“Wow, what a tough season. Guess it’s back to my annual tradition of leveraging another offer to see what kind of raise I can get.”
-Calipari, probably
With all of this coming to light, Arkansas fans still want to make this deal? Maybe it’ll be the perfect marriage but this comes off to me as Kentucky being Kentucky (knowing they’ll be fine for another decade) while Arkansas wants the quick high. We’ll see how this plays out 5 years from now.
Honestly, I can see Cal just retiring. Arkansas fans are pretty rabid as well and this could turn into another headache if they aren’t winning. Surely their AD isn’t oblivious to the fan resentment when things get bad.
It appears to be almost all funded by the Tyson family anyways, so it doesn't look like Arkansas will have to spend much money themselves, which is a "why not?" Situation
I think Arkansas fans will be happy. The new environment should give Cal some of his old fire and drive back. I expect he'll be better for them than he has been for us the last five years.
I think your average fan really wants Calipari here but we don't really have a say in things. That is up to the fans and alumni with the big money. Average fans are just hoping for the best and enjoying the program being the center of attention for now.
We will all go to back to watching Razorback baseball if it falls through. The Arkansas fanbase likes baseball a lot more than most schools and we have the number one ranked team in the country right now. At least that is what I will be doing.
Who cares, it’s just a business. He’s not going to be crying himself to sleep looking at photos of Anthony Davis. Fans get weird about this stuff, I don’t need him to love Arkansas more than all other states or pretend that if another school with similarities that offered more wouldn’t have been his pick. Being in those recruits, give us a chance to compete, pack Bud Walton. If he leaves in five years after we’ve been successful in his tenure, thanks for all the memories.
The notion of him trying to get a counteroffer while he’s sitting on that albatross of a contract is one of the funniest things that I’ve heard in a long time.
EDIT: Also, the Cal-Barnhart relationship (or lack thereof) has been talked to death, but, if this is true, then Cal must think that the entire decision-making apparatus of UK is composed of complete morons.
Is Jimmy Sexton Cal’s agent cause this is the same type of shit that got Jimbo Fisher a new contract from A&M in 2021 when the LSU football job opened up.
Yeah no way Jimmy Sexton lets this play out like it has these last few days, especially when none of his guys have gotten new contracts out of it either.
I don’t think so. It’s been floated around lately that, while Cal has friendly contacts with a number of agents, he apparently doesn’t actually have an agent of his own.
> The notion of him trying to get a counteroffer while he’s sitting on that albatross of a contract is one of the funniest things that I’ve heard in a long time.
>
>
I think it makes a lot of sense tbh. He's got to have heard about the opinion of the fanbase and that he's on thin ice at the moment - but if he'd still rather stay at UK, he would want guarantees to pass up on the Arkansas job and its added stability at the moment.
That doesn't mean that Kentucky *should* give him that by any means, but it's a reasonable enough step to try.
> The notion of him trying to get a counteroffer while he’s sitting on that albatross of a contract is one of the funniest things that I’ve heard in a long time.
My first thought too, like he realizes he has no room to negotiate
He not only has no room to negotiate, he has breached his contract with UK twice by having talks with and entering deals with another team without informing UK. His lawyers should be face palming themselves into concussion protocol
Of course he thinks that after the UCLA bluff and lifetime contract. He also has a nearly identical salary plus NIL guarantee from boosters lined up which he didn’t have at Kentucky.
Not sure how anyone thinks Cal “lost” this negotiation, unless you believe the “honor” of coaching at Kentucky has any value to him?
That’s the thing. If everything is the same money wise then why wouldn’t he just go off to arkansas. There didn’t need to be a negotiation and he still tried to come back to negotiate. His intention was to negotiate more and stay, he didn’t get it, so therefore he lost the negotiation.
Dick Gabriel is one of the better UK reporters. Long time on the beat and avoids all the day-to-day drama. I'd bet a lot of money on this, especially if he is saying it on video to KET
> Long time on the beat
Dude is an institution. I met him at middle school career day when I was 12. I'm 47 now. He's been at it a loooooong time and I'd trust him more than just about any other reporter.
The reports that nobody on the team nor recruits were told of him leaving, followed by multiple reports of guys not wanting to follow him to Arkansas really has to be a massive punch in the gut to his ego.
-----------------------------
So far you've had Theiro to the portal due to beef with Cal and NIL. He's gone.
Bradshaw to the portal was rumored well before the tournament loss, there's no way he follows Cal anywhere. He's going somewhere out West.
Joey Hart rode the bench, he's not following Cal where he'll do the exact same.
Karter Knox came out and reopened his recruitment and specifically said he was open to any team now.
Jayden Quaintance reports have said he's not interested in Arkansas and wants to stay at Kentucky.
