CRAWFORD | As Kentucky losses mount, simmering fan frustration with Calipari begins to boil | Sports

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The last column I thought I'd have to be writing in 2023 was a column about John Calipari's future at Kentucky.

Yet that's a very real concern after the Wildcats dropped a three-point loss to South Carolina at home Tuesday night. Kentucky came into the game off a 26-point loss at Alabama and was a 20-point favorite over the Gamecocks. It quickly fell behind by 15 and never pulled even.

The Wildcats are 10-6 without a quality win this season. They lost by 16 to Gonzaga, 10 to UCLA and by 14 at Missouri. They don't have a win against anyone in the KenPom top 50.

That coming off a year when they fell in the first round to Saint Peter's, which came off a COVID-19 year in which they finished 9-16. Calipari is 45-30 since the beginning of that season.

And a sizable portion of the fan base has spoiled on the coach with a lifetime contract, who continues to be a recruiting force with the top-ranked class for next season lined up to report to Lexington.

The call-in shows were red hot after Tuesday night's loss. One caller admitted he'd been smoking weed and was therefore more mellow about the whole situation. James Streble and Jason Ence at ESPN 680 in Louisville presided over some raw emotion from Kentucky fans. Matt Jones, later on, even after fans had a cooling off period, heard the same.

One caller said, "We've had floods and tornadoes and now this." The point being, Kentucky fans look to the Wildcats as something to lift them up, to provide a point of pride. And that, in recent years, has been taken from them.

GoFundMe pages are springing up to raise money to buy out Calipari's contract. A fan apparently was removed from Rupp Arena for refusing to give up a sign that read "Go To Texas," a reference to reported conversations between Calipari's representatives and the Longhorns. After the game, UK said the fan left the arena of his own accord rather than give up the sign when fans nearby said it was obstructing their vision.

Calipari has become increasingly insulated. Questions at news conferences can come only from reporters he selects.

It's a pretty shocking turn for someone who has ridden the wave of Big Blue Nation as well as any coach in modern times. He has used the fan base for good – raising millions of dollars for charitable efforts. And he has driven the Cadillac of college basketball programs to new heights of talent – sending 45 players into the NBA Draft in his first dozen seasons at Kentucky. He was named coach of the decade for the 2010s. His ability to recruit top talent and shepherd it to the NBA revolutionized college recruiting.

Late last year, Calipari was the toast of the state after inviting a coal miner and his family that he spotted at a UK scrimmage in Eastern Kentucky to a game in Rupp Arena. At Big Blue Madness in October, he enjoyed a mic drop moment, as the fan base roared.

In his 13 years, UK has sent more players into the draft, won more NCAA Tournament games (31), been to more Final Fours (4), Elite Eights (7) and Sweet 16s (8) than any other school. But UK doesn't measure success primarily by those things.

The complaint is that the game is passing him by. That he can't coach the kind of offense required in today's game. That players aren't improving enough in their time at UK. The numbers, however, would suggest that at least this season, the defense is just as big a problem. The Wildcats aren't the kind of lock-down team Calipari has had in the past.

Calipari had the college basketball player of the year in Oscar Tshiebwe last season, and brought him back, joining a heralded recruiting class. Kentucky was ranked No. 4 in the preseason. Now it is unranked, and in jeopardy of missing the NCAA Tournament for the second time in three years.

And a segment of the fan base has had enough. The revolving door — even of blue-chip talent — was fine as long as the program was winning. The celebrations of draft night even above championships was tolerated, so long as the program was competing for championships.

But those things soured when the high-profile losses to ranked opponents started mounting. And the chorus against the coach has grown ever bolder. He had a heckler during his postgame radio chat in Rupp Arena Tuesday night.

Asked after the game what he would say to angry fans, Calipari replied: "Stick with these kids. If you want to get on me, that's fine. I'm the coach. If we weren't ready to play, then I've got to look at me and say, 'Well, what? Why? Where were we mentally?' I was trying things today to get them in a positive mindset. Because it's hard. And it's hard here. I mean, I always say this isn't for everybody, including coaches. It's not for everybody, when things go bad like this. So, if they hey want to be mad, be mad at me. These kids, they're trying. where we're still not quite in sync. ... We've got to be better than this. And that's on me. ... I'm on a mission. I was into the game today. I was being as enthusiastic as I can be watching some of the stuff because you know, just like, you're going to get mad. I get mad. These kids need me to keep teaching and keep working with them and keep believing in them. That's what they need from me.

"I don't listen to any of the clutter. None of it has any effect on me coaching these players. And our fans, man, they should be (mad). We lost at home. We don't lose at home. And we're down 10 and the half. I expect fans to be mad. And we have the best fans and I love our fans. I know they may be mad at me right now. But I've been here a long time teaching and working and having our fans be a big part of this. And all I'm saying is just be with these kids. They need you now more than they need you when they're 4-0. They need you. And like I said, well, I'm going to keep working. Keep fighting. The kids are going to keep fighting. We all disappointed."

With a so-called lifetime contract that would require more than $50 million for Kentucky to opt out, the notion that the school would write a check to part ways with the coach is a bit far-fetched.

But the frustration is real, and in some ways stunning, for a coach who has presided over the rabid fan base in a virtuoso ringmaster performance for more than decade.

As always, Kentucky has the talent to turn things around. But there may be more riding on that this season than in recent years. This level of frustration is different, but familiar.

You felt it at the end of Tubby Smith's tenure. And Joe B. Hall's. At Kentucky, it's difficult to exit on a good note. The only solution, as usual, is to win.

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