Calipari UK Bond?

Should Memphis coach John Calipari accept the Kentucky job? I say yes! It’s being reported that UK is offering Calipari an 8 year contract worth around $35 million. That there is Nick Saban like money. Now some people might say that Calipari shouldn’t leave because Memphis has been with him for the past 10 odd years or so. He is the face of the team. Why should he leave from a place where he is already having success? Well, maybe to look for a new challenge. He coaches in the Conference USA which isn’t like the Big East or SEC. The Conference USA consists of Tulsa, University of Houston, SMU, Tulane, UCF, Marshall, and more just to name a few. The competiveness in the conference isn’t fierce and usually Memphis wins the conference every year. They’ve won the Conference regular season and tournament titles for the past 4 years now. They are the dominant team in the conference. They’re an UConn like team stuck in a bad conference. They are really a big fish in a small pond.

Some fans might say he should stay to be loyal to Memphis. Um, I felt that way until I heard Colin Cowherd’s point of view on the topic on his radio show while I was driving to school. Cowherd said along the lines that Calipari needs a new challenge. He’s a big recruiter who will bring good players to UK. If people stay at the same job forever, jobs wouldn’t be very competitive and prestigious. He also mentioned how if you stay at one job for too long, your employers will pay you less money or won’t dish out the big bucks to you if you’re loyal to them. Penn State football Coach Joe Pa, got paid $500,000 last year. Coach Paterno has been there forever (42 yrs) and he’s only making $500,000 per year. Pete Carroll at USC is making over 2 million and he’s been there for less than 10 years (but has gotten good results there too). Kirk Ferentz at Iowa in the same conference as Paterno coaches in, makes over 2 million a year and he hasn’t even won a National Title for the school where Joe Pa has given Penn State 2. Let’s not also forget that he is the winning-est coach and is getting paid below a million per year. I bet Coach Pa had many other offers at coaching somewhere else, but staying loyal to his school and program got him only below a million dollars per year. That is how Penn State treats the coach with the most wins in college football. So if you get an opportunity that’s better than what you are in now, take it before it passes you by.

I think Calipari should take the job because it will elevate his status. The Alabama football job has the same equivalent as the UK Basketball job. It’s a big job offer that many coaches wish to get in their career. For him to take the UK job won’t be surprising to me because it’s human nature for people to take better jobs. Why do people bust their butts at jobs and work hard? It is to do a good job and to get promotions or better contracts/jobs in the future. It’s already mandatory for people to work hard at the job in order to earn money to provide for yourself or the family. If you don’t work hard and do your job, you’ll get fired. But if you get a better offer from another company offering more money and benefits, you will take it unless the company you’re working for can match it…that’s if you like the company you work for already.