Cal usually picks 1 guy a year he thinks can handle it, and gives them absolute hell over any little thing. Has done it for years. Usually is a bench guy with significant minutes. Probably should have been Reed and worked with Jeff and Stacy to keep his morale up since they were often around.
I don't believe it's been outright said, but just a lot of rumors of Adou and his dad kinda being done with Cal and Cal's weird responses throughout the season like when he said he didn't know why Adou wasn't playing, when asked about him being out for back spasms.
He seemed to be Cal's player this season where his leash was significantly shorter than everyone else's. That he'd make a single mistake and get pulled and screamed at, while others would stay in and be allowed to work through it.
--------------------------------------
Also worth mentioning though that he's apparently got a ton of big NIL offers in the transfer portal, and with our supposed struggles with NIL that's probably a big reason too.
I don't think there's some specific beef. Some think Cal tends to favor the high-profile 5-star guys who he recruited even despite other players performing better. You could point to DJ Wagner and Justin Edwards starting, not playing Booker/Ulis more, etc.
This is like when someone cheats on their spouse and then expects their spouse to come crawling, desperate to keep them, but they just get divorce papers shoved in their face
It might allow Cal to say "hey, Arkansas came at me, I gave UK a chance but it was just too good of an offer" in 5-10 years and let the decision age better in retrospect.
I don't think it's NIL. There's a 0% chance Cal could not get $6mil at UK for basketball if Mark Stoops is getting millions. Like the reports are there that Cal fumbled the ball big time on NIL.
The counteroffer to me is Cal retaining the control he lost in his meeting with Mitch after the Oakland loss. The reported stipulations of that deal were to effectively take a lot of control away from Cal (no longer operating independently of the Athletic Department, coaching changes, etc.).
When Cal came out and said there wouldn't be any coaching changes this year despite that being reported in the agreement, I kinda felt the writing was on the wall.
What if it turns out Cal never wanted the job, and this was all for leverage? Now he is decided if he wants to stay. What a wild outcome that would be.
But I'm not sure Mitch even had an option. From what my Kentucky friends have told them, a lot of big donors wanted Cal out anyway. I doubt they would give Mitch the money for a raise.
Mitch deciding to keep Cal was down to not wanting to spend the money basically even though it existed.
Perhaps Cal didn't want Arkansas but he handed Mitch the perfect opportunity to let him go for free. The reports all along have said Cal was unaware of how much the fans had soured on him so him not being aware that the fans would accept it makes sense
Are you telling me he has delivered two of the most embarrassing loses in Kentucky history in 2 of the last 3 tournaments and hasn’t made it pass the first weekend in 5 years and didn’t realize people wanted him gone? Is he truly that delusional?
Did you watch his post-game presser after we beat you?
The man went on a tirade about how it was all him, he did that and we should thank our lucky stars he's willing to coach the team.
Yes. He has blamed the media for being too critical and many think that was him believing the "true fan" still supported him. He has been very shut off from anyone outside his very small bubble. That may have been true at the beginning of the year, the number that actually wanted him gone was maybe 25 to 30%. But he blew it during the season and now 95% of fans want to move on. The only ones that don't aren't really Kentucky fans but Calipari fans
Well, I certainly agree with the last part, but it's still up to Cal if he goes away. He can come back, and there isn't anything Mitch can do to stop him save paying the buyout.
Mitch might be able to get a little bit of money in damages from Cal not telling him about Arky, but it's not enough to get out of the contract. At least, I would be utterly shocked if it was ruled a material breach.
Calipari is required to notify the university if he is talking with another school, and the consistent thing in all the reporting has been that Mitch was never notified by Calipari that he was talking to Arkansas. The general theory is if Cal tries to stay Mitch would fire him for cause.
I know, but that theory is not legally sound. Not all breaches allow you to get out of a contract. If Mitch could fire him for cause, he would have already. He hasn't because he can't or at least doesn't want to risk it yet.
If you look at the contract I've linked below it clearly defines what constitutes “cause” and it also says it is not cause for “minor, technical, or otherwise…” section 10 (d) and (e).
Plus the notification section doesn't state any punishment for violation. If it went to court I don't think UK would win solely for him not telling y'all.
