John Calipari called into Mike Francesa's radio show as "John from Kentucky" after Francesa said he couldn't coach.
“Well, I think the guy is a great coach [
in his best grandmother’s voice] … This is John Calipari,” the coach said. “What are you saying I can’t coach? What are you saying I can’t coach? Why didn’t you say it when I was sitting there next to you?”
Oooo. Them's fightin’ words.
“Come back up, come back up,” Francesa said.
Calipari chuckled and continued.
“You know what they call me?” he said. "The Magician. Cal The Magician.”
We should call Calipari "The Magician” for the rest of his coaching career. This must happen.
And this isn’t new. Calipari’s coaching has been questioned for years based on the idea that he just recruits great players and pushes play. But Mike Krzyzewski, Jim Boeheim, Billy Donovan, Tom Izzo and others have all had elite rosters in recent years, yet their collective coaching prowess hasn’t endured the same scrutiny.
Cal is the best recruiter in the game, but he’s a good coach, too.
Francesa, however, seems to disagree, and he’s not alone.
Now, Cal will unleash his squadron of Marvel characters onto the college basketball scene to prove him wrong.