Deadspin: John Calipari

John Calipari Told His Team They "Need To Get Beat"

Sports Radio Interviews — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 16:55:06 EST

Every morning, the fine folks at Sports Radio Interviews sift through the a.m. drive-time chatter to bring you the best interviews with coaches, players, and personalities across the sports landscape. Today: Coach Cal isn't sure his Cats are tough enough yet. More »

Memphis Basketball Announcer Accidentally Introduces "Head Coach Of The Memphis Tigers, John Calipari!"

Emma Carmichael — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 11:15:00 EST

The Memphis Tigers, coached by Josh Pastner, lost 76-72 to unranked (and undefeated) Murray State yesterday. John Calipari did not get credited with the loss, because John Calipari stopped coaching Memphis two and a half years ago, when Kentucky offered him $31.65 million and free membership to a country club. Nonetheless, John Calipari did get introduced as "head coach of the Memphis Tigers" by the Memphis PA announcer. Oh, that's awkward. More »

Dick Vitale Heralds The Start Of The College Basketball Season By Yelling At You For A While

Emma Carmichael — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 19:45:00 EDT

Midnight Madness—the annual tradition in which college students get drunk and riled up to go watch their basketball teams perform skits and windmill dunks in anticipation of getting drunk and riled up to go watch their basketball teams play basketball—is tonight! More »

Derrick Rose and John Calipari Are Paying Back Memphis Fans For That Title Game They Cheated Their Way Into

Barry Petchesky — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 13:20:02 EDT

A strange, important thing happened in college basketball. A player, coach and athletic director at the heart of an academic scandal were actually punished. Not chastised in the usual NCAA sanction sense—no one cares about vacated wins or loss of scholarships—but actually forced to pay money. Money talks in college sports, so what went down at the University of Memphis is worth exploring. More »

John Calipari Overlooks That Louisville Is Also Located In Kentucky, TV Reporter Too Smitten With Him To Notice (CORRECTED)

Dom Cosentino — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 17:50:00 EDT

The outrage in at least one corner of the Bluegrass State today has been over Calipari's comments, beginning at the two-minute mark, in which he seems deliberately not to mention UK's in-state rivalry with Louisville. cn|2 "reporter" Will Mapes, whose station's coverage area includes Louisville, doesn't seem to notice, at least until he's back in the studio re-applying his blue and white face paint. But then again, cn|2's sports editor, Matt Jones, is a Kentucky sports blogger, and Mapes' own bio says he is "crazy about the Cats." Getting weak at the knees and passing it off as news is apparently what they do. More »

Former Louisville Basketball Player Breaks Leg In Most Horrific Way Possible (Video)

Emma Carmichael — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 14:45:00 EDT

Edgar Sosa, a former Louisville guard who's now playing for John Calipari's Dominican Republic team in the FIBA Americas Championship, broke his leg after going up for a shot in a game against Panama today. There's video here of the break itself and a look at the totally unnatural state of Sosa's shin, but be forewarned: This is one of those injuries that will make you want to stop watching sports for a spell. More »

John Calipari Has A Shockingly Logical Plan For Paying Players

Tue, 28 Jun 2011 17:25:50 EDT

Every morning, the fine folks at Sports Radio Interviews sift through the a.m. drive-time chatter to bring you the best interviews with coaches, players, and personalities across the sports landscape. Today: Calipari on how to pay just the ones that bring in the money. More »

Wild Australian Horse Decides To Run Away From A Steeplechase Course And Over The Crowd

Brian Hickey — Fri, 06 May 2011 09:30:00 EDT

Your morning roundup for May 6, the day Willie Mays becomes an octogenarian. More »

Bob Knight Continues His Solo Defamation Crusade Against John Calipari

Emma Carmichael — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 14:45:00 EDT

Bob Knight can't bullwhip his players anymore, and so over the past few years he's redirected his unmitigated anger about college athletics. It now rests squarely on the head of Kentucky basketball pimp John Calipari. On Saturday, Knight spoke to some Hoosiers at a banquet in Wabash, Ind. and claimed that the starting five on the 2009-2010 Kentucky basketball team "had not been to class that semester." More »

John Calipari Celebrates His First Final Four Appearance, Technically

Wed, 30 Mar 2011 16:35:07 EDT

Jimmer Left The Court With A Bandage On His Chin, But Kyle Singler Probably Saw His Mom Crying

Brian Hickey — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 09:00:00 EDT

Your morning roundup for March 25, the day rockhopper penguins fight for their oil-slicked lives. More »