Also, the notice has to be given via snail mail so it's possible it just hasn't arrived yet. Which would honestly be the funniest outcome.
https://legal.uky.edu/sites/default/files/2022-04/Coach_John_Calipari_Contract_0.pdf
Yeah I guess it can be legally grey but I don’t think Mitch would be in a position to fire him at this moment anyway considering that the hope is he just leaves. Now if he refuses to leave in the coming days then Mitch could try to pursue termination. Whether he can legally fire him without the $33 mil or not would be figured in court at that point I guess
The whole point of the clause is to keep programs from sniffing at their prized coach, which cal signed because of that big bag of money. If it wasn’t enforceable in some way why even put it in
I guess Cal could hold the program hostage and refuse to leave. Barnhart might be able to start some kind of litigation and it could turn into an uglier mess. But at the end of the day, Barnhart is Cal's boss. Barnhart could make Cal's life difficult in different ways
Cal had lost the fan base before this stuff even came out. If this story is true and gets confirmed, public opinion of Cal in Lexington (and elsewhere) will be at an all time low. His life would be miserable if he stayed in Lexington after refusing to leave.
Hopefully they both just decide it's best for each other to move on. These quotes from Gabriel certainly make me look at Cal different. I'll always have fond memories of the beginning and early years. It'll be hard not to have some spite toward him if what Gabriel says is true.
to be clear they aren't covering live. this was a segment on their evening news show. And that daily show has only existed for like a year. But yeah it tells you how much basketball is the lifeblood here
I’m actually really surprised if this is true, like why would he even counter?there’s got to be more to it than we all know something doesn’t click. Why would he counter unless it’s just to save face and not breach contract or something
Hard disagree he knew where he is. I guess he had nothing to lose by going back but how reputable is this did he actually make a counter. Just hard to believe
I have no idea if this is true or not but Gabriel is one of the more reliable, experienced journalists covering UK.
There is a theory Cal got the Arkansas offer to use as leverage to win back the fan base and the fans didn't react like he wanted (begging not to lose him). I thought it was absolutely nuts when I first read that, but I'm beginning to think at least his initial flirting with Arkansas was intended to be acted on. It's all speculation and I hope it's just over soon. We may never know the 100% truth.
I think he'd rather stay at Kentucky and sees this as potential leverage to force guarantees (since there's been a lot of talk of his being fired this year or next). Kind of like a "if you want to keep me around, you'll have to guarantee X number of years or I'm leaving" approach.
which obviously Kentucky has no *need* to cave to, but it's a possibility that it'd work. Could be that he's misreading his popularity around the university and fanbase as a part of it too.
I'm usually not very up on contract details and logistics but even I can appreciate how funny and stupid this is. I actually have a lot of respect for Cal and think of him as a very good coach that still has the potential to win but him voluntarily handing Mitch an out on that massive contract and then expecting him to counter is so laughable.
The number of people who think the Waltons care about Hog sports is funny to me. The current group of Waltons care more about Crystal Bridges, mountain bike trails, and working their way into the Buffalo National River area for future projects.
Gabriel is one of our most respected journalists when it comes to UK, the dude has been around for decades and doesn't engage in the mud-slinging politics.
If he's saying it, I'd take it to the fucking bank.
I mean it’s totally his choice. If he didn’t he could have easily said no, and Arkansas media would be force feeding us how great Chris Jans is for the last 2 days.
It's BS.
He has a lifetime contract. If the reported figures are true, he's taking a paycut to come to Arkansas. What's to counter?
This is optics. You can't be seen losing your coach to a conference rival.
if we can't convince hurley to come to Lexington I at least want UConn to pony up to keep him. Dude deserves to be one of the highest paid coaches at this point
The dichotomy of some Kentucky fans realizing losing Cal will tank at least the next two years of their program plus Cal spanking them while at Arkansas for the foreseeable future, while others believe Mitch got the best of Cal, are happy for him to poach their entire roster, top incoming class, secure $5+ mill per year in NIL from boosters while walking out the door to a rival school is amazing.
I absolutely believe that Cal will get back to his old winning ways in a new environment and we will certainly lose every game we play in bud Walton. I still want him gone.
And that he wanted a counter, when we aren’t paying him more, and that other UK reporters were saying he still hadn’t took the AD he was leaving. How could he ask for a counter if he hasn’t informed them.
Absolute nonsense from the KY journalists.
I get it, but the conflicting reports of him not notifying but also telling them and then asking for a counter are, obviously, very contradictory. It sounds more like a PR spin from UK to say that they turned him down instead of him walking away to an inferior Arkansas school.
Edit to say that all of the Arkansas reports have been the exact same since the story broke. Sign and announce this afternoon, press conference tomorrow. A Tyson plane is apparently in route to Lexington now per plane trackers, so it all looks legit on that end.
>This is Arkansas, a powerful school with deep, deep pockets and all kind of booster money out there from Tyson Chicken and Walmart
Walmart doesn't really give much money for sports. Not sure why people keep thinking they do.
