Column: Stoops and Calipari's Tiff Leaves Neither Looking Good

Following Kentucky Football's first scrimmage of preseason camp on Saturday, Head Coach Mark Stoops and Athletic Director Mitch Barnhart capped off one of the more eventful weeks in recent memory for UK Athletics.

If you've been living under a rock for the last few days, John Calipari called Kentucky a "basketball school" as he was clamoring for some updates to UK's basketball facilities.

On face value, sure, there's nothing wrong with labeling Kentucky a basketball school. It's one of the few "Blue Bloods" in the country, and any member of Big Blue Nation is quick to boast about the eight national championships that the program has earned throughout its historic lifespan.

However, there was a certain backhanded-ness that came with Calipari's quote:

"This is a basketball school. Alabama is a football school. So is Georgia. No disrespect to our football team. I hope they win 10 games and go to bowls. At the end of the day, that makes my job easier. But this is a basketball school. And so we need to keep moving in that direction and keep doing what we're doing."

Again, he's not wrong, but it's hard to blame Stoops for his initial reaction to Calipari's statement:

Basketball school? I thought we competed in the SEC? #4straightpostseasonwins https://t.co/xUoKmUeonH
— Mark Stoops (@UKCoachStoops) August 11, 2022

A couple of days passed, and most expected today's presser to present Stoops with the opportunity to play peacemaker while Calipari is down in the Bahamas, but that couldn't have been further from the case.

“I embrace and love the history of our basketball program. I’m proud of it. I love it,” Stoops said. “I didn’t have that history. We understand we’re creating it. I also know people want to win now. I also know it's my responsibility to get to the postseason and win."

Among other quotables, Stoops made sure it was known that he's helped take Kentucky Football from the bottom to the top:

“We all know, this program wasn’t born on third base. Some may, but I can promise you this football team didn’t wake up on third base."

It wasn't what was expected, but the now 10th-year head coach got his point across sternly. The peace torch was then passed down to Barnhart, who took the mic a little later. Approximately 40 minutes after he sat down, which included the lights turning off and Barnhart tearing up at one point, there was no stone left unturned in regards to the state of Kentucky Athletics.

"We will not be an entitled department," Barnhart said. “I’m not real thrilled at where we are. Grown ups are going to have to figure this out and be a little better. Sometimes when you get a little bit of success, you get a little entitled. We will be a grateful (athletic) department. We will not be entitled... I will teach it that way in my end."

Barnhart's intentions may have been to put out the fire between the top two coaches on campus, but he must've forgotten to take the gasoline out of his water hose.

After leaving the Kroger Field media room following the AD's assembly, there's no true positive takeaway from any of the past three days.

Calipari could've worded his statement better. Stoops could've handled the matter behind closed doors and not taken to Twitter. Barnhart could've tried to make amends and take the PR route. None of that happened and all that occurred was a firestorm on social media, resulting in BBN calling for the heads of everyone involved.

Is this spat going to result in any of the trio leaving their posts and finding a new gig? Of course not. Is Stoops' recruiting actually going to suffer because of one poorly-worded sentence from the school's basketball coach? Of course not. Will both coaches pretend to ignore the clutter from here on out while simultaneously tossing out jabs for the remainder of their tenures? You betcha.

In three weeks, Kentucky will take Kroger Field for game one of the 2022 season against the Miami (OH) Redhawks, subsequently kicking off the calendar year for athletics. This will all be an afterthought by then, as the basketball team will be home from the Bahamas, awaiting to begin its yearly run for title nine.

Both Stoops and Calipari have been critical of the media in the past for fishing for stories and twisting words, but there wasn't any need for a rod and reel this weekend.