It's time for Coffee and Company, fueled by Thornton's on Sports Talk seven nine
day. Now here's Nick Coffee. It didn't lead the show today given the
two day circus that was John Calipari's departure in Lexington, but Yukon, I
mean, what a dominant run. The amount of domination and two straight tournaments
not only resulting in two national championships, but only one. I mean only
let's see here, the closest anybody got to him this year was fourteen,
and that was Bama in the tournament. That is, of course, this
year thirteen for Miami. I mean, they were just dominant. And I
think what makes this so rare? It's rare enough to see a team go
back to back and win consecutive national championships. In fact, it's rare for
the number one overall seed even win it all. I mean, this is
one of those things that I couldn't believe, but sure enough, you know,
you look into it. It's true. This is the first time the
number one overall seeds won the national tournament, the NCAA Tournament since Lowell did
it in twenty thirteen. So hard to give a team of credit for,
you know, doing I guess what you are expected to do when you are
the top dog, but it doesn't happen often. And I think what's scary
for the rest of college basketball when it comes to Dan Hurley is that I
don't see anything that he's doing from a basketball standpoint, from a personnel standpoint
that can't be recreated every year. They've got some guys on this team that
are going to be drafted, Stefan Castle, and they're big guy who again
don't remember his name, cling, Yeah, Clinging. So I mean,
those guys are good players, but you know, it's not as if they're
once in a lifetime kind of talent. And I'm not here to tell you
that their roster next year is going to be just as good. But Dan
Hurley's a hell of a coach, and he took a few years to really
kind of get it rolling. They had that lost to New Mexico State two
years ago in the first round, and you know, Jeff Goodman, who
was close to Hurley, said he firmly believed that he thought he might lose
his job with that loss because they hadn't really broke through yet. Well then
they hit their stride last year after a little bit of a slump in January
and then they've been rolling ever since. Just absolutely I mean just absolutely dominant.
And I don't think it's slowing down anytime soon. And there were other
National Championship caliber teams where you would say they're going to always be good.
But man, you can't go get another Anthony Davis, you know, or
man Kimba Walker. Yeah, I mean he's nobody's going to have a run
like Kimba did well. Again, these players are talented and they'd be good
for any team, but I think the formula he has as far as guys
that fit the culture, fit what they want to do. Tough, physical
players, I mean, guys who will buy in and really thrive under any
role you ask of them. I mean, I don't see that slowing down.
And I'm not saying they're going to win their third consecutive championship next year,
because you really never know. It's rare enough to see them do this.
But I think Yukon winning six titles in a matter of three years,
I'm sorry, six titles in a matter of twenty five years. And wha
I said three years, I guess just because I was thinking about them actually
doing three in a row. But since ninety nine and nine, they won
six national championships. They're only two behind Kentucky. They are the most dominant
college basketball program in the last twenty five years. And it's not close as
far as just what they've accomplished. And I don't see it. I don't
see it slowing down. Maybe they don't get win next year, maybe they
don't get in next year, but they're Elite eight, Final Four, and
then they go back to back again. Like I think that's what Dan Hurley
could do. He's that good of a coach. But they only had one
one loss in the calendar year of twenty twenty four, and they only lost
one. They only lost one game when they were when they were at full
strength. When they lost to Kansas. They didn't have Castle, they didn't
have Klingon during their Seaton Hall loss, and then the other loss I believe
was Creighton got him towards the end of the year. But other than that,
I mean that they they they're there. It's a special team, no
doubt about it. And this is something I wanted to show. I hope,
let me see I hope this. Yeah. So last uh, the
heck where the heck is it. There's a video clip I wanted to share
because this is from two years ago. Might have been right after they lost
to uh, might have been right after they lost to Here here's Dan Hurley.
This is actually four years ago. I'm sorry, not two years ago.
This was early on and his tenure there where they weren't very good.
And it's one thing to say this because I think a lot of coaches would
say something like this, and in real time four years ago this probably wouldn't
have really moved the needle much or been a big surprise. But to hear
him say this then and see what he's doing now, it's it's I think
a testament to how good of a coach he is. We got some exciting
young players that are going to help lead us back. We're going to continue
to recruit and develop and bring in a type of players that will bring you
come back. You know, people better get us now, that's all.
