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May 15, 2014Is John Calipari Dan Gilbert’s target as the next head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers? Though Coach Cal is set enter the 2015 collegiate basketaball season with one of the best teams in the country, plenty of speculation points to the Kentucky Wildcats front man as being on the short list for the Cavs as they look to fill their current head coaching vacancy.
FOX Sports Ohio’s Sam Amico reports that the Cavs view Calipari as a candidate to fill the spot formerly held by Mike Brown. On Thursday, ESPN Cleveland’s Tony Rizzo went as far to report on air that he had heard that Gilbert and Calipari have met twice to discuss the possibility.
When asked who would be making the hiring decision, recently named general manager David Griffin stated that the process would be “a collaborative effort.”
“I will not make any decision alone,” Griffin said. “But I will absolutely be leading this process, and I’m really excited about building a relationship with that coach.”
Calipari has been the coach at Kentucky since 2009 and led the school to three Final Four appearances. That included a national championship in 2011-12 and a runner-up finish this past season.
27 Comments
What the hell, why not? We’ve tried everything else. It’s not like would have big shoes to fill. Might be fun.
He’s not going to leave Kentucky for this garbage.
Calipari would never come back to this team as currently constructed. But my guess is the only way that he would come here is as a package deal with LeBron, which despite what everyone says is a possibility. Plus we would have to get a third big time player using some of our assets.
T-minus 5 years until massive recruiting violations hit Kentucky.
CMM13 Rumors: I have interest in a steamy relationship with Kate Upton and to drive a gold plated Mercedes Benz.
Heh!! Good luck…
Hold on. Before stating a rumor of “Gilbert wants Calipari” let’s look at the source story a little more closely.
Amico says “sources familiar with the team’s search told FOX Sports Ohio on Wednesday” that the Cavs are interested in Calipari as a “candidate.” So someone told Amico the Cavs (not necessarily Gilbert) think he should be a candidate, i.e., interviewed. Who is a someone familiar with the search, versus, let’s say, a “source close to the team”? Maybe a coach’s agent. Sometimes these rumors make the university’s Board of Trustees get a wee bit worried about the loss of big bucks and feel inspired to sweeten an existing deal. It’s happened a couple of times in history. But ok, let’s say the org wants to talk to him.
Later in the Amico piece: “… the Cavs, and owner Dan Gilbert in particular, have long had an interest in Calipari, dating back to 2010, when then-Cavs star LeBron James was about to enter free agency.” Now this is Amico’s adding old Gilbert’s interest onto the pile of this story. But the older (completely unsourced) story of Gilbert’s interest in Calipari may not apply today at all. If true, it might have been a passing fancy of Gilbert. Bottom line: Amico does not say that anyone told him that Gilbert, personally, is interested in Calipari as the new head coach in 2014.
Sorry for picking nits, but we just finished the Browns will take Manziel at #4 reports. Nice to avoid the “telephone game” of adding inferences that weren’t stated by the first guy making inferences from unnamed sources.
Haha good one.
His returning Kentucky team could probably beat the Cavs.
A homeless guy told Gilbert he needs to hire Calipari.
Mystery solved.
Only if Byron Scott isn’t available.
The problem is that recruiting harder and better than anyone else (and more illegally than most) makes zero difference to a NBA roster.
I’d bet heavily on the under.
Hold on. Amico also is saying that George Karl is going hard after the Cavs coaching, not president, job. Isn’t that a much bigger story?
BREAKING: Chris Broussard reports that sources tell him that cmm13 interested in Kate Upton, Mercedes
Anyone know what Mike Brown is up to these days? It would be nice to see some emphasis on defense.
Planning around the possibility (which is too strong a word. It’s not happening, folks. Move along.) of a guy maybe coming here? What could go wrong? I mean, maybe if the team had made a coaching move to appease this player when he was here he wouldn’t have left in the first place. Oh, wait…
Cal’s not going anywhere, and thank God. I don’t want that slimeball as a head coach… particularly when there’s no reason to believe that what he’s doing at Kentucky will translate to the NBA. He’s got his mentor Rick Pitino written all over him.
where are the Tom Izzo rumors???
He is the source as he wants the kentucky job
Tell that to riley
Do you seriously think lebron would look at Coach Cal coming to CLE and think, “I’m going to leave miami for that?”
As a fellow cleveland sports fan, please stop with this. He’s not coming back anytime soon, especially not based on who the coach is.
Yes I do think he would leave Miami. I know you are still crying into your bib that he made you feel bad in the summer of 2010 but it’s time to grow up. He’s the best player in the NBA and there is a chance he may come back. Sorry man.
Been hearing that for 5 years now and nothing….
Sense when is pitino calipari’s mentor?
I wondered how long it would take a UK fan to find this comment 🙂
This author seems to think so:
“John Calipari was asked about the comparisons being made between himself and Wildcats mentor Rick Pitino.”
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=4031804
At any rate, whether a mentor or not, I expect the same results should Cal go to the NBA.
Bet ya he’s second guessing his decision now that we got Love, LBJ, and Kyrie, Mike Miller, James Jones etc…