John Calipari, Arkansas' Ultimate Players' Coach
Demarcus Cousins, John Wall, Tyrese Maxey, Tyler Herro, Karl Anthony Towns and countless others all left similar comments on new Arkansas coach John Calipari's goodbye video posted on Instagram. Each shared their support for their college coach after 15 years at Kentucky.
Calipari lived by one simple rule. Always look out for the players first.
"They [my former players] also know you never blame players when you lose," Calipari said in his first press conference as Razorbacks' coach. "Never. You take responsibility as a grown man. You take responsibility. You never throw a player under the bus and they know that. And they know I've stood up for every one of them. "
He was concerned about players who weren't even his. Calipari and athletics director Hunter Yurachek tried to keep a low profile (albeit unsuccessfully) about their conversations regarding the Arkansas job until Tuesday for one simple reason. Purdue and UConn were playing in the national championship.
"I didn’t want anything out until after the national championship game that we were even talking," Calipari said. "I didn’t think it was fair to those two teams and those coaches and those players and those programs."
Now, without any players, Calipari must use his players' first approach to start from zero. Lawson Blake is the only player listed on the school's official roster although Baye Fall and Davonte "Devo" Davis were spotted in the arena. His approach comes from fellow Hall of Fame coach Larry Brown, the only coach ever to win both an NCAA title (1988 Kansas) and an NBA championship (Detroit Pistons 2004). The two crossed paths when Calipari worked under Brown as a volunteer assistant at Kansas.
"Larry Brown told me early in my career 'If you care about the kids, authentically care about the kids,' and this was when I was at Kansas with him, “you’ll always have a job because they’ll always want to play for you and whatever you do they’ll want to come to you.'"
- JOHN CALIPARI
If there was any doubt on whether Yurachek thought Calipari's philosophy would transfer well to his new job, he dispelled that with a succinct answer.
"I’ll give you a short answer there," Yurachek said when asked if he thought Calipari could rebuild the roster. "I’m really confident that he can put a great team together pretty quickly."
HOG FEED:
• What did boosters, Yurachek do to lure Calipari away from Lexington?
• Calipari managed to make himself relatable to Arkansas fans in a single press conference
• Razorbacks baseball completes yet another sweep
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DANIEL SHI