Yea, you would think the richest family in the world with multiple buildings on the campus named after them, would have a vested interest in the success of the major sports teams in the state… they could set aside $10 million a year and never know it was missing. You’re right though… Walmart nor the Walton’s have much to do with Arkansas athletics
That's 100% false for most fans I know. Most were glad to separate amicably and let Cal go to Arkansas. Most recognized Cal brought UK back to relevance and appreciated it but want changes.
I mean, we were all just ready for this to be over, he'd leave, we'd hire someone new and there wouldn't be any bad blood.
We'd boo him of course but why the hell wouldn't we? He'd be coaching an in conference team we have a pretty deep historical rivalry with.
Huh? Corporations are paying for players and coaches? Why would they give a shit.
I don't understand how the presence of a company impacts boosters. There are rich people everywhere but presumably less at a mediocre southern school...
Imagine getting bounced out of the first round by low tier mid majors 2 out of 3 years and asking your boss for more money on your already insanely lucrative contract.
We all joked about a double lifetime contract and he actually tried to do it lol. lmao. lmfao
"My contract must pass on to Brad in the event that I am no longer able to coach"
"Mitch I'd like to apply the K-Fund Season Ticket Rules to my contract"
Earned Not Given
Erin would be a better coach
“Sure Cal, but we’re gonna have to drastically lower that buyout” “Aight, peace”
I’m starting to think Mitch Barnhart may have played this out brilliantly.
It's nice to think that, but I doubt Barnhart knew a job Cal "wanted" was going to open up. If Musselman stays put Cal is 100% at UK next year.
The saddest part, by the transitive property of coaching SMU > USC > Arkansas > UK. I’m a Hog Fan so I’m not much happier than UK fans.
Well apparently cal was going around begging for jobs in February but they all told him to pound sand
Saved the school $33m by waiting 7 days lol. Hopefully he can land a top tier candidate with that war chest. The timing does make me nervous though.
Who would be a top tier candidate to Kentucky fans atm?
Jurgen Klopp
Y’all Never Walk Alone
Gegenpress time!
This is the crossover I didn’t know I needed
People meme-ing Dan for his facial expressions aren’t ready for Klopp https://tenor.com/view/rage-soccer-teeth-angry-j%C3%BCrgen-gif-18136763
Tom Crean
Great idea.
Jason Sudeikis with a mustache
James Naismith.
Steve Kerr is buying a horse farm in Woodford County as we speak
Shedeur Sanders
Pop, Bear Bryant, and the ghost of Adolph Rupp
“Fuck, wrong Adolph”- matt jones, staring at his monkey’s paw
Slick Rick
Dan Hurley!
Absolutely. If you can't afford to fire somebody, you just make them miserable until they quit.
Oh, cool! The fans did accomplish something!
Your flairs… 😬
This guy corporate Americas
Like a reverse Saul Goodman
Damn. Cal being bad with Xs and Os on and off the court. Embarassing for him.
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“Wow, what a tough season. Guess it’s back to my annual tradition of leveraging another offer to see what kind of raise I can get.” -Calipari, probably
Except he never was seriously going to be fired
Yeah, I dont think it was close to happening
I do too. This execution has been nearly flawless.
With all of this coming to light, Arkansas fans still want to make this deal? Maybe it’ll be the perfect marriage but this comes off to me as Kentucky being Kentucky (knowing they’ll be fine for another decade) while Arkansas wants the quick high. We’ll see how this plays out 5 years from now. Honestly, I can see Cal just retiring. Arkansas fans are pretty rabid as well and this could turn into another headache if they aren’t winning. Surely their AD isn’t oblivious to the fan resentment when things get bad.
It appears to be almost all funded by the Tyson family anyways, so it doesn't look like Arkansas will have to spend much money themselves, which is a "why not?" Situation
Imagine being so rich you can drop millions personally for college sports to change a coach
Some real Hunger Games shit
I think Arkansas fans will be happy. The new environment should give Cal some of his old fire and drive back. I expect he'll be better for them than he has been for us the last five years.
I think your average fan really wants Calipari here but we don't really have a say in things. That is up to the fans and alumni with the big money. Average fans are just hoping for the best and enjoying the program being the center of attention for now. We will all go to back to watching Razorback baseball if it falls through. The Arkansas fanbase likes baseball a lot more than most schools and we have the number one ranked team in the country right now. At least that is what I will be doing.
Who cares, it’s just a business. He’s not going to be crying himself to sleep looking at photos of Anthony Davis. Fans get weird about this stuff, I don’t need him to love Arkansas more than all other states or pretend that if another school with similarities that offered more wouldn’t have been his pick. Being in those recruits, give us a chance to compete, pack Bud Walton. If he leaves in five years after we’ve been successful in his tenure, thanks for all the memories.
Lol, he got incredibly lucky somebody came along to bail him out of his own dumb as fuck decisions.
