John Calipari's call-in radio show will be pre-recorded tonight

Later tonight, John Calipari will address Kentucky’s unexpected exit from the NCAA Tournament and the season as a whole during his UK HealthCare John Calipari Show on the UK Sports Network. The final call-in show of the 2021-22 basketball season is the most important hour in Calipari’s radio career as fans seek answers regarding the program’s worst NCAA Tournament loss in school history, a year removed from his call-in show explaining the worst season in school history.

Tonight’s call-in show will undoubtedly have record ratings when it airs; however, listeners have already been notified of one slight change in the program’s format: Calipari will not actually take calls on his final call-in show of the season.

Normally live each week, Calipari pre-recorded his show Monday afternoon to be aired tonight from 6:00 to 7:00 PM, and the network asked for question submissions on Twitter to be read on-air.

.@UKCoachCalipari will be on the road recruiting tonight.
That means the @UK_HealthCare John Calipari show will be recorded this afternoon.
Tweet in your questions now for @tomleachKY to ask the @KentuckyMBB Head Coach. pic.twitter.com/BUD4ryO0bP

— UK Sports Network (@UKSportsNetwork) March 21, 2022

Calipari is, “on the road recruiting tonight,” fans are told by the UK Sports Network.

Whoever Calipari is “recruiting” from exactly 6:00 to 7:00 PM must be very important, and it’s good to know he is already out rebuilding, but no one hour of recruiting should take precedence over all of the fans who will be sitting by a radio tonight, anxiously awaiting conversations he should be having with the show’s callers. Longtime followers of Calipari know he would’ve filibustered any and all questions with pre-rehearsed answers, likely the exact same things he’ll say on the pre-recorded show, but the point is for him to hear those questions directly and to hear some of the disappointment from the fan base.

I’m not saying he should get berated by crazies for an hour, but he should face the passionate supporters of the program that employs him, fans who have honest and reasonable questions about yet another disappointment beyond belief. He should also do it because he is contractually obligated and paid a lot of money to do it, or, simply because it’s the right thing to do in this situation.

Instead, tune in for a pre-recorded show with cherry-picked tweets tonight from 6:00 to 7:00 PM.

As for the recruiting aspect, I hope Kentucky gets whatever recruit demanded this exact hour of Calipari’s time. It’s really unfortunate the way the schedules just couldn’t line up on such an important evening.