UK - say hello to new coach

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=4033967

LEXINGTON, Ky. --- Here's what it looks like when Kentucky introduces a new head basketball coach:

About 200 reporters, trustees, friends of the program and other hangers-on murmur in the team's practice gym, then fall into a funereal hush when the new coach enters. Nearly two dozen cameras point at the coach during his news conference, which is carried live across the state.


Immediately afterward, throngs of reporters form packs around the athletic director, the school president, the coach's teenage daughter, two current walk-ons, a former Wildcat who hasn't played basketball since 1992 and anyone else willing to share an opinion. Then, when the new coach leaves the building, he needs security personnel to guide him through the crush of fans wanting autographs and a piece of his time.


Welcome to Kentucky, John Calipari.


Coaching the Wildcats brings an extraordinary amount of attention, responsibility and pressure, which Billy Gillisipie either couldn't or wouldn't handle during his two short years in Lexington. Since Rick Pitino left for the NBA in 1997, Kentucky fans have longed for a coach who could not just hold the job but own it, someone who would win big, play an entertaining style, charm the commonwealth and turn every interview an event.


Calipari has a long way to go to fulfill all those roles. But he had a smashing debut in his first morning as the state's most powerful employee.


At his introductory news conference, the former Memphis coach mixed self-deprecating humor with reverence for the program's history. He name-checked Joe B. Hall, Tubby Smith, Eddie Sutton, Pitino, Kyle Macy, Rex Chapman, Richie Farmer, Adolph Rupp's son, Tayshaun Prince, Nazr Mohammed and the family of the late Bill Keightley. He preached patience while also pledging to "recruit the best of the best" and add to the seven national championship banners hanging on the wall to his right.


"Let's double these," he said.


In other words, he was nearly perfect.


"I think it's the closest thing to Coach Pitino that Kentucky fans have seen since Coach Pitino left," said Farmer, who was a senior on the 1992 "Unforgettables" team and now serves as the state's agriculture commissioner.


"The way he handles himself, the way he interacted with the media and with people, I think that's what a lot of people are looking for. He understands the tradition and what Kentucky basketball means on a national level. Big Blue Nation will be really excited about what's happened here, and I predict that tickets here are going to be at a premium."


Still, Calipari comes with question marks that have little to do with his .761 winning percentage.


His first trip to the Final Four, at Massachusetts in 1996, was vacated by the NCAA because of Marcus Camby's dealings with an agent. He has been accused of cutting corners in recruiting and giving troubled players multiple chances, even though he's never been slapped with any major NCAA violations during his career. His reputation -- fairly or unfairly gained -- combined with Kentucky's spotty history of following the rules should raise eyebrows at the very least.


Kentucky president Lee Todd said he had some concerns about Calipari but was reassured during their in-person visit on Sunday. He said he saw the coach's "interest in his players and what he's done as far as graduation rates."


"It's hard to beat a face-to-face meeting," Todd said.


Wildcats athletic director Mitch Barnhart said he worked "very diligently" on his background checks. He said he spoke with officials from the NCAA and Southeastern Conference and found that they had no qualms about Calipari. He also talked to Calipari's former bosses at UMass and Memphis.


Barnhart scoffed at the notion that the merger of Calipari and Kentucky would lead to a win-at-all-costs mentality that would eventually have the NCAA police sniffing around Lexington.


"We're a compliant place," he said. "I've seen the stuff people have said about us and … whatever. We've been compliant and we've been disciplined here, and that won't change. I take offense to people who say that's not our program. I take offense to people who take shots at John for that. He's worked hard at it, and the people I talked to said he works hard at it."


Calipari noted that 19 of the last 22 players who reached their senior year at Memphis graduated. Unsolicited, he brought up the case of former Tigers forward Jeremy Hunt, who was reinstated to the team a year after being kicked off for allegedly beating up a woman and getting into another fight. Calipari said Hunt got his degree and is now playing professionally in Europe.


"We made the right choice," he said. "It wasn't popular, was it?"


Calipari also addressed his relationship with influence peddler William Wesley, or "Worldwide Wes." Wesley is widely credited with helping steer players such as Derrick Rose, Tyreke Evans and Chris Douglas-Roberts to Memphis, although no one can ever really explain what it is exactly that Wesley does. There's little doubt that Worldwide Wes will soon be Wildcat Wes. But Calipari offered no apologies, saying his recruiting is based on having good relationships with everybody.


"William Wesley knows what he is allowed to do and not allowed to do," Calipari said. "He will never represent the University of Kentucky or me in any kind of recruiting."


Pitino famously referred to Kentucky as the "Roman Empire of college basketball." His successors, Smith and Gillispie, often seemed flummoxed by trying to preside over their vast domain. And Calipari insisted on Wednesday that he was "just a regular guy" and not "a grand pooh-bah" or an "emperor."