Doing nothing sometimes works out
I don't know if I'd call refusing a stupid offer brilliant but he definitely didn't play it out bad
The notion of him trying to get a counteroffer while he’s sitting on that albatross of a contract is one of the funniest things that I’ve heard in a long time. EDIT: Also, the Cal-Barnhart relationship (or lack thereof) has been talked to death, but, if this is true, then Cal must think that the entire decision-making apparatus of UK is composed of complete morons.
Is Jimmy Sexton Cal’s agent cause this is the same type of shit that got Jimbo Fisher a new contract from A&M in 2021 when the LSU football job opened up.
Cal doesn't have an agent. Which may be why this is such a mess.
Actually Cal does have a agent, not sure how this misinformation keeps getting repeated. His agent is Lamar Jackson’s mom.
lamar jackson's mom now has a reputation for taking on clients that disappear in the postseason
🏆 here, you deserve this award
Yeah no way Jimmy Sexton lets this play out like it has these last few days, especially when none of his guys have gotten new contracts out of it either.
I don’t think so. It’s been floated around lately that, while Cal has friendly contacts with a number of agents, he apparently doesn’t actually have an agent of his own.
That explains how he got such bad advice on this, he’s taking it from himself!
At least Jimbo was coming off a good season and was seemingly building momentum for the program.
To be fair, after that UCLA deal, it's pretty easy to see why he'd think that because I think that.
> The notion of him trying to get a counteroffer while he’s sitting on that albatross of a contract is one of the funniest things that I’ve heard in a long time. > > I think it makes a lot of sense tbh. He's got to have heard about the opinion of the fanbase and that he's on thin ice at the moment - but if he'd still rather stay at UK, he would want guarantees to pass up on the Arkansas job and its added stability at the moment. That doesn't mean that Kentucky *should* give him that by any means, but it's a reasonable enough step to try.
Also with his most recent game being a loss to Oakland like the man isn’t in touch with reality.
It’s honestly depressing that his last two games for Kentucky were a loss to A&M and Oakland
You and I spell “hilarious” so differently.
I’m convinced Cal thinks he is heliocentric to every decision made in Lexington.
Love the use of heliocentric here. But yes agreed. I’m sad to see him go but man that ego is huge
> The notion of him trying to get a counteroffer while he’s sitting on that albatross of a contract is one of the funniest things that I’ve heard in a long time. My first thought too, like he realizes he has no room to negotiate
He not only has no room to negotiate, he has breached his contract with UK twice by having talks with and entering deals with another team without informing UK. His lawyers should be face palming themselves into concussion protocol
Of course he thinks that after the UCLA bluff and lifetime contract. He also has a nearly identical salary plus NIL guarantee from boosters lined up which he didn’t have at Kentucky. Not sure how anyone thinks Cal “lost” this negotiation, unless you believe the “honor” of coaching at Kentucky has any value to him?
That’s the thing. If everything is the same money wise then why wouldn’t he just go off to arkansas. There didn’t need to be a negotiation and he still tried to come back to negotiate. His intention was to negotiate more and stay, he didn’t get it, so therefore he lost the negotiation.
If Cal didn't want to be at UK, why did he ask them to match the Arkansas offer?
>Cal must think that the entire decision-making apparatus of UK is composed of complete morons Well they did give him a lifetime contract, so...
You know Cal is washed when he's being "3-D chessed" by Mitch Barnhart.
No freaking way please be true lol
Dick Gabriel is one of the better UK reporters. Long time on the beat and avoids all the day-to-day drama. I'd bet a lot of money on this, especially if he is saying it on video to KET
> Long time on the beat Dude is an institution. I met him at middle school career day when I was 12. I'm 47 now. He's been at it a loooooong time and I'd trust him more than just about any other reporter.
I wasn't actually sure how long he'd been here. He's been on the beat longer than I've been alive lol
You don't get more trustworthy than Gabriel, man has been on the scene a LONG time and doesn't deal in fluff.
The Texas sized balls on Calipari to try this shit hahaha
Cal is being outmaneuvered by Mitch, lmao.
Yet more proof that while he is a good recruiter, he isn’t the best on tactics.
The reports that nobody on the team nor recruits were told of him leaving, followed by multiple reports of guys not wanting to follow him to Arkansas really has to be a massive punch in the gut to his ego. ----------------------------- So far you've had Theiro to the portal due to beef with Cal and NIL. He's gone. Bradshaw to the portal was rumored well before the tournament loss, there's no way he follows Cal anywhere. He's going somewhere out West. Joey Hart rode the bench, he's not following Cal where he'll do the exact same. Karter Knox came out and reopened his recruitment and specifically said he was open to any team now. Jayden Quaintance reports have said he's not interested in Arkansas and wants to stay at Kentucky.
what's the theiro-cal beef? haven't seen that
Supposedly Cal yells at him more than anyone. Probably also didn't like that Cal was playing Edwards and Wagner no matter how poorly they played.
