BBNT Exclusive Interview: Coach Calipari & Mitch Barnhart 

The whole time he knew he was leaving… he sat here and acted so well.

Cal has ruined Ky. Basketball its time to move and Mitch needs to as well.

He knew he was out of Lex the whole time. We were ride or die with you, you went out weak

And 9 days later Cal going to Arkansas?!

Can you say "Damage control"?

Coach Cal did a great job these last few years! Loved the Oakland and St Peter’s games! You can tell Mitch and Cal were a great partnership.

I'm not even mad at Cal. I'm happy he's going to Arkansas. I hope he's successful there. It was time for a change at UK. Simple as that.

YEE HAW, HE'S GONE

Towards the end of the video, they talked about the covid year and how there are so many 25 year olds playing college basketball, Mitch said most people don't understand that UK is at a disadvantage because UK players leave so quickly because they have NBA potential. What am I missing? This is the culture Cal chose, he can change it at any time, but he chooses not to. You don't get to complain about youth, when you choose to be young. In this day and age, you can't have your cake and eat it too. You can't focus on getting blue chip kids drafted AND try to win titles. It's either/or. Unless you can get AD and MKG and retain Terrence Jones and Lamb, you can't do it this way. These young kids only.have potential, they will be good in a few years, but right now, they are getting out physicalled and out smarted by veteran players. Stop the madness and build a legit college program.

It’s all about Keeping PLAYERS LONGER 2 to 4 years. It’s EXTREMELY HARD to lose 7 to 9 players every year … players need time to develop… we have become a NBA training Camp for 1 year… when Kentucky lost 2 to 4 guys a year we had 80 to 90% of the team returned and did well year after year. Much easier to teach and coach .

Aged like fine wine

Glad to see he sat here and lied for 25 minutes. Enjoy Arkansas Cal. Both the UK basketball program, and Cal needed to move on. It's best for everyone involved. Edit: News just broke he was interested in the OSU job that was filled on March 17th. He knew this was the end a while ago.

What a joke. Both dudes need to take a hike!

We also need better defence and rebounding I don't know how many times all season where the opposing team got offensive rebound after another and the bigs are not strong enough they get out wrestled the teams drive around us and the whole defence just stops and lets them go to a lay up

We’re great, we know everything, we’ll fix it …. yada yada yada. You’ve both got rich off of us, now please retire.

Thanks for posting this. I'm in west KY, so this was the only way I could watch it.

Surprised their egos fit into the same room. Clowns and both should be fired immediately.

Under performing year after year and extremely overpaid

Both these need to go into the portal! Not the players. So tired of these sponges crumbling the the UK Brand. No one wants them here at KY.

You gotta be kidding me. All these years defense wasn’t coming first????? That’s what you work on first as a foundation because offense starts on the defensive side of the ball!!!! That statement right there makes me really question anything scheme wise Calipari wants to do.

I appreciate everything coach Calipari has done at the University of Kentucky but I think after 15 years it was time for a change and I'm excited to see who we get as our next head coach GO BIG BLUE 🔵⚪️🏀☝️😼

Lord, the players we played against just get older and older! Soon to be grandfathers!!

Need players to stay 2 to 4 years if you want to make that happen

I will be happy for the UK basketball program to be a college team with the main goal being to win the NCAA national championship, building players over years; not an NBA scout team anymore.

He no longer knows how to coach.

If Cal believes in his ability to coach he would recruit good 3 and 4 star players and mold them into a cohesive group for 4 years. Pitino did it with the Kentucky boys in his early years.

They both need fired. Cal hasn't won since 2012. Tubby Smith has a better record if you compare the last 7 years of the career. Facts are facts.

Everyone plays by the same rules. Stop making excuses. Great team this year . Poor coaching. Quit talking like fans don't understand, we've been here longer than both of you.

Basically they talked about ALL the things us as fans wanted to be addressed. Be happy for that, and all we can do now is wait and see what happens next year. Maybe it will be another repeat up and down season with a bad ending, Or maybe it won’t. We’ll see. It’s time once again to move on and hope for the best. As fans, that’s all we can do… except complain, which gets us no where.

Cal basically admitted they did not emphasize defense and instead focused on out scoring their opponents. Well, that clearly did not work. That was a coaching decision. And Cal said we use the season to prepare for the post season. Wow, that has been a failure the past few years. Just admit it and take responsibility for it. Don’t make excuses.

It was going good till Cal started talking, then he started trying to convince us that he knows what he's doing

Wonder which one lied or both?

This didn't age well. Mitch probably feels betrayed after this.

Get Rick Pitino! He almost best UCONN in conference tournament with a bunch of 0 star! Cal couldnt beat scrubs with 5 star players.

You can tell they uncomfortable around each other.

The kids stay for one two years so any education for the starting players will come post UK.