You better get us now because it's common. He was right. He was
right. Now, you know, will he will he end up being,
you know, a guy that people look back and say, you know,
is one of the best coaches of all time. I mean, that's way
too early to know. But I mean, he's already won two titles in
a matter of two years, and that's rare. I mean that alone is
rare, right, I mean, keep in mind, like Cali Perry has
won. An'm only bringing him up because he's a guy that is viewed I
think is one of the better coaches and you know in college basketball now,
and you know he's on his way out of the uh you know, on
his way out of Kentucky to go to be so like, I just I
don't know, just I think Dan Hurley could really really thrive for the next
ten years at Yukon if that's where he stays, which I don't think he's
gonna leave. But with Cali Perry now officially letting everybody know that he's leaving,
Mitch Barnhard and Kentucky can now formally reach out to coaches, and they're
gonna reach out to Dan Hurley, right, Like, I don't think they
just listen to what he said last night and think, Okay, well,
you know, I guess we'll not guess, we won't waste a phone call.
I mean, they're gonna ask him, and I don't believe he would
go. But I also am not somebody that thinks, you know, like
what he said last night is just you know, automatically means there's no point
in even discussing it. That's the way I say it. And here's what
he Here's what he was asked last night after the game. As far as
the rumors about the Kentucky job, Yeah, Dan, I hope I don't
misquote you. But you said out on the court something about Yukon giving you
all the resources you need? Can we interpret that to me? And you
intend to be back at Yukon next year? You're not going to entertain any
conversations with anybody else that might have a job coming open, and youmorrow,
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I don't think that's a concern. You know,
my wife, you should have her answer that. Yeah, we can
maybe arrange at press conference for miss early in the morning. Congratulations coach,
Yeah, thank you. Yeah, she'll she'll answer that question better than I
can. So that's like a weird like that, that's a laugh like that,
what a silly question, But it's more so about you know, it
would be his wife having the issue, like what do you make have you
heard? That's first time you've heard that, John, I think I saw
the quote. I didn't hear him say it. Yeah, that was the
first time. Ah. That doesn't make me feel like he's lying, But
it also is not a direct like no, like you know what I mean.
Yeah, I think he really said it in the best way that he
could. Yeah. I mean, he's just like Pat Kelsey talking about the
wife and getting a little humor out of it. And you would think that
Yukon would know that regardless of what the hell any what happens with any job,
they got to give this man more money. Yes, there's no doubt
about it. So you know, maybe he wants to use some leverage here,
although I think from a leverage standpoint, I mean I don't think he
even needs it, Like they're gonna need to keep if they like just you
know, if Kentucky doesn't go in that direction and they've already got Scott Drew
lined up to be the guy, then I mean, maybe Yukon doesn't try
to get him a new deal, but that would be foolish, right,
But then again, Ukon doesn't have the money that a lot of schools have.
They just don't. So with that said, I still believe that it
got if it got down to where he was offered money that he simply can't
refuse. Yukon would maybe not even have it right away, but they would
basically say, okay, we'll match whatever. We will make it work.
We'll you know, we'll We'll have the entire fan base donate, plasma and
donate and take the money from that to to make sure we can pay for
this coach who you know has been phenomenal for us. But I don't think
he's going to go there. I don't believe Jay Wright wants to get back
in at all. And the Billy Donovan name continues to be discussed as if,
like, you know, he might want to do it. He's not
killing it in the NBA. Maybe he misses college. There's a connection to
Kentucky because of Rick Patino, and I I'm not saying that that's an ascent
on thing to come up with, But what nobody else seems to be discussing
is that he left college basketball because he was tired of all the recruiting that
he had to do every year. This was before it became an entirely different
world where you have to re recruit your players like on a daily basis.
It seems you got to make sure that people outside of the program are putting
up a bunch of money, Like you got a campaign to get people to
raise money so you can have so there's money available to pay players. Like
it's a totally different world than it was ten years ago when he walked away.