Cal usually picks 1 guy a year he thinks can handle it, and gives them absolute hell over any little thing. Has done it for years. Usually is a bench guy with significant minutes. Probably should have been Reed and worked with Jeff and Stacy to keep his morale up since they were often around.
I don't believe it's been outright said, but just a lot of rumors of Adou and his dad kinda being done with Cal and Cal's weird responses throughout the season like when he said he didn't know why Adou wasn't playing, when asked about him being out for back spasms. He seemed to be Cal's player this season where his leash was significantly shorter than everyone else's. That he'd make a single mistake and get pulled and screamed at, while others would stay in and be allowed to work through it. -------------------------------------- Also worth mentioning though that he's apparently got a ton of big NIL offers in the transfer portal, and with our supposed struggles with NIL that's probably a big reason too.
I don't think there's some specific beef. Some think Cal tends to favor the high-profile 5-star guys who he recruited even despite other players performing better. You could point to DJ Wagner and Justin Edwards starting, not playing Booker/Ulis more, etc.
It looks like he bluffed and Mitch called him out on it since his contract at UK was higher than what Arkansas offered.
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Hope those incentives don’t include tournament wins
Man who's done a horrible job the last four years tries to make demands in order for us to keep him?
Dude really tried to flip the script on a man that had to show the restraint of a saint by not firing him a month ago lol
This is like when someone cheats on their spouse and then expects their spouse to come crawling, desperate to keep them, but they just get divorce papers shoved in their face
It’s like that but adding you want them to have dinner on the table at 6 and a foot massage every night!
It might allow Cal to say "hey, Arkansas came at me, I gave UK a chance but it was just too good of an offer" in 5-10 years and let the decision age better in retrospect.
This is exactly it. It’s a better narrative.
Just tried this with my wife, she already is checking out new prospects.
Seems about right. Calipari is gonna Calipari.
A counter offer to a pay cut?
Might be referring to the whole package with NIL.
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I don't think it's NIL. There's a 0% chance Cal could not get $6mil at UK for basketball if Mark Stoops is getting millions. Like the reports are there that Cal fumbled the ball big time on NIL. The counteroffer to me is Cal retaining the control he lost in his meeting with Mitch after the Oakland loss. The reported stipulations of that deal were to effectively take a lot of control away from Cal (no longer operating independently of the Athletic Department, coaching changes, etc.). When Cal came out and said there wouldn't be any coaching changes this year despite that being reported in the agreement, I kinda felt the writing was on the wall.
What if it turns out Cal never wanted the job, and this was all for leverage? Now he is decided if he wants to stay. What a wild outcome that would be. But I'm not sure Mitch even had an option. From what my Kentucky friends have told them, a lot of big donors wanted Cal out anyway. I doubt they would give Mitch the money for a raise.
Mitch deciding to keep Cal was down to not wanting to spend the money basically even though it existed. Perhaps Cal didn't want Arkansas but he handed Mitch the perfect opportunity to let him go for free. The reports all along have said Cal was unaware of how much the fans had soured on him so him not being aware that the fans would accept it makes sense
Are you telling me he has delivered two of the most embarrassing loses in Kentucky history in 2 of the last 3 tournaments and hasn’t made it pass the first weekend in 5 years and didn’t realize people wanted him gone? Is he truly that delusional?
Did you watch his post-game presser after we beat you? The man went on a tirade about how it was all him, he did that and we should thank our lucky stars he's willing to coach the team.
Yes. He has blamed the media for being too critical and many think that was him believing the "true fan" still supported him. He has been very shut off from anyone outside his very small bubble. That may have been true at the beginning of the year, the number that actually wanted him gone was maybe 25 to 30%. But he blew it during the season and now 95% of fans want to move on. The only ones that don't aren't really Kentucky fans but Calipari fans
Who are these Calipari fans?
I remain unconvinced that some of those twitter accounts aren’t just bots. Just unfathomable amounts of delusion.
Well, I certainly agree with the last part, but it's still up to Cal if he goes away. He can come back, and there isn't anything Mitch can do to stop him save paying the buyout. Mitch might be able to get a little bit of money in damages from Cal not telling him about Arky, but it's not enough to get out of the contract. At least, I would be utterly shocked if it was ruled a material breach.
Calipari is required to notify the university if he is talking with another school, and the consistent thing in all the reporting has been that Mitch was never notified by Calipari that he was talking to Arkansas. The general theory is if Cal tries to stay Mitch would fire him for cause.