Here's Derrick Rose Going Between The Legs To Joakim Noah

Emma Carmichael — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 10:55:00 EST

This is one of Rose's nine assists in Chicago's 105-77 drubbing of the Wizards last night. It's also, you'll notice, a one-year Calipari point guard schooling a younger one-year Calipari point guard, John Wall, in the NBA fast break. Rose finished with 21 and 9; Wall had 9 and 10. More »

Rip Hamilton Yelled At Coach John Kuester So Hard The Younger Pistons Were Mortified

Brian Hickey — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 09:00:00 EST

Your morning roundup for Feb. 27, the day that Earth's show-business sect finally recognizes all that Queen Amidala of Naboo has done for them, and for all the rebellion. More »

Sun-Times Going Hard On UK's Pay-For-Play Recruit

Barry Petchesky — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 12:35:06 EDT

Sun-Times Going Hard On UK's Pay-For-Play Recruit" alt="Click here to read Sun-Times Going Hard On UK's Pay-For-Play Recruit" src="http://cache.deadspin.com/assets/images/11/2011/11/small_8be932c2c793e134bb6d17a3b33d8007.jpg"/>

The paper reported rumors, that highly-prized Anthony Davis accepted $200,000 to choose Kentucky. UK's lawyers got involved, and the editors pulled the paragraph...for a day. Now the Sun-Times is fighting back, with more detailed, sourced allegations. This should be fun. More »

LeBron Watch, Day 5: Conspiracy! LeBron James Wants John Calipari To Be His Next Coach

Scott Raab — Tue, 25 May 2010 11:30:35 EDT

Mike Brown is gone. So, what does LeBron James really want in his heart-of-hearts, that unknowable place the media have never seen? It couldn't be John Calipari, could it? More »

Weekend Winner: The LeBron Combo

Barry Petchesky — Mon, 17 May 2010 11:00:00 EDT

In sports, everyone is a winner-some people just win better than others. Like John Calipari, who is allegedly being shopped around as part of a package deal with James. More »

The Marquis Teague Scholarship-Revocation-Countdown Begins Now

David Matthews — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 08:50:00 EDT

Because no one reads the newspaper, and SportsCenter's anchors are too perky for this early in the morning, Deadspin combs the best of the broadsheets and the blogosphere to bring you everything you need to know to start your day More »

Calipari On Buccigross: "He's A Jagoff"

David Matthews — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 13:10:45 EDT

Kentucky coach John Calipari talked with SportsCenter today. Wrapping up, he had the chance to say something to ESPN's John Buccigross. Calipari proceeds to call him a "jagoff" yet again. H/t reader Tyler for the video. More »

Reruns Win The Weekend

Dashiell Bennett — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 10:00:42 EST

In sports, everyone is a winner—some people just win better than others. Like the NFL teams who beat another team just to win the right to play that same team again. Why did they even bother? More »

Two Of Kentucky's Greatest Minds Finally Meet

A.J. Daulerio — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 21:30:39 EDT

Yes, that's living giant and "You Tube Sports" reporter Kige Ramsey perched behind new Kentucky head coach John Calipari. If an audio clip of this conversation existed it'd be translated into 30 different languages and pored over for centuries. [FriendsOfTheProgram] More »

Paper Tigers: Memphis Didn't Win Those Things They Won

Barry Petchesky — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 01:00:00 EDT

Your new NCAA record-holder for most wins in a season: the four teams that used to hold it before Memphis won 38 in 2007-08. That's because Memphis has to vacate all of them, plus their Final Four appearance. More »

Calipari: Be Nice to Pitino!

Tom Scocca — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 16:15:43 EDT

Sporting News Today reports (without any direct quotations) that John Calipari wants Kentucky basketball fans to refrain from picking on Rick Pitino when Louisville visits Rupp Arena. More »

Kudos To The NBA Draft Seating Arrangement Planner

Ben Cohen — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 11:45:00 EDT

"Rick Pitino eventually sat in his seat while John Calipari... avoided his, which meant no awkward photos, and no opportunity for Kentucky fans to create Photoshops of him putting his feet in Pitino's hair." [SI] More »

Fake John Calipari Is Terrorizing Facebook...And Other Things Of Note

A.J. Daulerio — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 19:43:05 EDT

Yes, fake Facebooks/Twitterers are everywhere and the joke is extremely stale, but that won't prevent hundreds of Wildcat rubes from believing a John Calipari impostor is the actual John Calipari engaging them in jovial and revealing conversation. Oh Kentucky. More »