So I just have a hard time thinking at this stage in his career
he'd have any interest now Natoates comment last night, I mean, I Natoates
is one of those guys that, like I don't he's still relatively new to
the college basketball world. I have no no, I have no way to
know if he's being one thousand percent sincere about what he said about wanting to
be at Alabama and bring them their first national championship in basketball. But I
actually think if Natoates might have thought that Kentucky was already looking for a new
coach and they hadn't reached out to him, so he didn't want it to
be out there because he was up there as a list, a listed candidate
by just about everybody. He had decent odds to become their next head coach
compared to some others, So maybe he just wanted to get it out there,
kind of like what's his name, Norvelle did when Alabama was open.
No, it's chance in hell they were going to offer that job to norvel
but he wanted to make it look as if he turned him down. And
I don't know if that was the message here from Nat Oates And maybe he's
being fully sincere. But now that the job is open and they're reaching out,
like maybe he would pick up the phone and maybe he would be a
guy they would go after. I mean, Bama they got a lot of
resources too, they're in the SEC, they got a big fan base.
But Bama could lose their basketball coach. I think without all, if he
didn't have that huge buy out, I think there's a lot of schools they
could probably get him. Maybe not a lot, but I mean, as
much as there are some coaches that don't mind being a little bit, you
know, in the background, compared to the major sport of football, if
Bama you can win six straight national championships, you are going to be a
distant, distant, distant secondary option for entertainment and interest and there's nothing you
can do about it. But he said, bamination fully committed to this team
in this university. We've already accomplished some great things here, and there is
nothing I want more than the University of Alabama to win it's first national championship
men's basketball. Despite any rumors to the contrary, rest assured that I will
continue to pursue. I will continue that pursuit as our head coach role Tide.
So maybe he's telling the truth and what I don't know because I've never
been a college coach. I've never been a you know, never been in
that world. I know some of them, but how scary is the UK
job? Right? People want the money, they want the fame, they
want the notoriety, they want to be a big deal. But maybe they've
also, you know, seen other coaches kind of crash and burn when the
spotlights on it, and you know there's pressure because of how important it is,
and they just think, yeah, you know what, I'm actually pretty
comfortable here. I don't I don't want to risk that, right. I
think it all just depends on personal preference, personality, kind of how you're
wired as a human being. Like I think it's quite clear Pat Kelsey is
somebody that absolutely is energized and loves every bit of how crazy we can be
as a fan base and how much we care. Now will he deliver and
give us the results? That remains to be seen. We'll have to wait
and see. There's no way to know that right now. But I think
to give Hurd some credit despite this being his fourth choice at least third,
this is somebody that checked a box that is really important. Now, if
he doesn't win, none of this matters. But somebody who will really just
be fueled by the fact that we that this is that big of a deal
to us. You could hear it any time you hear you can hear that
from I think I think you can sense that anytime you hear Pat Kelsey talk
or right, five two, five seventy nine hundred is the number if you
guys want to jump in and give us a call. We'll also get to
the text line coming in just a moment. But let's let's go to Jerry.
Jerry, you're on Sports Talk seven ninety. What was happening? Man?
What's up? Nick? Hey? Ben Man? Not too bad about
yourself. I'm hanging in there, man, I've been I'm excited about Pat
Kelsey first of all, though I'm on top of little Danny Hurley. All
right, I'm a big basketball jokie. And so when I watched yukon this
year on Fox, they do those big East games with the live look ins.
Yeah, and uh, early on, I said to myself, and
I told a bunch of my buddies, I said, he's the closest thing
to Rick Patino in his prime that I've seen. I'm pretty sure you me
and said that at one point too. Yeah, his huddles are unbelievable.
I've really I've done a little bit of a deep dive into him. I
watched a lot of his videos on YouTube and and and you know, he's
only fifty one years old. I said a while back. I might have
said it on this show before he won his title. Last night, his
second I said he's got one to four left inning. So I think he's
got one to three left inning. I don't think he's done. I think
he's Hall of Fame coach, as long as he doesn't burn out quick.