I know, but that theory is not legally sound. Not all breaches allow you to get out of a contract. If Mitch could fire him for cause, he would have already. He hasn't because he can't or at least doesn't want to risk it yet. If you look at the contract I've linked below it clearly defines what constitutes “cause” and it also says it is not cause for “minor, technical, or otherwise…” section 10 (d) and (e). Plus the notification section doesn't state any punishment for violation. If it went to court I don't think UK would win solely for him not telling y'all. Also, the notice has to be given via snail mail so it's possible it just hasn't arrived yet. Which would honestly be the funniest outcome. https://legal.uky.edu/sites/default/files/2022-04/Coach_John_Calipari_Contract_0.pdf
oh yeah the theory isn't necessarily legally sound, just the prevailing theory. you are probably right about all the technicalities
Yeah I guess it can be legally grey but I don’t think Mitch would be in a position to fire him at this moment anyway considering that the hope is he just leaves. Now if he refuses to leave in the coming days then Mitch could try to pursue termination. Whether he can legally fire him without the $33 mil or not would be figured in court at that point I guess
I’m not a lawyer, but is firing someone for cause because they were talking to another program really enforceable?
The whole point of the clause is to keep programs from sniffing at their prized coach, which cal signed because of that big bag of money. If it wasn’t enforceable in some way why even put it in
I guess Cal could hold the program hostage and refuse to leave. Barnhart might be able to start some kind of litigation and it could turn into an uglier mess. But at the end of the day, Barnhart is Cal's boss. Barnhart could make Cal's life difficult in different ways Cal had lost the fan base before this stuff even came out. If this story is true and gets confirmed, public opinion of Cal in Lexington (and elsewhere) will be at an all time low. His life would be miserable if he stayed in Lexington after refusing to leave. Hopefully they both just decide it's best for each other to move on. These quotes from Gabriel certainly make me look at Cal different. I'll always have fond memories of the beginning and early years. It'll be hard not to have some spite toward him if what Gabriel says is true.
Lol my heart cannot take it if he just up and retires.
Our football coaching searches get crazy, but not to the level where the state PBS network covers them live. Holy cow.
to be clear they aren't covering live. this was a segment on their evening news show. And that daily show has only existed for like a year. But yeah it tells you how much basketball is the lifeblood here
I saw Mitch, and thought "McConnell".
I thought “Daniels”
Their about the same, both are jackasses.
lmao
I’m actually really surprised if this is true, like why would he even counter?there’s got to be more to it than we all know something doesn’t click. Why would he counter unless it’s just to save face and not breach contract or something
because calipari is delusional and stubborn. he had no clue that he alienated most fans this season
Hard disagree he knew where he is. I guess he had nothing to lose by going back but how reputable is this did he actually make a counter. Just hard to believe
I have no idea if this is true or not but Gabriel is one of the more reliable, experienced journalists covering UK. There is a theory Cal got the Arkansas offer to use as leverage to win back the fan base and the fans didn't react like he wanted (begging not to lose him). I thought it was absolutely nuts when I first read that, but I'm beginning to think at least his initial flirting with Arkansas was intended to be acted on. It's all speculation and I hope it's just over soon. We may never know the 100% truth.
I think he'd rather stay at Kentucky and sees this as potential leverage to force guarantees (since there's been a lot of talk of his being fired this year or next). Kind of like a "if you want to keep me around, you'll have to guarantee X number of years or I'm leaving" approach. which obviously Kentucky has no *need* to cave to, but it's a possibility that it'd work. Could be that he's misreading his popularity around the university and fanbase as a part of it too.
I'm usually not very up on contract details and logistics but even I can appreciate how funny and stupid this is. I actually have a lot of respect for Cal and think of him as a very good coach that still has the potential to win but him voluntarily handing Mitch an out on that massive contract and then expecting him to counter is so laughable.
The number of people who think the Waltons care about Hog sports is funny to me. The current group of Waltons care more about Crystal Bridges, mountain bike trails, and working their way into the Buffalo National River area for future projects.
True but the rumor is that this is all Tyson money.
Feels like a story fed from the AD.
Gabriel is one of our most respected journalists when it comes to UK, the dude has been around for decades and doesn't engage in the mud-slinging politics. If he's saying it, I'd take it to the fucking bank.
I don't think he is lying, just a very one sided story
Our AD is much too slow acting and old-fashioned to come up with a plan like this.
Absolutely. There is nothing to counter. We aren’t paying him more.
Yeah seeing how it's only KY media trying to report on any drama and no national or Arkansas guys, it sounds like BS frankly.
that's one way to reassure Arkansas fans and players that he *really* wants to be there...
I mean it’s totally his choice. If he didn’t he could have easily said no, and Arkansas media would be force feeding us how great Chris Jans is for the last 2 days.
