After back-to-back losses to Alabama and South Carolina, the hot seat is getting warmer for Kentucky basketball coach John Calipari. Some fans wonder if it is time for a change.
“I don’t listen to any of the clutter,” Calipari said after the 71-68 loss to South Carolina on Tuesday. “None of it has any effect on me coaching these players. And are fans mad? They should be. We lost at home. We don’t lose at home. We lost at home. And we were down 10 at half. I expect fans to be mad.”
The discontent was evident at the South Carolina game as a fan was ejected from Rupp Arena after holding up a sign that read: “Please go to Texas,” according to the Associated Press.
The sign was in reference to the Longhorns’ head-coaching opening and speculation Calipari could be a candidate.
Kentucky is 10-6 overall and is one of the last four projected byes in the NCAA tournament, according to ESPN’s Joe Lunardi. But after two straight losses, their seat on the bubble grows – and anger at Calipari swells.
The Wildcats are one of the nation’s top basketball programs and have a fanbase that demands as much.
Calipari entered the job with much fanfare, going 35-3 in the 2009-10 season and making the Elite Eight. He followed that with a Final Four run and then a national title.
Recent results, however, are underwhelming.
Kentucky’s last Elite Eight came in the 2018-19 season. In 2020, the Wildcats were 25-6 heading into the tournament before COVID canceled the event. In the shortened 2020-21 season, Kentucky missed the tournament. The Wildcats lost in the Round of 64 last season.
Now the team could be in danger of missing the tournament for the second time in three years.
Kentucky ran previous head coach Billy Gillispie out of town after two years. He made one tournament. Tubby Smith was let go nine years after winning a national championship and two straight years of missing the tournament’s second weekend.
Now, it appears some fans are ready to move on from Calipari.