You know, hopefully he stays up there. Don't want him down here,
that's right. I think his father may be his greatest asset. I think
he's a sounding board for him. Wealth and knowledge probably keeps him grounded when
he when he should. You know when he gets out of hand. I
encourage anybody that wants to really learn more about him. I watched the practice
of his the other day, not a full one, you know, just
clips of it, and he was soaking wet. That guy is intense.
You think he's intense on the sideline watch one of his practices. Okay,
I'm hopeful and I envision that Pat Kelsey's practices will be the same. I'm
fired up about him. Uh he's still got it yet to prove to me.
Sure. Uh, he's got to get the players and then he's got
to win. And that's the bottom line. They remind me of each other
a lot, though, But I will give Pat Kelsey. You know how
he said in his interview today. I think it was that there's a million
assistant coaches in Louisville. Well there are, and I'm one of them.
And uh, and this, as you go around the interview circuit, mix
it up a little bit, because we've heard a lot of these stories already,
and we want new stuff, you know, we want new material and
and and we don't want repetition necessarily. And he and he's tending to repeat
himself a little bit, which is fine. But mix it up a little
bit, pat you know. That's all I can say. And like I
said, I'm real hopeful they do remind me of each other. Their energy.
Yeah, the way they command a huddle. I think that is spot
on, Jerry, because I think that there's just something about you can just
sense the huddle the players, like there's a level of you know, maybe
not matching his energy, because who could. But I know exactly what you
mean as far as just kind of commanding, you know, having a presence
that can really command all the attention and people may not match your intensity,
but they'll match you know, your your attention to detail those kind of things.
One thing that Hurley said in one of the videos I watched was this.
He said, of course, you've heard a lot of coaches say this.
He said, our practices are tough, so the games are easy.
And I've heard that a million times. But the one thing I like about
Hurley is this. He says, on game day, I'm their cheerleader.
I'm I switch rolls a little bit. And if you watch him, he's
really not in there, in there, in there, He's not digging on
him too much. You know, he's encouraging mostly he might be on the
refs, he might be on the opposite players like Edie last night, but
he's really he really is a cheerleader. Hurley is on the sideline. I
think he's I think he's off the charts. Good man. I tell you
what, I'm I'm super impressed with the guy. Like I said, I'm
calling one to three more titles for the guy, and I hope they're all
at Yukon, not down here. I got man. Thanks Jerry, appreciate
your brother. Yeah, that is a good line. There's a there's a
thousand assistant coaches in Louisville, and he's I mean, that's the one thing
that stood out on day one, and it's all, it's all, it's
it's such a when you're meeting the like a lot of people had never heard
him talk before before he showed up to become the coacher, because again,
he wasn't somebody that was really high on the radar. Always believed he was
involved. And you know, I remember hearing that he was the first coach
that that Josh talked to, and I felt like, okay, well,
you know that that's deserved. He's a guy that a lot of people respect
and like, but I just never thought he would actually end up being the
guy, and sure enough he is. But you know, I think the
balance that he discussed there, Jerry, as far as like he's more of
a cheerleader on game day, like, I think that could work really well.
I think it could be a good balance to where your practices are super
intense and just super crazy, and yet you know, whenever you get out
there there's a relaxed level, not to where you're like casual and not playing
hard. But I had not heard that. But I'm glad you share there
with this, Jerry, because I like that. But again, the one
thing among many that stood out the day he was introduced as the coach here
was that the the he was very well aware of the situation and very I
guess more than anything, it was just him being self deprecating, right,
but he was well aware of the situation and embraced it. And that that's
a little thing that'll nothing, that'll have nothing to do with actual results that
are really going to be what's needed to determine if this is if this is
working, or if it's not. But this guy is I mean, can
I say it, like he's just one billion percent different than what we just
had in every way. And I'm not even talking about results on the court.