Great Moments In Counterfactual History: Derrick Rose’s SAT Scores

Josh Levin — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 13:00:00 EDT

Nobody seems to care all that much that Memphis basketball players Derrick Rose and Robert Dozier allegedly cheated on their SATs. But what might have happened if the news had come out a little sooner? More »

Memphis Is Not That Picky About SAT Scores

Dashiell Bennett — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 11:15:00 EDT

Memphis spoke up yesterday, saying there's no proof that they or their former players cheated and that kind of honesty should put everything to rest. Until a report today that says a different Memphis player had a shady SAT experience. More »

This Time On Twitter, Calipari Apologizes

Ben Cohen — Fri, 29 May 2009 17:30:00 EDT

John Calipari atones for his daughter, Erin, who he says — err, tweets — got "a little over-zealous in defending her daddy's honor." Then he apologizes, presumably to Pat Forde. "We all have our jobs to do and none of them are easy," he writes. Or tweets. Whatever. [Twitter] More »

The Caliparis Continue To Use Social Networking Tools To Bash Pat Forde

Ben Cohen — Fri, 29 May 2009 14:20:00 EDT

Her father's former program is under NCAA investigation, but Erin Calipari knows who to blame and how to do it: call out ESPN's Pat Forde on Facebook. More »

Memphis Accused Of "Major" Recruiting Violation

Dashiell Bennett — Thu, 28 May 2009 09:45:03 EDT

Hey, John Calapari! I know you were very eager to pack up your stuff and get down to your new, better gig at Kentucky, but I think that in your haste you may have left something behind in Memphis. An NCAA investigation into a fraudulent SAT test! More »

John Calipari Wins At Wall Ball

Dashiell Bennett — Tue, 19 May 2009 10:00:57 EDT

John Wall, the most talked about basketball recruit in the country, will join Calipari at Kentucky. Enjoy what little time you have left with him, Wildcat fans. [Rush The Court] More »

John Calipari Continues His Dismantling Of Memphis

Dashiell Bennett — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 10:30:00 EDT

It was bad enough when John Calipari's daughter decided to follow her dad to the University of Kentucky, but it looks like Memphis isn't going to get to keep any of his players either. More »

The Calipari Daughters Should Probably Get Off Of Facebook Immediately

A.J. Daulerio — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 11:30:04 EDT

Although the piles of money and ego-stroking are enormous when you join a big-time program like the University of Kentucky, there are downsides. You know, like a burgeoning online interest in your young daughters. More »

Look At That: John Calipari Is At Kentucky

Dashiell Bennett — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 11:15:51 EDT

John Calipari is the new coach of the Kentucky Wildcats and he's going right to work. Step One: Managing expectations. More »

All Your Hopes And Fears Will Be Revealed Once You Open ... "The Door"

Dashiell Bennett — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 18:00:32 EDT

The Door is blowing up! It has devotees, worshipers, even its own Facebook fan group. The vigil continues. More »

John Calipari Is Walking Through That Door (Maybe)

Dashiell Bennett — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 16:50:00 EDT

A local Memphis TV station has set up a live web feed of a camera trained on the door to the Memphis Athletic Department offices. It is riveting. More »

Should John Calipari Sell His Soul To Kentucky?

Dashiell Bennett — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 10:50:21 EDT

ESPN is reporting that Memphis coach John Calipari met with Kentucky officials at an "undisclosed location" on Sunday and is mulling a "mega mega" offer to jump ship and lead the Wildcats. More »

Wow! Top Basketball Recruit's Mom Overcame 190,000-1 Odds to Receive a Call From FedEx's CEO

Clay Travis — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 16:15:49 EDT

And FedEx's CEO just happens to be a huge Memphis basketball booster—having donated at least $500k to Memphis athletics. What a happy coincidence! Man, it's amazing how these things work out. This is so shocking. Because prior to this instance Memphis head coach John Calipari has had such a squeaky clean image. Take it away Fox Sports: More »

Closing Out This Bissinger Business

Leitch — Thu, 01 May 2008 11:10:20 EDT

We really don't want to get into this too much more today, because yesterday was exhausting enough (and we weren't even working!). But we will say this: We were, bizarrely, on "The Best Damn Sports Show Period" yesterday, and not only was the level of discourse pitched higher than on "Costas Now," but, in fact, we walked away wondering if John Calipari weren't a better journalist than Buzz Bissinger. (Clip after the jump.) More »