John Calipari hasn't been the UK men's basketball coach for a month yet and he has already dramatically increased the enthusiasm surrounding our beloved program. I want to discuss what his hiring has meant to me as a fan, but first I want you to consider it too. So I will ask you: What has the new UK men's basketball coach meant to you as a fan?
I'll explain what it means to me by starting off how I felt about the program a few years ago and then progressing to how I feel about the program today. Then I will ask if our attitudes about the program should change?
About three years ago is when I really started to follow recruiting and UK's basketball program seriously on the internet. At that time, as many of you all know, the program seemed to be stagnant and recruiting was not much fun to follow. Then Coach Gillispie was hired and most everyone looked positively on his hiring.
I was confident in BCG's abilities as a recruiter because of what I read about him on the internet. Many people noted that UK's recruiting would get better not only because he was a good recruiter, but because of the tremendous effort he put forth. I would say that, while some of his moves were not popular, most agreed that he was doing a good job as a recruiter. The basketball talent definitely seemed to be on the upswing. However, for whatever reason, the results on the basketball court were troubling to many fans. I was a big Gillispie fan, but I have to admit some of the things he did left me scratching my head.
Even with that said, I had confidence in him as a coach and a recruiter that could bring
us back to national prominence, but I still felt the need to spend countless time on the internet following UK's recruiting and program building. I wanted to know that he was doing the right things and recruiting the best high school basketball players. So I did my best to follow his work. I was very happy with what Gillispie was doing for our program, and I was hungry to see what kids he was recruiting and which ones were committing.
Then John Calipari was brought in to coach UK's men's basketball team. Although I wasn't ready to see BCG leave, I am elated that Calipari is our new coach. He almost immediately united our fanbase, and in the last 25 days or so he has brilliantly improved the UK brand and marketed UK basketball. Coach Calipari has all the best high school basketball players clamoring to play for him in the Dribble Drive Motion offense because they know he can get them into the NBA. Calipari is tweeting for goodness sake! The man knows what the UK program needs and what UK fans want, that is as much access to the program as possible. Oh and we want a good basketball team as well. Calipari's teams have won more games in the last four years than any other team or coach. He is proving that he can and will bring in the best basketball talent available. The Wildcats are also going to be a fun team to watch again. They will play great defense, play a little more up and down with more motion and creativity, and they will win! What more can you ask for?
So now I will ask you: Should our attitudes about the program change? I am asking this because I still see quite a few people on the message boards with a negative or pessimistic outlook on UK basketball and basketball recruiting. I just don't understand why. I know that they past few years have been hard on most UK fans, but that is the past. We have a guy who is going to change UK's basketball program from a Cadillac into a Ferrari again!
As for myself, I no longer feel the need to follow recruiting 3,4,5,6 or 8 hours a day. I know with Calipari he will get things done, and probably better than I can hope for! So I am happy getting my tweets from Cal, checking up on what he is doing often with optimism instead of my old curious skepticism. This coaching move has changed my life so-to-speak. I can breathe easier now with Calipari as head coach. I know things are moving in the right direction. I have no reason to worry anymore about UK basketball. Now I get to sit back, relax, and genuinely enjoy being a UK basketball fan!
It's going to be fun!
Hooprokr
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It was evident several days in advance by reading TBK that Gilliispie was going to be let go. All the talk at that time was
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