By Aidan Joly
Ever since former Texas head coach Chris Beard was fired on January 5 amid domestic violence allegations, speculation has run rampant over who could be the next coach in Austin.
Call me crazy, but it seems that the speculation that Kentucky head coach John Calipari could take the job is gaining traction.
In the head of this blogger, there’s two schools of thought, one saying he could do it and another saying it doesn’t make sense.
As for he could do it, there’s no doubting that things are the worst they’ve ever been, especially in the last two years, since Calipari was hired ahead of the 2009-10 season.
Kentucky had a good season in 2019-20 and was sure to make a run in the NCAA tournament, but that obviously did not happen. After that, the Wildcats were putrid in 2020-21, finishing 9-16 and 8-9 in conference play, the first time the program finished a season under .500 in either mark since 1988-89, a season that was marred with an NCAA scandal and coach Eddie Sutton’s resignation after the season. 2021 was also only the second time in Calipari’s tenure that Kentucky missed the NCAA tournament.
Come the 2021-22 season, Kentucky was good enough to earn a No. 2 seed in the tournament but lost to St. Peter’s in the first round of the Peacocks run to the Elite Eight.
Now, things in Lexington have seemingly never been worse. The team currently sits at 10-6 and 1-3 in the SEC. Things seemingly came to a head on Tuesday night when it lost to sub-200 in KenPom and sub-250 in NET South Carolina at home. That qualified as the program’s first Quad 4 loss since it lost to Evansville at the beginning of the 2019-20 season. It’s worth noting that in South Carolina’s previous game, it got doubled up by Tennessee and lost by 43.
Historically, the program has not won a national championship since 2012, hasn’t made a Final Four since 2015 and hasn’t even won an NCAA tournament game since 2019. When you think of Kentucky, those are mind-boggling numbers.
It’s clear that Calipari has not done a good job the past few years despite having some of the best rosters in the country. Calipari has seemingly been more and more frustrated in recent years, and the fans have done the same in turn.
Texas has to go all-out with this hire. Calipari may be the right guy, he may not be. Time to take a look as to why it could be appealing for him to stay at Kentucky.
When Calipari signed that “lifetime” contract in 2019, a big part of it was that after he was done coaching, he could stay around the program as an “ambassador” and make just under $1 million a year for doing that. According to 247 Sports, when is the earliest he could do that?
After the 2023-24 season.
Calipari is 63 years old and will be 64 by the time this season comes to an end. After the 2023-24 season, could he decide to hang it up and do that? Will Kentucky softly push him out the door if he sticks around and struggles for another year? Maybe a combination of both.
If he were to take the Texas job, he’s probably only doing it for no more than 8-10 years. It’s easy to say the Texas administration would be okay with that, but it comes down to the decision that Calipari could potentially make.
Another reason he could stay is the recruiting class coming in. Kentucky has signed four of the top eight in ESPN’s top 100 for the class of 2023, including No. 1 DJ Wagner and No. 2 Justin Edwards. This is Kentucky’s best recruiting class in several years and far and away the best class in the sport heading into next year. Kentucky has utilized the transfer portal more in recent years to pick up veterans, so it could be very easy for Kentucky to have a roster that can contend for a national championship next year.
With all of these things in mind, would it make sense for Calipari to leave and/or Kentucky to let him go without much of a fight? It’s too early to tell, but the possibility exists and is an intriguing one.
AJ Hoops 