I'm talking about the way in which he approaches this role, this job
that is the Louisville basketball coach. He's been doing it for less than two
weeks, and I can't tell you just on the show. Since we started
the show at three o'clock, I've got two different text messages of people who
have either seen him out and about and he was, you know, same
energy guy, or he came and talked to like their company, or he
met you know, so like this guy. Maybe you know, maybe we
will burn him out. I hope not, but that's just that's look the
first step, right, just knowing what this is and what is asked of
you. That's half the battle. And we can be nuts as a fan
base, and I wouldn't have it any other way. All Right, we
got a little bit of time left here before we say goodbye. We'll take
a time out and talk a little more about the Scott Drew situation. Because
when I say situation, I mean like he's going to be a candidate,
and the more I think about it, on that's gonna be their coach isn't
it. It seems like now it would be more underwhelming. But maybe it's
because it's so obvious. But I think I and it's safe for Mitch.
And Mitch is a safe guy. I mean, he just now started letting
fans drink alcoholic game. He's safe as can be. All right, quick
break, we'll come back on the other side. Keep it rolling along right
here. Coffee and Company. Feel about Thornton's on Sports Talk seven ninety.
Good jams today, John, good stuff. I like whatever you surprise me
with tunes that you know I hadn't thought about it in forever. This is
one of them. How old is this one? Do you know? Two
thousand and three? Say you're playing the high school hits? You're playing these
fun for me. These are the in the car with my parents as a
seven year old hits. Yeah, thanks for making me feel old, Thanks
for making me feel like an old man. All right. It is Coffee
and Company, and we are fueled by Thornton's here on Sports Talk seven ninety.
Appreciates you hanging out with us, and we also appreciate, appreciate,
I appreciate you guys being a part of the show. Loaded text on which
I'm going to get you here in just a second, and I really mean
it this time. In fact, I went through and you know, picked
out some texts that have come in that I think are certainly worth reading.
So we'll do that in just a second. But let's go back to the
phone lines now and bring in Nino. Nino, how are we doing?
Brother? Hey man? How you doing? My good sir, I hain't
heard talk to you in a while, but I've been listening. Appreciate that.
Uh, no problem, man, I just got one question. How
come Brad Stevens. I might be late to the party. Maybe his name
has came up with a lot. I don't understand why nobody has maybe got
called him, like even with Loisville. I mean, you know, I
think he's a hot coaching candidate if he wants to even coaching. Yeah,
so that's that's what it comes down to. Nino is I think I don't
think he would have Nothing tells me he would have any interest in coming back
to college because he's already in Boston and he actually has I mean not to
say his job is like easy, but he's in the front office kind of
in like a GM role, and he still makes a whole lot of money.
He signed a big contract with Boston, so I just feel like him
turning. So he turned down Indiana. It was it five six years ago
something like that, and they offered him ten million dollars a year at that
time, which would make him the highest paid coach. And he is from
Indiana, that's his roots. And when he turned that down, that kind
of told me that, like he's telling everybody, he has no interest in
coming back to the college game, makes sense, Yeah, tell of a
coach. Yeah, I like you, man, he's young and from Indiana,
so he wouldn't be far from home, you know. But yeah,
I could understand. It's got to be a lot of pressure with these college
jobs and now the portal. You don't even have time to develop the kid.
And its changed, man, Yeah it has so man, I don't
know what Kentucky's gonna do. Man, I think I think they're in a
pickle because I don't think Billy Donovan's gonna come and Scott Drew now, I
don't think none of those guys are gonna come. So it's ooh, yeah,
I end up buying. I hate to be a Kentucky fan right now,
but great, I'll be listening, appreciate you, you know. Yeah,
So let's let's just specifically talk about those names, because I I I've
mentioned throughout that I just don't see Billy Donovan having any interest in the job.
And apparently there are some NBA folks, and I'll get the specifics as
far as who these people are if it is if it's you know, just
sources from somebody, or if it's actually a reporter that's putting his name on
it, you know, saying, hey, Billy Donovan is is you know,
is not the guy yet. Let's see here, this is from Let's
see I'm reading it from KSR, mister Jack Pilgrim, our buddy. It
says here national reporters do not expect Billy Donova to be Kentucky's next head coach,
So I guess that's family. Goodman and Norlander have all expressed that they
just don't see him wanting to return to the college game, which again,
that's to me that seems like a pretty obvious thing. But there's really no
harm in in like seeing because again, he has been a really good coach,
but he's also never done it in this new world, and that's a
huge part of it that I don't think people like Donovan and Right great coaches.
