CBSsports.com's Gary Parrish wrote an interesting article discussing the schedule negotiations between Mark Few and John Calipari back when they originally set up the GU/Memphis series. Definitely shows Cal's true colors, hes like a used car salesman...YUCK!
Click here for the article.
5 comments:
Don't know if this shows Coach Cal's true colors or shows an aspect of Coach Cal's ability to read people. Calipari is good/lucky enough to have the upper hand in negotiations (great teams every year, deep tourney runs), so he used it to his advantage. Granted the nature of his argument was a bunch of crap, but Few's biggest selling point was that Few could get away with agreeing to a "neutral site". Other major programs could not swallow a home-neutral site arrangement at least at the time. If you think about it, Gonzaga got to play against some of the best teams in the nation at the time by moving the games to Spokane Arena. It was rare for a big name team to come to Spokane. Just like to point out that there were many reasons Battle in Seattle got started and neutral site was one of them. In any event, I am just more appreciative of the current Michigan St. Notre Dame and Xavier series a bit more.
I dislike coach Calipari, he reminds me of dishonest car salesman. But, you have to admit he is very good at what he does.
I hated that Gonzaga was on Kyle Wiltjer for years, supposedly as the front runner, and Calipari came in from out of nowhere and gobbled him up in the 11th hour.
The tactic was to have some of his past players now in the NBA show off their bling and convince Wiltjer that Kentucky was the place to be. They were all over him at that all-star game, where he committed at halftime. So much for years of courting.
So Calipari won...He knew how to read the recruit and used it to his favor. If only the Zags had a recruiter as efficient as Cal. That slimeball.
Zagfan10
I did not follow Kyle's recruiting process closely, but not surprised that Coach Cal was able to win him over with the seemingly endless resources a blue-blood program has. I do dislike Coach Cal. He reminds me more of the Benny Hill preacher type. Promises you the sun the moon and the sky if you just give your soul to Je-sus and make a donation (the donation is the most important part as it signifies your conversion in a tangible manner). I think he has ruined programs by placing himself first. He is a good basketball coach and great recruiter, but not a great face of college basketball. I would prefer to have someone like Brad Stevens or even Frank Martin. Yes I put them ahead of Mark Few as Few does not posses the camera presence like other coaches do. Martin would just look at people and tell them to watch games and they would out of fear and respect.
Honestly i live in Kentucky, ive been through Lexington, its definitely not the facilities that are winning these guys over...If anything its the opportunity for cal and all of his NBA Agent friends like Worldwide Wes (who he lets in the locker rooms) have a chance to groom the players into something they feel they wont get elsewhere. I think The Zags have facilities that are actually better than UK's. Now Louisville has better facilities than both, but they dont get the same recruits that UK does...Really if you go back even further before Cal arrived at UK, they didnt get the recruits they get now, its a Cal thing, not a UK thing.
Definitely a Cal thing...and UK doesn't put up with not getting results. If a coach goes more than two years and doesn't show good tourney results, they are out. Cal definitely has the star appeal...as Josh mentioned above with Worldwide Wes, and then with Ashley Judd going to UK games, and all the connections he has in the NBA (current players) that's what makes the players want to go there. He has made it very clear that he will get his players to the NBA.
I also currently live in Kentucky and agree with Josh, Gonzaga facilities are MUCH nicer than UK's, although much smaller. Louisville's are technically nicer, but really lack the "home" atmosphere of both UK and GU. The cool thing that I really like about UK is how Lexington rallies around the school, that reminds me of Spokane and Gonzaga.
Anyways, I totally rambled, but you get my point!
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