He is not Lord Voldemort from Harry Potter, but some University of Memphis students refer to former head basketball coach John Calipari as “he who must not be named”.
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Marcus Camby was Calipari’s first big star, National Player of the Year back in the UMass days, and on Thursday the coach had successfully avoided full-blown tears by simply swallowing hard and saying nearly nothing.
Rudd issued a statement Thursday night explaining his decision to not honor the most successful coach in the school’s history. It’s too bad this couldn’t have worked out differently, but it’s also understandable that Memphis fans and boosters feel it’s inappropriate to honor a coach who left their program the way Calipari did.
Although he led Memphis to a 2008 national championship appearance and qualified for regional semifinals at the NCAA tournament every year between 2006 and 2009, his departure from the state of Tennessee wasn’t particularly graceful. Rudd announced the ceremony to honor Calipari, which was slated to take place at a benefit dinner on December. 28, on Wednesday, The Associated Press reported. Calipari more recently recruited 6-foot-11 forward Skal Labissiere from Memphis to join him at Kentucky as a freshman this season. More importantly a well-deserved Hall of Famer. “I was trying to figure it out on the run, and I was a little mean…They all overcame me, and you guys took that program from where it was to the pinnacle”. Many professional athletes, he said, at the end of their careers have trouble adjusting to everyday life. “I wanted to have my high school Southport in the Hall of Fame”. “I never grabbed a rebound, I never scored a point, I never had an assist”.
“The greatest thing for me (is) many of those people will be here in the next two days and I get a chance to thank them personally”, Calipari said. It’s based on the kind of jobs you have, and people offering you those jobs.
Calipari is the fifth coach from the Bluegrass to be inducted and will not be alone.
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While Calipari’s success is being validated, the road to the Hall of Fame hasn’t been totally smooth. He’s always said that he remained friends with a lot of Memphis residents, but it looks like the angry fans win out and now I’d be surprised if he went back(I wouldn’t).
