Will John Calipari be able to win back the Kentucky fanbase

Kentucky’s loss to Saint Peter’s crushed many UK fans and now coach John Calipari will have to work to regain the trust and confidence of many UK fans. (Vicky Graff Photo)

By LARRY VAUGHT

John Calipari has faced a lot of challenges at Kentucky but after going 9-16 during the 2020-21 season and then losing to 15th-seeded Saint Peter’s last week to end this season he has a major challenge awaiting him.

Can he win back the Kentucky fan base?

No, the fan base is not abandoning Kentucky basketball. However, many UK fans are either questioning the coach or have at least lost some faith in him.

Calipari might already have been sensing that not long after the NCAA Tournament upset loss when when he posted this message to BBN on Twitter:

“I feel for our team, our fans and our staff. This team deserved something good to happen because of how they worked and what great teammates they became. Our fans deserved it too. We were all ready for this year. This team didn’t disappoint and I remain proud and fond of each of these players,” Calipari posted.

“Please steer your disappointment and anger toward me. These kids did this for all of the BBN and I wish I could have dragged them over the finish line. My focus is on these kids and recruiting so we continue being a program that has a chance to do something special EVERY YEAR. The culture we’ve built in this program expects that and demands it.”

Problem is Kentucky is having a hard time doing those special things recently.

Kentucky became  just the 10th No. 2 seed out of 145 in NCAA play to lose to a 15 seed and it was the first time since 1986 — and only third time ever — that UK lost to a double-digit seed in NCAA play. Saint Peter’s was an 18.5-point underdog making it the fourth-largest betting upset since the NCAA expanded to 64 teams in 1985.

It’s a huge turnaround for how Calipari’s NCAA run started when he came to UK in 2009. HIs first years at UK the Cats won a national title, reached the Final Four four teams and had a 22-4 NCAA tourney record. Since the 2015 Final Four loss to Wisconsin, UK is 9-5 in NCAA play and has not made it past the Elite Eight.

That means no NCAA Tournament wins since 2019, no SEC Tournament championships since 2018 and no Final Fours since 2015 for the program Calipari calls the “gold standard” for college basketball. But what frustrated UK fans so much is that UK beat North Carolina by 29 points, Tennessee by 28 and Kansas by 18 — on the road. North Carolina and Kansas both are in the Sweet 16.

After freshman TyTy Washington injured his leg against Florida on Feb. 12, Kentucky went 5-4, including 0-3 against ranked teams, and was never the same team.

This was a beloved Kentucky team due in large part to Oscar Tshiebwe, the likely consensus national player of the year. After many fans felt disengaged with players during the 9-16 season a year ago, the BBN embraced the Cats and the fanbase could sense a potential national championship run.

After Kentucky lost to Saint Peter’s there was a huge reaction from Kentucky fans on social media, including my website where comments exceeded anything during the season. The majority of the comments showed the lack of faith fans have in Calipari and his system.

— Douglas Smith: “Our program is in worse shape now than before he came on board. Just a simple fact. With the talent we’ve had, underachiever is correct.”

— Kim Curtsinger: “I have been off the Cal bandwagon for a few years. Finally people are joining me. If Cal can’t adapt to the changes needed, then he needs to go. And all the maniac yelling, and jerking guys out the second they make a mistake only hurts the team. I don’t see why anyone would want to play for him.”

— Jon Hart: “It’s all about getting his players ready for the NBA and not the present. Maybe Cal needs to humble himself this summer and brainstorm with his assistants to right the ship again. He hired them for a reason, so listen to them.”

— Dave Turpin: “Always thinking he is the smartest guy in the room. When he loses, it’s the players fault. If he had an ounce of integrity he would resign.”

Others staunchly defend Calipari. They say it is not his fault players made mistakes or missed shots.

Still others might have the most realistic approach.

“Coach Calipari is the right guy for UK. Not the popular opinion right now but I believe it. He has to learn from errors, bend a little on his offensive scheme and focus on defense,” UK fan Dana Skaggs said.

Calipari did try to change some of his thinking after the 9-16 finish in 2020-21. He went with experience through the transfer portal and had the oldest team he’s had at UK. He added shooters Kellan Grady and C.J. Fredrick through the transfer portal but Fredrick never played due to an injury. He found a true post presence with Oscar Tshiebwe, another transfer. He got an experienced point guard in Georgia transfer Sahvir Wheeler. He changed his coaching staff and brought in former UK assistant Orlando Antigua and Chin Coleman.

However, his basic offensive and defensive philosophies have not changed. He won’t play zone defense. He won’t call timeout at the end of a game. He will control the pace in the second half if his team has the lead.

Off the court, Calipari does a lot. His team helped with a telethon to raise money for western Kentucky tornado victims. He was at the SEC Tournament title game when the  UK women won. He visited Dick Vitale before his team played in the SEC tourney knowing he was recovering from cancer surgery.

Calipari genuinely enjoyed coaching this team. That was obvious during the season and also after the final loss when he was perhaps the most remorseful he’s been since the 2015 Final Four loss to Wisconsin when UK was 38-0.

“This was probably something they never felt in their lives. And that’s why I wish I had some answers with three minutes to go to help them through it to get by the first one,” Calipari said after the loss. “Obviously I didn’t do a very good job with it.”