It wasn’t really defense so much as defensive rebounding. Defense across the ncaa is weak. But when you can control the glass and eliminate 2nd chance points it kills the other teams momentum. This team didn’t have it.

Come on Cal. Name me one 27 year old college player.

Ain't they cute? Please leave guy's!!

Don’t blame him for leaving… when owners or ADs start wanting to be in front of the camera, giving extra input and over talking it’s time to go.

Awkward

this interview didnt age well

John Calipari did great things here at Kentucky... But as far as i am concerned he did betray Kentucky. Mitch could have chosen to get rid of him and eat the money..... But he didn't and Cal was like dueces as soon as something came along... Not because he wanted to because he had to. He was embarrassed and he should have been.. contructing the same team in Arkansas with the same staff minus Trey, Rob, Tone, and Reed.... Yeah see you at Rupp Cal

Cal wants his big fired check. He doesn't want to be here, but he won't leave without that money. Ever since Barnhart gave him the golden parachute, he has not done anything in either tournament. He is trying to get fired. Next year will be the same, so he can finally be fired.

Cal has a big bark but no bite

Cals got to ruin thing's by opening his mouth... Guess he didn't watch Coach K take his One and Done formula add enough Older player's to make a difference and won a national championship

Rememeber Mitch also hired Billy Gillispe.......I honestly think he needs gone as well. Coming from a Louisville fan

We want banners, not your excuses. Look at all the talent you've had and you have 1. 1 banner, lousy! Coach K almost caught UK all by himself!!!!

This was nothing more than a sherade by Cal. I always supported him, until Arkansas...

Ranking 1 5 3? Who cares!!! Beat the teams you should.

Cal, your talented players won all your games for you because they were always more talented than the other teams. Now with nil and transferring teams are more equal which means you have to coach. You've shown that you cannot. Leave, because Kentucky doesn't care about yours and Mitch's legacy!!!

The fact I had to agree to be civil in this comment section shows they know these two are a disgrace. I swear calipari ain't nothing but a greedy snake and Mitch is a spineless athletic director. Just full blown ashamed that these two destroyed a big history in college history.

😬

Both of these idiots should be fired.

Two people responsible for ruining the Kentucky Tradition.

Blah blah blah ….just win …2 old guys , been married 40 years each , set in there’s ways , only thing missing is get off my lawn ….no 1 cares about how many wins CAL avg …if you can’t get out the 1st weekend of the ncaa tournament , today is 4/7/24 not a thing has changed

This didn’t age well lol

All those players Cal mentioned about winning, Aaron,Knight,etc.was before you got a lifetime contract. Look at your record after that!!!! You talk more about tranfer players and player playing time than fans. Playing time should be about who is putting forth the effort on the court and not about a draft in June. Life is not fair, they need to know that coming in. These last years was mediocre play and also coaching and that has to change. Throw that one and done out the window. Get 2 to 3 one and done, back that up with 2 to 3 two and dones, then keep the rest as veterans and this is the change you need. Its not rocket science man, the players of late are not interested in the blue and white, but are more interested in the green in June after one year, and you support that more than the blue and white fan base that at the very least want to see more effort in coaching style, and more effort in playing, if they loose then its not a big deal, but seeing this every year for the last few years, the true fans are sick of it. I did not hear anything that will change, and until you look in the mirror and give some time to think about the man looking back at you. I said all this without mentioning the Florida incident. That was a slap in the face of all the poor people in the hills that can't even afford a ticket to attend a game even once in their lifetime. Now, to be honest, if Sheppards father had not played here, he would have not been even looked at for recruitment by you and your staff, think about all the ones that has slipped through your fingers, and some local state players, that could be veterans on this roster. Thise are the ones that want a championship and would die to play for the blue, and they are passed up evey year. I would hope you will read this, but i really dont think you will, for what i have seen, you do not like constructive criticism, and that is why we are at this point now.

Absolute clown show in this interview, might as well have just filmed these two painting each others faces getting ready for the carnival

Love what's going on I new coach cal would do what's got to be done go big blue

Cal is a

Mitch needs to be fired.

Was a single question even asked

Name one collage basketball player that is 26 or 27. This duo is a sham and both need to get away from the blue and white. It’s sad to be a life long uk fan and feel that it would be in my best interest to bet against them in all tournament games to make some easy money.

There shouldn't be 24 and 25 or older playing in college I understand people get hurt but that's just too old for school. Let them that old go pro or to the work force they went to school for

People don’t understand how much luck there is in sports, especially in large field, single elimination tournaments. You could run the same tourney 1000 times and you’re literally going to see a different outcome every time with random upsets sprinkled throughout. There is an element of variance to all of this and I believe UK and Cal have been extremely unlucky very often and in a lot of different ways. But clearly he still wants to be with us so let’s just go with it and see if we can catch a little luck this year. Good and lucky is hard to beat and we’re due. I’m with you Cal