You'd be foolish to not take them if they want the job. But
you also have to understand the job has changed since they've done it, and
I think they would have the ability to adjust and adapt. But that's what
made Jay Wright walk away from it. Why would he be energized to come
back whenever he walked away from what was already becoming again a bigger ask of
him, And he essentially said last night, he has no interest. And
I don't, you know, I get why those names come up for jobs
like this, But again, when people walk away from a job, they're
not like available because they've been laid off and they're looking for work. They
didn't want to work anymore and they wanted to do something different. And yes,
Kentucky is a big opportunity, but again it's also a big responsibility that
would just make you miss having to you know, think about this. If
you're Jay Wright and like next year you put together roster and obviously it's podge
mixture of guys and it doesn't work out you're five hundred or something, you
would be thinking about man, I was already making millions. I was already
proven as a legend, and I could do TV and again make millions and
still be a part of the game. Like what did I sign myself up
for? That's not an insult or a knock on Kentucky. It's just looking
at this position, this opportunity for somebody and putting a human element to it
as far as just like like right now, those dudes aren't wired to put
in I think the work that's needed to really thrive and succeed at Kentucky.
That's why I do think you need a younger coach. Now, you're not
going to go get a young guy that's never proven anything, but Donovan and
Riot are not. I mean, how old is Billy Donovan. I'm gonna
look it up. Take a guest, John, I don't have. Wouldn't
shock me if you told me he's sixty, which I don't think he is.
But it also wouldn't shock me if he's like way younger than I expect
I think he's I'm gonna say fifty five. He's fifty eight, Okay,
so that's that's not that's not young, not old. He could coach for
a long time. But like I just don't know if that's the direction you
want to go. Now again, it's safe, you could win. They're
really good coaches. I'm not saying these guys aren't worthy of the gig.
It's just what it takes to be really successful at Kentucky. You think these
guys have been around the game long enough to where they know what it is,
and I just I think it's it'd be real shocked to see that they
would pursue this level of a responsibility. And yeah, money is clearly a
motivator for every human being, but these guys got a lot of money already,
right, I mean, all right, So Donovan, right, we
talked about NATO's comment. Dan Hurley, I'm looking to see if Yukon is
going to sign him to an extension in the next two days or so.
I'm surprised it actually hasn't happened just yet. And then from there, I
feel like I keep missing one name Hurley, you say, Drew Donovan,
Yeah, but I feel like there's one outside of Drew, because Drew Drew
is the guy that I just assume is going to get the job. But
then again, Jay Wright McKeith right oates Drew Hurley, I'm Donovan. Yeah,
And I really feel like those five like have collectively been the names talked
about more than anybody else, right, Like, the next guy on the
list would be probably Bruce Pearl or Miller, Yeah, Sean Miller, which,
yeah, Mark Pope. So as much as I would love to know
that Kentucky would have a dork as a coach in Scott Drew, a guy
who has like, you know, he's I'm not gonna say what a postgame
show caller had said at one point because it'd being a it would be you
know, inappropriate to do that for the second consecutive day, but like it's
also something I just totally think, like, yeah, you know, I
get it. He's very vanilla, and if he wins at a high level
and brings an elite talent, nobody's gonna care because that's what matters. But
Patino and Cal gave Kentucky a level of coolness. Cal it with Cal,
it wore off and with Cal like we hated it as Louisville fans, but
he was arrogant. He you know, he took all the passion and craziness
that the fan base had and he you know, basically put him on his
back and said let's ride like, Look, I'm gonna be the are,
I'm gonna be arrogant, and I'm gonna talk about how we're gonna eat first.