Calipari is not going to be fired — he has a lifetime contract — and I can’t see him walking away. However, once next season gets here, he’s got to find a way to reconnect with the fan base and next March he has to find a way to win games.


Vince Marrow doesn’t think any other coach could have built the program Mark Stoops has at Kentucky. (Vicky Graff Photo)

Vince Marrow is obviously more than just a little biased when it comes to Mark Stoops, the man he came to Kentucky to work for as soon as Stoops became UK’s head coach.

“I don’t think any other coach with so many challenges could have done what Mark Stoops has done here,” said Marrow. “The key was us going into Ohio and getting those guys (recruits), four-star guys. Maybe Benny (Snell) was only a three-star but he was really, really good. Ohio produces a lot of college and NFL players and we had to get in there with our ties to that state.”

The Kentucky recruiting coordinator says the UK administration deserves credit for giving Stoops time to build the program the way he wanted.

“I think they could see where it was going. A lot of big-time coaches would have failed here because they would not have had the blueprint to change this like we did,” Marrow said.

“At first we had some top recruits but not the overall bodies to compete. Once we started building depth, we took off. It still comes down to recruiting even now. You can go into different states to recruit and have NIL (name, image and likeness) but you still have to be a good recruiter.”

Marrow said recruiting moved to a different level when Stoops brought in Liam Coen as offensive coordinator last year and recruits could see not only that receiver Wan’Dale Robinson had a huge year but Kentucky running backs and offensive linemen were still effective.

“It’s kind of like Cal (John Calipari) recruiting players to get them ready for the NBA,” Marrow said. “Now we have an offense geared to get players to the NFL and that won’t change with (new offensive coordinator) Rich (Scangarello).”


Lyon County sophomore Travis Perry could become Kentucky’s all-time leading high school scorer and already ranks 18th on the all-time scoring list. (Les Nicholson Photo)

Lyon County sophomore Travis Perry is one of only 37 Kentucky high school players ever to score 3,000 or more points in his high school career. Perry now has 3,189 points — good for 18th on the all-time Kentucky high school scoring list.

Perry is only 458 points away from tying Charlie Osborne (Flat Gap, 1953-57) for second on the all-time scoring list at 3,647 points and is 1,149 points from moving ahead of the state record 4,337 points scored by Kelly Coleman (Wayland, 1953-56).

The guard  scored 990 points this year but also scored 638 in 2019 (seventh grade), 852 in 2020 and 709 in 2021.

That’s one reason the Lyon County sophomore said it was a “huge deal” not just for the team but “everyone in Lyon County” to have the team reach the state tournament.

“Playing in Rupp Arena in front of thousands of people is awesome. It’s a great experience you don’t get every day,” Perry said. “I am so proud of our team and how we played. It’s just a huge deal for us and our fans.

“It’s hard not to play hard when everybody is cheering for you. It makes you feel so happy to be out there on the floor. We might never get that again where we have 10,000 people cheering for us. You don’t forget that.”

Perry again emphasized he doesn’t think about becoming the state’s all-time leading scorer even though he’s asked about it often.

“I am not better than anybody else on the team,” he said. “I just try to set a good example for everybody, show everybody how hard they have to work.”

Covington Catholic coach Scott Ruthsatz is not easy to do even when he’s the focus of the defense.

“We tried to take him out. But it is hard to stay in front of him,” the Covington Catholic coach said. “He drives hard and can stop on a dime. Our goal was to limit his play and touches because he not only can score but he can drop it off for post players. He’s just a really good player.”

Perry has scholarship offers from Mississippi, New Orleans and Creighton, the team that almost beat No. 1 seed Kansas last week in the NCAA Tournament. He has heard from Wisconsin, Purdue, Murray State, Western Kentucky, Belmont, Iowa, Purdue, Loyola and Virginia.


Kentucky commit Reed Sheppard is the state’s Gatorade Player of the Year. (Les Nicholson Photo)

Kentucky commit Reed Sheppard of North Laurel, who also played in the state tournament, has been the Kentucky Gatorade Player of the Year.

His team lost 59-51 to Pikeville in the state  tourney when Sheppard had 14 points, eight rebounds, six steals, five assists and two blocks. He had an off shooting night as he was 5-for-20 from the field.

Sheppard averaged 25.5 points, 7.6 assists, 6.8 rebounds and 4.4 steals per game and shot 55 percent from the field overall and 38 percent from 3-point range.

He has  2,917 career points and if he stays healthy could have a shot to also reach 4,000 points in his career. He scored 856 points this season and would need 1,083 to reach 4,000.


Quote of the Week: “I’m proud of what Kentucky has done this year. Our work is not yet done. We’ll go back to work and this will be a program that the people in the Commonwealth will be proud of,” UK women’s coach Kyra Elzy after her team lost to Princeton in the NCAA Tournament.

Quote of the Week 2: “Just so we all understand, I can’t do this job by myself. I can’t. I wish I could. I wish I could stand up here and tell you that I have all the answers. I don’t. I really don’t. But here’s what I know: I know that this is a university that’s built on success,” former UK assistant coach Kenny Payne on being named the new head coach at Louisville.

Quote 3: “What a man he has become! So proud of you for what you’ve done and what you will still do! One of the special players we’ve had here, who didn’t score like they wanted, but learned how to fight and how to be a great teammate,” Kentucky coach John Calipari on Karl-Anthony Towns after his 60-point game for Minnesota.