Former Kentucky Players Speak on John Calipari and Kentucky’s Woes

Once the most popular man in the state Kentucky, John Calipari might have become the most divisive amongst the fanbase.

Over the last week, several former Wildcats have given their opinion players on DeMarcus Cousins, Rajon Rondo, and Antoine Walker spoke out on their opinion on the current situation at Kentucky.

Demarcus Cousins and Rajon Rondo

Rondo joined Cousins on his podcast Bully Ball, where the two provided different opinions on John Calipari. Cousins, who played for Calipari’s first Kentucky team took up for his former coach. “How did we get to this place of we’re now disrespecting the guy that created the standard,” Cousins asked.

“He’s brought more positivity to this university and to this fanbase than any negativity. No matter what university, no matter what legendary coach, they all went through a dry spell of losing tournaments, not really meeting the standard for that year. It happens with every program.”

Rondo, a Kentuckian who understands the prestige of the program before Calipari, responded with, “How many (champion)ships Cal got? It’s been over a decade. It’s about what have you done for me lately. Don’t disrespect the University of Kentucky, though. It’s been one of the greatest colleges of all time way before Cal got there.”

“I don’t understand how we get to the point where our next best option is to replace this coach,” Cousins said. “I never said replace him,” Rondo responded. Cousins says UK will take a big hit financially if Calipari were to be replaced. “Everything is going down.” Rondo disagreed, saying, “It’s UK. It is the brand. It’s Duke, North Carolina.”

Not wanting him fired, what is Rondo looking for Calipari to do?

“All I’m saying is, he has to get the guys to buy in. These guys are looking at the damn draft boards every day. Mentally, it’s like, okay, I want to do what’s best for the team, but at the same time my agent is calling me, I got the NIL deal money coming in. So these are just different times that these kids are going through to buy in. …I don’t think they did that completely in understanding, okay, we need to focus on winning versus looking at the draft board. I think that starts with Cal and the staff getting them to buy into that system”

Antoine Walker

Former Wildcat Antoine Walker also spoke about John Calipari on The Zach Gelb Show, where he says he’s still all-in on Calipari.

“I’m definitely still all-in,” Walker said. “I just think we have to understand that the landscape has just changed. He’s one of the best at doing it and bringing in talent, and maximizing and making good runs. But, It’s going to be tough, because you got to play older teams with the transfer portal, and things like that. It’s gonna be tough to win it all, but I’m still all-in on Cal.”

Walker says NIL can help Kentucky a lot to to correct course. “I think so because of the NIL, because guys are now having an opportunity to make money playing. You may be able to get guys to stay two or three years now. It won’t be such an urgency to go to the NBA.”

A large number of players don’t want Calipari gone, but they understand, just as the fanbase does, that he needs to self evaluate and making changes accordingly to adapt to the current landscape of college basketball.