Thanks To Cal..

Thanks to Calipari, Kentucky has its team back

Edited on: February 23, 2010 3:10 pm

By Thomas Beisner, CBS Sports

Outside of Heidi Montag’s body, there has been no more absurdly rapid transformation in the past 11 months than what transpired in Lexington, Ky. When John Calipari accepted the Kentucky job on March 31, 2009, he kissed the babies and smiled with UK legends and called it his “dream job”.

The reality was, though, the Kentucky program was in shambles, coming off their first NIT appearance in 30 years and sporting a roster nearly void of talent and morale after two years of The Billy Gillispie Experiment. In only two years, Gillispie not only tarnished the basketball reputation of the Wildcats with losses to schools like Gardner-Webb and San Diego, he alienated an entire fanbase with his tough-guy routine and mental warfare. Even the most optimistic Wildcat fan knew that Kentucky was not Kentucky anymore. On the court and off the court, Kentucky needed a miracle.

For Kentucky, that miracle was John Calipari.

Though the wins have come at a clip that likely surprises even the most blue-blooded Kentucky homer, that's only part of the story of Calipari's success in Lexington. What Kentucky fans really needed was a renewed bond with their team and Calipari had to be the guy to deliver that. Calipari's daunting task was as much about basketball as it was community development. It's also one that he's tackled flawlessly in his short time heading the Wildcat program.

From hiring former Kentucky heroes Scott Padgett and Tony Delk as assistants to traveling from border to border to meet with fans in every town, burg and holler, Calipari has welcomed Kentucky fans to again feel close with their basketball team.

And that’s why people in Kentucky are calling this team “special” – a word that carries heavy reverence in the Bluegrass.

Sure, people are like Patrick Patterson for what he’s done the past two and a half seasons on the court. But UK fans love him for things like giving a stranded woman a ride home for no other reason than it was the right thing to do.

It’s not just that John Wall is a late-game superhero as a freshman, it’s that he sports the highest GPA on the team and an “aw, shucks” humility fitting of a walk-on, calling everyone “sir” or “ma’am”. Also, it doesn't hurt that an impromptu dance inspired celebrity imitations, Photoshopped pictures (Part 1 and Part 2) and had 80-year olds in Pikeville humming "Ice Cream Paint Job".

And, yes, UK fans are ecstatic that DeMarcus Cousins has developed into, arguably, the best big man in the country in only five months. But, they love him for things like campaigning online to change his nickname from “Carl” to “Boogie” and for responding to message boards saying he always looked angry by sporting a giant cheesy grins in fan pictures.

Kentucky fans were going to wait for days for their Big Blue Madness tickets no matter what. It just made the experience richer when Josh Harrellson, Mark Krebs and Darius Miller played cornhole with them.

You see, this team is as talented as any Kentucky team has ever been, but that’s only half the story in Lexington.

And that brings us to Calipari.

It’s no secret – even in Lexington – that everywhere Cal goes, he’s followed by the “v” word. He’s been blasted in print and he’s been ripped on television for his vacated Final Fours and it’s not going to stop anytime soon. There is a stigma attached to Calipari now and, right or wrong, it’s only going to get amplified with each Wildcat win. If John Wall and Co. cut down the nets in Indianapolis this spring, you can bet that the “v” word will find itself again all over your television and sports page.

But, you know what? Kentucky fans don’t care. Not even the teeny tiniest bit.

And it’s not because they’re the crazed win-at-all-costs fans that some think they are. It’s not because Calipari is delivering wins at a pace not seen since Pitino. It’s not because he landed one of the best recruiting classes of all-time in just a couple of months. It’s not even because he beat North Carolina and UConn in the same week or because he successfully defended Rupp Arena against the hated Louisville Cardinals.

It’s because the John Calipari that Lexington sees is not the 12-foot tall, rules-breaking monster that he’s often depicted to be, snatching up every top recruit and leaving a wake of NCAA destruction behind him.

In Lexington, John Calipari is a family man. He’s the guy who lives on a busy street, just outside of town and very much in public. He’s a father who openly brags about his two college-aged daughters and his 13-year old son’s basketball games on Twitter. He’s the fan-friendly coach who handed out McDonald’s breakfast to the masses of people camped outside Memorial Coliseum for tickets to his first Big Blue Madness. He’s a guy who helped put together a fund raiser for Haiti in less than 48 hours, which would eventually net nearly $1.5 million for relief efforts. He’s the guy that left his team after a road win in Alabama to fly to Indianapolis and meet privately with a teenager who had suddenly fallen ill – and who had simply requested an autographed picture.

As they like to say on Kentucky message boards, “he gets it”.

So, you’ll get no apologies from Kentucky fans for not caring about the “v” word. To Kentuckians, John Calipari isn’t a monster. Like his players, he’s just one of them.

And that’s really all they’ve ever wanted.

He gets it.

Feels so good to be back.