We're gonna come to your town and beat your team, and we'll take
your players if you want them. Like those kind of things that he would
say, and that I think gave that fan base life like they they liked
that now they also probably don't like it whenever he talks down to him like
he did recently. But I'm just saying those were guys that it points in
their career at Kentucky, but Tino and Cal were larger than life. That
ain't happening with Skytdrew. That's just not who he is. He could be
a guy that wins to in a row like Dan Hurley just did, but
he's just not that guy. And the media obligations that he has had at
Baylor five percent of what he would deal with in a year at Kentucky always
having to be on Like, I think it makes perfect sense for Mitch Barnhart
to go after a guy that has won a national championship, recruits at a
really high level, is a really good coach that alone would make it a
no brainer to go after him, right, maybe not have him number one,
but clearly he's going to be in the Knicks because everything I just mentioned,
But also they have a close personal relationship, they're friends, so like,
I just think he's going to be the guy. But then again,
would he want to deal with everything that comes there? Would he want to
come and work for a guy that he considers a friend. That would be
weird, wouldn't it, right? Like, I don't know how close these
guys actually are, but I don't think it's just that they occasionally see each
other like NCAA events or something like. I think they genuinely have a friendship.
And if I'm close friends with somebody, I could make it work.
But I wouldn't want to work for him, you know what I mean.
So it'll probably be him, that's my guess. But I'm also going to
put it out there that if he does in fact decide to say no,
or maybe they don't even really full on pursue him, it may just be
because both sides realize what this job is. It's just not a good personality
fit. And if it's not him, then I don't really know who else
it would be I really don't what are the odds. I don't know if
we've talked about this, but what are the odds that Rick Patino actually I
mean, maybe he does want it, but what are the odds that he
would actually get this. I don't see a scenario where Barnhart would hire him.
But I mean, if if those guys turn, Like if you're a
Kentucky fan, and those five guys that we've discussed and everybody seemingly has discussed
among the fan base, if they're done and they're out, like, there's
just no scenario and you got to move on. If you could have Sean
Miller or Mark Pope, you're freaking wanting Rick Patino, right, it'd be
hard for Barnhart to not just give it to Mark Pope though, Yeah,
I feel like at that point, but man, and he may be really
good there, But I just I think outside of those outside of the you
know, outside of Hurley, Wright, Donovan, Oates and Drew and that's
it, right, those are the files with the fire, I think anybody
else is probably going to be initially a little underwhelming for their fan base.
But that doesn't mean it's a bad hire. In fact that's normal. I
mean, I think the fact that you are talking about two programs that care
so much about college basketball as far as their fans, it's damn near impossible
to have a hire that is not going to be viewed as a real concern
because people are that worried about it. Like it's just, you know,
it's part of it, all right. This text came in earlier that I
wanted to get to. It says, Nick, is there anybody happier than
your boy Matt Jones? Cali Perry hating him couldn't have been a good thing
for any of his business ventures. I don't know if Cal Perry hated him,
but I do know that there was not a relationship there anymore. And
I'm sure Matt is probably, like any fan, excited because there's a new
era and that alone was I mean, that was needed. And I'm sure
he's probably relieved to know that the next coach that comes in, whoever,
it may be, like, I don't know what the relationship would be,
but like it won't be what it was with Cal because Cal. You know,
people can think I'm you know, saying this because I'm friends with Matt.
But the level of obsession that Cal had for Matt because he felt betrayed
by him, like it it's it's insane. So I'm sure he's happy like
any fan, that there's gonna be a fresh start and they're going to have
a new era, and that again, that alone is exciting and at times
I feel like saying this, but it just seems like a stupid thing to
say, because it seems like something that doesn't need to be said. On
what planet is it beneficial for me in any way? If Louisville is not
really good. Same thing with Matt, like I would assume anything that he
has any business interest in or any like, you know, his his radio
show, his you know anything like there's never a positive when things suck.
I mean, so I'm sure he'll he's happy like any but any fan.
And I hope it's not, you know, because of a personal thing with
Cal, but I wouldn't know. All right, let's get to our last
break. We'll come back on the other side. Squeeze in a few more
texts that have come in, one about Pat Kelsey, another one about Cal.
