LOUISVILLE, Ky. – When he got his knee, John Calipari had to know what was coming.
He has lived in Kentucky, one of the reddest states in America, since 2009. In the November presidential election, Donald Trump won 62 percent of the vote in the state and won 118 out of 120 counties – the only exceptions were the two largest, Jefferson and Fayette , home to the University of Louisville and University of Kentucky, respectively. Jefferson may be the only county in the state that is not a major fan base in the UK, and even here Big Blue’s followers are considerable.
In other words, it stands to reason that fans who passionately follow Calipari’s team are overwhelmingly conservative Republicans. And conservative Republicans are not in favor of athletes who kneel in protest during the national anthem – especially college athletes. And there was still Cal joining his Kentucky players on one knee before the Wildcats played in Florida on Saturday, three days after the deadly insurrection in Washington, DC
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“It’s just a peaceful way to protest and raise awareness … of things that happened recently,” said Kentucky center Olivier Sarr this week.
Calipari said the players wanted him to join them, so he did. “I knelt with them because I support the guys,” he said, later mistaking that “it probably wasn’t a good time” for the team to kneel.
It was absolutely time to make the statement. Risks and everything. Perhaps this was Cal eternally combative picking a new fight – with his own constituency.
At that time, a coach whose approval rating had already plummeted after a 1-6 season start – the worst for Kentucky in more than a century – took on even more responsibility. In the authoritarian world of college sports, some coaches would have totally vetoed the idea. Others would have tried to convince their players not to make statements at an important time. Others would have approved, but did not participate.
Cal joined them, putting him on a very short list of college coaches who knelt during the national anthem before a game. Major sports programs are so afraid of anthem controversies that many of them don’t even have their players on the court or on the field when the “Star Spangled Banner” is played – a classic dodge from College Sports Inc. (Kentucky, in fact, had your basketball team in the closet this season when the anthem is played at home games, according to The Courier-Journal of Louisville.)
Calipari went there, and his players liked it. “I think what was really powerful was the coach doing this to us,” said Sarr.
It took a while. It was necessary for Cal to put his constant “players first” mantra into action, involving something other than trying to recruit the next wave of talent.
Then hysteria came. Kentucky defeated the Gators by far their best performance of the season, and barely registered through the blowback. There was some support, to be sure, and not all disagreement was overstated. But part of the feeling was the same and opposite to the usual fanatic love for Kentucky basketball.
John Root is the sheriff of Laurel County, where Trump received more than 77% of the November vote. He posted a video on Facebook with jailer Jamie Moseley in which they threw UK basketball jerseys into a burning cylinder. “That’s what I think of the program, coach, until you can get these guys under control and lead by example,” said Root in the video.
Mike Mitchell is the Executive Judge of Knox County, where Trump received 83% of the vote. He filed a resolution requiring the state to essentially strip the university. The resolution’s introduction said: “Called for action to denounce the University of Kentucky men’s basketball team and the coaching staff for refusing to stand up during the United States national anthem. This action lacks respect for the veterans who served our country. “
As the community raged, Kentucky played its next game Tuesday night. The Wildcats were defeated at home by Alabama, 85-65, dropping to 4-7. It was Calipari’s worst defeat at the Rupp Arena, and the worst of the program since 1988. And now Cal is being criticized from all sides – not winning, offending patriots and, well, not winning.
Brad McClenny / The Gainesville Sun / USA Today Network
One thing to keep in mind with Calipari: the registered freelancer can be a political chameleon, depending on what is best suited to your needs. There were photo shoots with Bill Clinton and John Kerry, but also with former ultraconservative Kentucky governor Matt Bevin. Long ago, he approached donor Trump and Big Blue’s promoter, Joe Craft, the namesake of the program’s opulent practice facility.
In spite of everything, he was always a tenacious defender of his players, especially of black players. (Sometimes a facilitator.) Whether he is motivated by what he believes to be right or as a permanent recruiting position, he is open to conjecture. But as the anthem’s controversy continued to simmer Thursday, Cal’s capitalized tweet was consistent with who he has been: “I AM WITH, FOR AND FOR MY PLAYERS. ALWAYS HAVE AND ALWAYS TAREI! “
Some long-time observers from Kentucky believe that fans’ reactions to the controversy and defeat are separate – that many of them would still be furious with Calipari even if their team had 11-0. Others believe that the kneeling spilled gas on a burning fire and lost. As one fan put it on a Kentucky fan forum on Thursday: “It’s like when you’re in a bad relationship with someone and every little thing they do bothers you. That’s the Cal / fan relationship now. “
Is the end of the relationship near? Perhaps, but it would be financially prohibitive for the school to terminate the agreement. In another classic success at College Sports Inc., Kentucky athletic director Mitch Barnhart gave Calipari, then 60, the so-called “lifetime contract” in 2019 – a 10-year contract with a salary that increases from $ 7.6 million to $ 8.6 million, with options to do even more. Cal was winking at UCLA, and Kentucky responded dramatically.
This is despite the fact that returns have declined over Calipari’s tenure in the UK. When he brought his definitive recruiting philosophy to Kentucky and sold it as the way of the future, the fanatical fan base envisioned Saban-style dominance of the sport. Did not happen.
There was a national title in 2012. The last Final Four was in 2015. Since then, seasons have tended to follow the same uncomfortable pace: Cats would start badly, go back to late form.
Kentucky fans, more than anyone else, want to win every game. Giving them a season arc that includes doses of suffering from the start is hard to sell. Every November and December, fans swear they are fed up with Cal’s formula – so they are mitigated by substantial improvements later. But the reward does not include playing the last weekend of the season long ago, given the standards that Calipari helped to establish in the first half of his tenure at Lexington.
There are slow starts and then the current disaster. The decisions of the Calipari team were toasted. His offense was labeled old-fashioned. But the crux of the problem hasn’t changed in years: Cal embraces a constantly agitated squad filled with young people at a time when titles are being won by more experienced teams. (As a longtime observer of the show said on Thursday: “Fans like one-and-done, as long as it goes to Final Four. It’s been a while.”)
“Aging, getting old” is the current mantra of the sport. But not in Lexington.
Being the basketball coach of Kentucky is a great job, but difficult. Since Adolph Rupp’s 42-year term ended in 1972, there have been six coaches with an average term of eight seasons. Calipari, in year 12, surpassed the average.
Perhaps the controversy of the anthem is the struggle he needs to stand his ground. Choosing that battle in the middle of a losing season is a risky strategy – but also a valid demonstration of support for players. Even though many of the show’s red-state fans hated it.