BleedGopher
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KATZ: When the Kentucky job became open in 2007 after Tubby Smith resigned, how interested were you at that point?
CALIPARI: I was waiting on a phone call that never came. But as my wife has said many times, it was the best thing that could have happened for me and for the kids in the program at Memphis. The players at that time needed me there at Memphis. It ended up working out well for the team and for me -- and I ended up at Kentucky anyway.
KATZ: Why was the timing right in 2009?
CALIPARI: The timing was better because Tubby had won a national title [in 1998], and everybody in town still loved him. So following him would have made the job much harder for me. No disrespect to Billy Gillispie, but it didn't go well [during his two seasons at Kentucky]. If, following Tubby, we had a bunch of good players who left early, fans may have been up in arms. I tried to tell them that having five players taken in the first round of the NBA draft was the best thing to happen to our program, but there were people who fought me then, saying, "This isn't about the championship." Well, it is about championships. But the kids bring you championships, so at the end of the day, it's about the kids. The program is bigger than all of us. But you've gotta make this about the players, and that's what I do. They may not have accepted that in 2007.
http://m.espn.go.com/ncb/story?storyId=8676923&i=TWT&w=1cdio&wjb
Go Gophers!!
CALIPARI: I was waiting on a phone call that never came. But as my wife has said many times, it was the best thing that could have happened for me and for the kids in the program at Memphis. The players at that time needed me there at Memphis. It ended up working out well for the team and for me -- and I ended up at Kentucky anyway.
KATZ: Why was the timing right in 2009?
CALIPARI: The timing was better because Tubby had won a national title [in 1998], and everybody in town still loved him. So following him would have made the job much harder for me. No disrespect to Billy Gillispie, but it didn't go well [during his two seasons at Kentucky]. If, following Tubby, we had a bunch of good players who left early, fans may have been up in arms. I tried to tell them that having five players taken in the first round of the NBA draft was the best thing to happen to our program, but there were people who fought me then, saying, "This isn't about the championship." Well, it is about championships. But the kids bring you championships, so at the end of the day, it's about the kids. The program is bigger than all of us. But you've gotta make this about the players, and that's what I do. They may not have accepted that in 2007.
http://m.espn.go.com/ncb/story?storyId=8676923&i=TWT&w=1cdio&wjb
Go Gophers!!
