Is John Calipari on the hot seat after starting feud with Mark Stoops? | College Football Enquirer
Yahoo Sports’ Dan Wetzel, and Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde and Ross Dellenger discuss the intra-Kentucky feud between John Calipari and Mark Stoops, and debate if AD Mitch Barnhart will give Calipari a new practice facility.
Video Transcript
[AUDIO LOGO]
DAN WETZEL: All right, let's get to the real rivalry that keeps bubbling up, Kentucky basketball versus Kentucky football. We touched on it last week when John Calipari made a crack about-- he's desperate to get a new practice facility because the one that John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins and Anthony--
PAT FORDE: Anthony Davis.
DAN WETZEL: --Davis and Devin-- they couldn't practice. They didn't practice-- it wasn't nice enough for them, so we need a new practice facility at Kentucky. He's a little chapped that Kentucky football got a $200 million one. Soccer, bunch of others, got some real-- baseball. He's really happy they all have great facilities. He'd be really happy if he had one. He declared and reminded everyone that Kentucky is a basketball school. And he said I love our football program. I hope they win 10 games and go to a bowl, which is--
PAT FORDE: Yes.
DAN WETZEL: --training wheel talk.
PAT FORDE: Condescension at its finest.
ROSS DELLENGER: So nice of him.
PAT FORDE: Yeah. [LAUGHS]
DAN WETZEL: Mark Stoops has replied numerous times, once on social media, another at a press conference. Kentucky football players just wondering if Kentucky football ever lost at Saint Peter's.
[LAUGHTER]
PAT FORDE: Yeah.
DAN WETZEL: Mitch Barnhart, the AD there, decided to go political conspiracy theory and blame the media.
ROSS DELLENGER: Unbelievable.
PAT FORDE: For things that were 100% created by his own coaches, by the way.
DAN WETZEL: Yeah. Kyle Tucker, the Kentucky beat writer for "The Athletic," apparently did the unpardonable sin of quoting John Calipari accurately.
[LAUGHTER]
ROSS DELLENGER: I saw one of the Kentucky beat writers-- Pat, you may have seen this. I think quote tweeted Barnhart's comments and said he talked about how excited-- he was there. I guess he's there, this beat writer. I forgot who it was now. And he--
PAT FORDE: Yeah, in the Bahamas.
ROSS DELLENGER: --was really excited about--
PAT FORDE: Yeah.
ROSS DELLENGER: Yeah, really excited about covering the game in the Bahamas. And he was like, we're not the ones who called us to the-- we didn't call John Calipari to our hotel room to lambaste the football program. He called us to his hotel room to lambaste the football program. But blame us, yes. Good.
DAN WETZEL: Sure, sure, it's all the media.
ROSS DELLENGER: It makes perfect sense. That's right.
PAT FORDE: Here's the amazing thing about this to me. Mitch Barnhart is one of the most boring athletic administrators in America, OK? He is very efficient.
DAN WETZEL: By design yeah.
PAT FORDE: Exactly. He's very efficient, very boring. Think of this. He's been an SEC AD for 20 years. He is the dean of SEC ADs. He's been the chair of the basketball selection committee. Does anybody ever hear anything from him ever? No, he never makes any headlines. He just does his job, and he does it really well. They are a top-10 overall athletic program.
He's made good hire after good hire. He supports his coaches. He gets them the facilities, whatever they need, and they do well. So for Mitch Barnhart to call a press conference and to come out and not say this is all-- you know, we're fine here. Kumbaya. No, no, no, he came out and he made it very well known that he was ticked at John Calipari for bringing this up.
And that's where I think Cal-- my opinion is that he is frosted at Cal for basically taking this moment where his popularity is the lowest it's ever been-- he followed 9 and 16 with a first-round loss to Saint Peter's to publicly whine for five months now about facilities and say we need a new practice facility. Because Cal started beating that drum very shortly after they lost to Saint Peter's, and he hadn't stopped.
And I think if you are Mitch Barnhart, it's like, dude, we are paying you a sultan's fee, and you're at Kentucky, and you're not doing the job quite up to the salary we're paying you. I really don't want to hear it from you about facilities. Go win some games, and then we'll talk. That was my takeaway from this.
And I think Cal has gotten a little bit of a lesson so to speak in, hmm, things aren't the same as they were when I was going to Final Fours and competing for national championships all the time. Now they may this year. This year may flip the narrative again, and it's back to Cal is on top of his game. But right now, he's kind of been put in his place.
DAN WETZEL: Certainly was-- the AD was on the side of the football and not-- as he should be. I mean, this is all-- Calipari has admitted he was stupid. He said something stupid. I continue to say this. I know that Mark Stoops does not want to be-- it does not help in recruiting to be classified as a basketball school, especially when your basketball coach is saying Alabama and Georgia are football schools when those are the kind of guys you need to beat in recruiting--
ROSS DELLENGER: Right.
DAN WETZEL: --to take that next step. I get all that. However, the fact this is even being discussed is a compliment of great measure for Mark Stoops and what he's done.