of the stuff we did was and they were all part of it. So, you know, walking in, there’ll be emotions, there’ll be things that, you know.”

Calipari said his wife Ellen is under the weather and can’t make the trip, but he’s excited to see all of his old friends — even if they’ll be cheering for the Cats, not the Razorbacks.

“I cherish my time there, and so does Ellen and our family. Great friends, lifelong friends, they’ll be. Now, I want you to understand even my friends are Kentucky fans. They grew up with Kentucky, and they’re going to be Kentucky fans. Now, I hope they have red socks on, but that’s what it is.”

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Calipari on Kentucky fans: “I don’t remember them ever cheering an opposing coach”

Calipari went as far as to say he’s looking forward to seeing what the shoe is like on the other foot after seeing opposing coaches come into Rupp Arena for 15 years. (Remember, this is the man who once said that if he’s not booed when he walks into an opposing gym, he’s not doing his job right.)

“I look forward to walking into the building as an opposing coach. I’m the opposing coach. I, in my time, I don’t remember them ever cheering an opposing coach. So, if that — I’m fine. All I know is the fans, they’re terrific. They were terrific during our run. They’re engaged, and my guess is they’re going to be really engaged on Saturday.”

One reporter even asked if he thought fans would be “enthusiastic” to welcome him back given how he turned the program around from the Billy Gillespie days and won a national championship. Calipari knows that’s not how this works, at least not now.

“I don’t expect that. And if it happened, I’d be like, wow, you know, but I’m not expecting it, and not because of anything other than I’m the opposing coach now. I mean, again, they all remember what went on and where it started, and how we got it going, and that span of time. It could be matched, but you’re going to have to really do some stuff. And I’m not just talking at Kentucky, I’m talking anywhere.”

Calipari was even asked about Rick Pitino’s message to Kentucky fans on social media encouraging them to give Cal a standing ovation.

“Um, that’s nice to him to do, but you know, it’s — look, those fans are so engaged, like these fans. Those fans travel. If you’re doing well, they’re crazy. If you’re doing poorly, they’re just as engaged. So I accept. I was there for 15 years. I love the fans there, but they’re engaged.”

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