John Calipari climbed into the front seat of a black Suburban headed for the airport but seemed in no hurry to leave the campus at Loyola Marymount University. He’d just delivered an hour-long talk and spent another half hour obliging every coach who wanted to take a photo.
Demonstrating aspects of his dribble-drive offense, Calipari also told stories and cracked wise fresh off a trip to Washington, D.C., where he heard Pope Francis speak, while still relishing his recent induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Sort of.
“I may be the worst coach to go to the Hall of Fame,’’ he joked, but then shouted. “I ain’t giving that (expletive) back!”
The gym exploded with laughter, and Calipari grinned. But the grin vanished when someone asked him about critics who say he’s an inferior coach who wins because he gets the best players in the country.
“I could sit there and argue the point and give you facts why that’s b.s., but basically we’re winning all the games,’’ Calipari said. “Can I say this again? ALL of the games. Like, no, you don’t understand, ALL the games.’’
Well, not all of them games. But in six seasons at Kentucky, Calipari’s teams have won 190 games and lost just 38, reached the Final Four four of the past five seasons and won the 2012 national championship. Despite having lost all five starters and the seven top scorers from last year’s team, the Wildcats are expected to be among the top teams again when the USA TODAY Sports preseason poll is released Oct. 15.
“We’re the least-experienced team in the country,’’ he said.
But with Midnight Madness and the official start of practice still more than two weeks away, Calipari looked relaxed. And his presentation at the Coaching For Success Academy organized by former college coach George Raveling — another recent inductee into the Naismith Hall of Fame — included these highlights:
► Calipari didn’t rule out the possibility of a return to the NBA, but he suggested the college game suits him better because he can impact the lives of his players and their families.
“Right now I can feel and see that I’m making a difference,’’ said Calipari, who was 72-112 with the New Jersey Nets before getting fired 20 games into the 1998-99 season. “Could I do that in an NBA job? Because I don’t need to go to the NBA and make all the money or win the championship for the owner of the team. That’s not what creates joy for me.’’
► Reducing the shot clock to 30 seconds, designed to speed up play, will have minimal effect, Calipari predicts. He said the biggest problem are fouls that go uncalled. The rough-and-tumble play once led him to outfit his players with football helmets and encourage them to be more physical as they prepared for the postseason. They reached the Final Four.
“There’s nothing wrong with our game in college basketball except too many fouls,’’ he said. “Just call fouls. You don’t need to change rules. The three-point line, they moved back, that’s fine. That’s not changing our game. If you don’t call fouls, it doesn’t matter how we play. Call the foul.’’
► Calipari recalled his use of visualization to help one of his teams at Memphis that was the worst free-throw shooting team in the country, “led’’ by forward Joey Dorsey, who at one point was shooting 38 percent from the line.
One day Calipari turned out the lights.
“I want you to visualize three bounces or whatever your free throw warm up is, set that ball, see that rim and hold your follow through,’’ he said. “So we did it and then I said to Joey Dorsey after doing 10 times, ‘How’d you do?’ He said, ‘I made six.’ ”
► Tyler Ulis, a sophomore and Kentucky’s starting point guard, could be a first-round pick in the 2016 NBA draft, said Calipari, who recalled Ulis’ recruitment.
“Everybody said, ‘You’re going to get a great four-year guard, this is what you need,’ ” Calipari said. “So he comes in (for a recruiting visit and) I said to him, ‘Tyler, look, if you want to be here four years, don’t come here. Go somewhere else. We don’t do that. We’re here preparing everyday to chase dreams.’
“He looked at me and said, ‘I’m ready to sign. I was tired of hearing that (expletive), too.’ "
► Someone asked about Calipari’s pursuit of perfection.
“Want to know what my goal is?’’ he said. “Do you think it’s to win national titles? Let me win more than the next guy? Do you think I’m going to have the number of my wins on my tombstone? Do you think I really give a (expletive)?
“I want half of the NBA All-Star Game to have played for me,’’ he said. “So when I walk in, 24 guys, 12 of them played for me. I got four (NBA All-Stars) right now.’’
As the talk closed, Calipari said, “I hope I threw a little basketball at you, but I’d rather talk about the other stuff.’’
Calipari wasn’t done. When he climbed into the front seat of the black Suburban with Oregon coach Dana Altman in the back, he reflected on having stood next to John Boehner the day the Pope spoke before Congress and a day before the Speaker of the House announced he is retiring next month.
“I said I would never be coaching past the age of 60,’’ Calipari, 56, said. “But I kept saying I see all these guys coaching in their 70s. I’m like, 'Dana, maybe we’ll do it. Maybe we’ll do the same thing.’
“Did you see Pat Riley at the Hall of Fame? He was one of my presenters. I said, 'You look great.' He said, ‘This basketball keeps you young.’ That’s what he hit me back with.
“I’ll know and everybody else will know when it’s time for me to stop doing this. … When I’m done, it’ll be because there’s nothing left in the tank.’’
Moments later, Calipari climbed out of the Suburban and headed for a private plane that would take him to Las Vegas for recruiting.
His tank looked full.
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