In all seriousness, it takes an awful lot (including luck) to win a national championship. (You've already called him a cheater, 'bought' the recruiting class, etc.. I am going to address your question, now.. if you revert back to name-calling, I'll just presume you're simply trolling .. btw, in an ANONYMOUS poll of 50 Div1 head coaches, not one said they think Calipari cheats/pays players, etc .. but said he'd the best at pushing the envelope and taking full advantage of every conceivable opportunity, so drop the straw man.)
Name-calling? I'm pretty sure I never called you a name so you're upset that I called Cal a name? Is he your lover or something? Geez. Listen, sorry if UK and Cal's integrity comes into question but it's a fact that MKG's mom drove up in a Bentley to his HS graduation. And that's not shady? Sorry but that only happens by breaking NCAA rules. Period. End of story. Dejuan Wagner's not able to bank roll anyone any longer. As far as the poll goes, so what? They almost all cheat. Even my beloved Izzo I'm sure.
You mentioned Izzo winning with more talent despite coaching 100 less games. Truth is, Calipari took UMass to the F4 (aka, Massachussettes) and they had never done anything before, nor since.
They were actually a very good program in the 60's and 70's. No national titles but many conference titles and NIT births. That's hardly nothing. Or has Mark Few done nothing at Gonzaga as well? And I only mentioned how Izzo has done more in fewer games because you brought up his length of coaching while the facts are, Cal's coached over 100 games more.
He took Memphis to a F4 and a NC game .. Memphis was 100% irrelevant prior to Calipari. It was only a couple years before he left that he started getting any real talent .. he's only started raking in the elite classes in the past 6/7 years .. starting around Rose/Evans ..
The year before Cal came, yes, they sucked badly. But from '79-'99, they went 408-215. Hardly bad. From '92-'96, they were a 5 seed, 6 seed twice and #10 seed in the tourney. They were good. Were they not relevant? That's up for debate. And yes, it did take Cal a while to get elite draft classes. About seven years in fact. Is that impressive?
After a couple of his first great classes and taking Memphis to back-to-back F4's, he came to UK and took a team coming off a year it missed the NCAA tourney to an Elite 8 in year 1, F4 in year 2, and a national championship in year 3 .. and riding the nation's longest home winning streak at 53.
Very impressive yes. But again, when you get insane recruiting classes, it's what should happen. He's met expectations. Izzo's exceeded them.
He's coached 3 schools and took them all to the F4 .. with two of those schools having never sniffed success prior to his arrival.
Only coach to have ever taken 3 different schools to a F4. Only coach to have ever led three different schools to a number 1 seed in the NCAA tourney.
Has been named National Coach of the year 3 times.
Refer above to see how UMass and Memphis had sniffed success prior to Sir Cal's arrival. But before you do so, you may want to fact check. He's won the Naismith COY award only twice and never won the AP one. The only ones that really matter.
The guy led a charge that raised $2MM for the Haitian earthquake victims. There are tweets from sports media guys going out like crazy about his telethon that raised more than $500k for victims of SANDY. (stop being a douche, Wes)
His other, personal contributions from this year, that I am aware of;
* $110,000 to West Liberty Recovery Fund, a fund dedicated to helping tornado victims of the Eastern Ky town
* $60,000 to 4Paws for Ability, which provides dog services to military families
* $55,000 to the Starkey Hearing Foundation, which helps provide hearing aids for children
* $50,000 to EverFi Financial Literacy program, which teaches student across Kentucky the importance of money management
* $25,000 to Samaritan’s Feet, which provides shoes for the needy
* $25,000 to Urban League of Lexington, which assists African Americans and disadvantaged citizens in Lexington in the achievement of social and economic equality
* $25,000 to the V Foundation, a charitable organization dedicated to saving lives by helping find a cure for cancer
Extremely impressive actually.
NOTE: I only brought up Izzo because he's the 2nd highest paid coach in the country. I really like Izzo, quite a lot .. just wanted to clarify I wasn't attacking him, only using him for reference/comparable.
Not sure why you're so adamant to say the guys sucks, but it seems there are far easier and more credible targets. If you're just riling me up, well, okay .. glad you're entertained.
I'm sure that's not the only reason you brought up Izzo. Can we be intellectually honest please? That said, I never said Calipari sucks. He's a great coach. But to put him in a pantheon all his own, as you were doing, was pathetic and you needed to have your **** checked. He's a great coach. Along with many others.
Now, can we end this? You're getting your *** handed to you and I'm a pacifist at heart.
XOXOXO
