Mr. CFB: So Is Kentucky A Basketball School? The Readers Weigh In

Earlier this week I wrote a column on the current spat between Kentucky basketball Coach John Calipari and football coach Mark Stoops.

Calipari, who wants a new state-of-the-art practice facility, said Kentucky is “a basketball school” and thus the new building is justified. No question that Kentucky is basketball royalty.

Stoops, who is entering his 10th season at Kentucky, has taken the Wildcats to six straight bowl games. He has also posted two seasons of 10 wins in the past four years. Some voters have his upcoming team finishing second in the SEC East behind Georgia, the defending national champions.

Bottom line: The football program has improved dramatically since he got to Lexington.

So he was less than pleased with Calipari’s position. Stoops believes, with some justification, that if you win 10 football games in the SEC you don’t take a back seat to anyone, especially on your own campus.

Calipari said he was sticking up for his program and meant no disrespect to the Kentucky football program.

Stoops, however, felt totally disrespected saying “Listen, we know this program wasn’t born on third base.”

My position was that in this day and age, given the amount of money being generated by football (check out the Big Ten’s new TV deal) every school that plays Division I football has to continue to invest in order to be ready for the next round of TV contracts. In short, I’m just not sure the terms “football school” and “basketball school” apply any more.

In any event, here are 10 thoughts from my readers on Twitter:

@macincrews: Can’t a school be both? Stop bickering and start or continue excelling. Be great in multiple sports.

That concept sure seemed to work for Florida in 2006.

@nnchela: If Kentucky was a football school Mark Stoops would have been fired long ago.

Six straight bowl games and four straight bowl wins. The school has only four 10-win seasons in its history. Stoops has two of them in the past four years. Yeah, there’s a guy who is getting fired.

@SC_Rooster01: The revenue may come in through the football program but certain schools are still identified by other sports like Duke, Kansas, Kentucky are with basketball.

No argument there. But this comes under the heading of “it may be true but I don’t believe I would have said it.”

@flemmingl17: Tell that to Kansas, Duke, Villanova, and Gonzaga.

Well, if you don’t even play Division I football you’re not really a part of this conversation.

@JaretAucoin: Football gets the most ratings and pays the bills. It is what it is.

Yep.

@OUCats88: Mostly correct Tony. However, Duke and Kansas are wholly irrelevant. Syracuse is almost irrelevant.

I don’t agree that Duke and Kansas are irrelevant. Both are great schools that have written a lot of basketball history. But I promise you this: If Duke and Kansas could have conference championship football programs tomorrow they would do it.

Sam Meyers: “Kentucky lost their football coach in ’53 to Texas A&M because Kentucky was a basketball school. His name was Bear Bryant.

Just think of how much history could have been rewritten if Bryant at stayed in Lexington.

@davisvet99: What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear “Gonzaga?” Or when you see “UCONN??

Two schools that are good in basketball but don’t play Division I football.

@NottheJetsGM: Well, he’s not wrong. Football is the ONLY college sport that matters. Always has been.

I love college basketball. I’ve been to 23 Final Fours. I love the NCAA Tournament. My point is that football is the economic engine that drives college athletics and it serves no purpose to suggest that football is of a lesser status on your campus.

@JetJacket: Basketball is important but it truly is football that defines success or failure for any major university.

How about this? After this week let’s don’t use the terms “football school” or “basketball school.”