So we'll finish strong here it is Coffee and Company Field. But Thornton's
on sports Talk seven ninety six, says Nick as an as An n k
U in Northern Kentucky. Alum, I remember, I remember when Pat Kelsey
was going to be hired when I was a student there. It was a
done deal, I believe, but didn't happen. Do you know why?
In fact, I do know what led to that not And you know,
I don't know if it was a done deal, but he was at Winthrop
Is before he got the job at Charleston. He's from obviously the Cincinnati area,
and n KUH was apparently able to pay him more than win Through could.
I don't know the financial situation at either university, but I think where
it fell apart is that they could not come to an agreement on a buyout
if he was to leave NKU, meaning obviously I think anybody taking that job,
especially a young rising coach like Kelsey, I mean, I don't think
NKU could be surprised that he would want to have a specific buyout in place
to where if he did elevate from there to a higher gig, it would
be financially doable. So I don't know if that's exactly what ended up happening,
but I do know that was at least some part of it, and
he would have done well there and we'd probably would have been more familiar with
him, just because it's closer than you know, Winthrope and College to Charleston.
This says, Nick, put your bias aside. What grade would you
give Cali Perry for his tenure in Lexington? When you say put my bias
to side, I mean, I think I can be fair. I mean,
heck, I get I assume this is coming from a Kentucky fan.
I mean there are Louisville fans that have disowned me just because that I've said
that he's a good coach. I mean he's not great. I don't think
he's a great end game coach as far as adjustments and that kind of stuff.
But I mean he had a formula that worked really well, and you
can claim it's, you know, all related to talent and he rolls the
balls out, but I mean results do speak for themselves, and even if
it's because he loaded up with talent, like that's part of the job.
So I don't think he's a great coach, but he's a good coach and
he's in the Hall of Fame, and I think that's a really tough answer
to give as far as the great and I know, sounding like I'm copping
out and give you an answer, but I think it's it's almost impossible because
here's there's so many different ways to look at it. If you're just going
to look at John Calipari's existence in Lexington and what he accomplished in a fourteen
year period, four final fours, a national championship, six SEC titles siccess
if SEC. I think conference titles. I believe it was. I mean
that is good for anybody to accomplish those things in a fourteen year window.
So I think you would say, you know, despite really only missing the
turnurnament what twice, only miss the tournament twice? I mean, it's the
worst seed he got in the tournament, an eight seed. That same year
they went to the National championship game. So I think it's an a.
But I understand why others would say, how the hell is it an a?
Look at all the NBA players he had. Well, again, that's
a different way to look at it. Did he underachieve? Absolutely underachieved,
But I think you can underachieve based off of what people expect of you from
the level of talent you bring in and what you did in your first five
to six years. But it still wouldn't mean that you can look at an
overall fourteen year run and say that it's not anything but a big success.
But makes sense here, Yeah, I mean I think you can throw like
the A minus in there if you want, and two if you're doing minuses
and pluses. Yeah, I think the A minus would be certainly, certainly
worthy given the fact that he had I mean, let's be real, the
two exits in the tournament are why we're having a conversation today about him no
longer being the coach there. That led to like, those are things you
just can't do, no matter who you are, what you've done. And
you know, this was the breakthrough year where he needed to really get it
rolling and make a deep run, have a fun and team that was exciting
and that the fans couldn't get. You know that the fans could get it,
you know, really behind. And they had that team and they did
the one thing you could not do, which is lose to to Oakland in
the first round. And you know, I think they make a Sweet sixteen,
maybe even around to thirty two. Fans will be hot, they'd be
bothered. But I don't know if you would have had this play out the
way that it did. All right, that's it for us. We're out
of time. Thank you all for hanging out. John. Let that voice
get some rest, all right, I hope so, I hope you feel
better. I don't know if you're feeling ill, but you know I need
you back at a hundred percent. I mean, the show cannot roll on
without you at underrepresent you do, you do? You do? You do?
Trust me, but you know, just knowing that my partner in crime
here is you know, got some voice issues going on. It's it's you
know, I don't like it. We'll rest up, so rest up,
all right. We'll back at it tomorrow right here on Sports Fox seven ninety