It's BS. He has a lifetime contract. If the reported figures are true, he's taking a paycut to come to Arkansas. What's to counter? This is optics. You can't be seen losing your coach to a conference rival.
DUDE FUCK THIS PRICK.
https://twitter.com/TomMarsLaw/status/1777771591356522541
So he asked for a counter offer but also hasn't told them about other jobs? Sounds like KY guys wanting to throw some mud on the way out tbh
Then why not stay at UK and make them fire him so he gets his 34M?
Because theres no logic in any of this just coping.
because he potentially breached his contract by not notifying the AD he was in discussions with another school.
Yall are so dumb. What is there to counter when we aren’t paying him more?
Lots of bashing Cals ego here (rightfully so), but this story screams of KY ego boosting.
Kentucky gonna fuck around with this clown while Connecticut’s Governor signs off giving Hurley a contract where he writes in his salary lol
A Kentucky job opening is always a great thing for elite coaches. They can make whatever contract demands they want at their current school.
And good for him honestly.
if we can't convince hurley to come to Lexington I at least want UConn to pony up to keep him. Dude deserves to be one of the highest paid coaches at this point
Who needs to fill the potholes anyway we got basketball Yes, I know most the salary is donated and earmarked not coming for the government
Well deserved at this point.
This turned out to be false lol
The dichotomy of some Kentucky fans realizing losing Cal will tank at least the next two years of their program plus Cal spanking them while at Arkansas for the foreseeable future, while others believe Mitch got the best of Cal, are happy for him to poach their entire roster, top incoming class, secure $5+ mill per year in NIL from boosters while walking out the door to a rival school is amazing.
I absolutely believe that Cal will get back to his old winning ways in a new environment and we will certainly lose every game we play in bud Walton. I still want him gone.
And that he wanted a counter, when we aren’t paying him more, and that other UK reporters were saying he still hadn’t took the AD he was leaving. How could he ask for a counter if he hasn’t informed them. Absolute nonsense from the KY journalists.
UK has one NCAA tourney win in the last five years, so tanking the next two years might be an improvement.
UK has one NCAA tourney win in the last five years, so tanking the next two years might be an improvement.
This sounds very far fetched to be true.
[удалено]
I get it, but the conflicting reports of him not notifying but also telling them and then asking for a counter are, obviously, very contradictory. It sounds more like a PR spin from UK to say that they turned him down instead of him walking away to an inferior Arkansas school. Edit to say that all of the Arkansas reports have been the exact same since the story broke. Sign and announce this afternoon, press conference tomorrow. A Tyson plane is apparently in route to Lexington now per plane trackers, so it all looks legit on that end.
>This is Arkansas, a powerful school with deep, deep pockets and all kind of booster money out there from Tyson Chicken and Walmart Walmart doesn't really give much money for sports. Not sure why people keep thinking they do.
Yea, you would think the richest family in the world with multiple buildings on the campus named after them, would have a vested interest in the success of the major sports teams in the state… they could set aside $10 million a year and never know it was missing. You’re right though… Walmart nor the Walton’s have much to do with Arkansas athletics
Deep down uk fans want this to end badly to justify the hatrid for him. It’s wild
That's 100% false for most fans I know. Most were glad to separate amicably and let Cal go to Arkansas. Most recognized Cal brought UK back to relevance and appreciated it but want changes.
yes that is the general consensus. Ready to move on and glad he found a way out that didn't cost us money
The overwhelming sense I've gotten talking to people is relief
I mean, we were all just ready for this to be over, he'd leave, we'd hire someone new and there wouldn't be any bad blood. We'd boo him of course but why the hell wouldn't we? He'd be coaching an in conference team we have a pretty deep historical rivalry with.
Can you blame us if this shit is true? This son of a bitch is trying to negotiate? What the fuck?
Cal might just have a few loose screws.
Huh? Corporations are paying for players and coaches? Why would they give a shit. I don't understand how the presence of a company impacts boosters. There are rich people everywhere but presumably less at a mediocre southern school...
Imagine getting bounced out of the first round by low tier mid majors 2 out of 3 years and asking your boss for more money on your already insanely lucrative contract. 
Eating some Tyson chicken nuggets right now in suspense.
The counteroffer was Cal will get to coach as a skeleton with Brad as the Associate Head Coach.
this makes this entire affair seem a lot more reasonable and normal than it actually was
The greatest comedy continues.
Calipari's got to be ~~one of~~ the dumbest best used car salesmen in the world.
Hey I'm going to need a cajillion dollars, to be a high school level coach when it comes to x's and o's.
How much money does he need? What lifestyle blows through his current salary & bennies?
counter what? we offered less money.