Is John Calipari really a terrible person?

Here's the problem with your essay:

  1. You didn't mark this thread as serious, so here comes all the incoming trolls. The circle-jerk level of Calipari is on the level of "FUCK DUKE" at this moment.

  2. You're posting at a very emotional time for the sub-reddit, in which the majority of people visiting are uninformed college basketball viewers whose opinions are not thoroughly sought out. They'll spit out some random jargon that they "overhead from that one guy who said that at a bar, so, like it must be true."

Anyways, here are the big things to mention when it comes to Calipari:

  • SUCCESS

UK and Calipari ended up being a successful match and won a metric ton of basketball games, including one championship. People hate to see the same teams win over and over. Calipari has done that at UK.

  • RECRUITMENT

UK and Calipari have had the top one or two recruiting classes since he arrived in 2009. We have out recruited many programs like UNC, Kansas, IU, Duke, etc. Other fans hate that.

  • MEDIA ATTENTION (GOOD AND BAD)

UK and the Calipari machine produce A LOT of media attention. When a team has their own special on "how to beat them", you know that the media has reached its fever pitch. Other fans are probably tired of hearing about UK.

The bad media attention is that some members of the media have their own "agendas" against Calipari. Many of those media members include Jeff Goodman, Dan Shaughnessy, Doug Gottlieb, Pete Thamel, and Pat Forde. Many of those media members are "black-listed" by Calipari based on many articles or hit pieces that are written (much like in the OP's essay).

  • NCAA RELATIONSHIP

It's well documented that the NCAA and Calipari do not see eye-to-eye when it comes on how college basketball should be played. calipari has famously called out the NCAA on many issues in his books exclaiming that the NCAA was like the Soviet Union. Many people believe that the NCAA went after Calipari on the two violations in a more determined fashion than other potential violations at that time. I don't have any opinion on this, but that is a presumed theory.

  • COMMUNITY SERVICE

From a perspective that Calipari is a bad person, I can attest that he does much for the community in and around the Lexington area (as many coaches do for their areas). He also strongly recommends his basketball team to participate in outreach as much as possible. You can see this outpouring with alumina like John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, Nerlens Noel, etc.

All in all, the best way to torture haters is with your happiness. There's nothing people hate more than seeing you be successful.

/r/CollegeBasketball Thread