John Calipari
If you react to every barking dog, if you stop for every barking dog, you're never getting home.Collection: Home
I call it, 'The Kentucky Effect.' Guys from Kentucky are usually drafted higher, and their shoe contracts are worth more. They're in more demand overall because they played here.
Keep things in perspective. It's never quite as good as it seems, it's never quite as bad as it seems.
You're not gonna do what we do better than we do it. Even if you're doing what we do, you're not gonna do it better. I'm absolutely convinced of that.
Kentucky is the best job in basketball coaching. Why would I leave?
My vision is one of celebrations and banquets, diplomas and banners, rings and parades.
You cannot please everybody. You keep marching forward.
I'm just trying to be the best I can be. I try to surround myself with people who are strong in areas I'm weak. Which is why I have such a big staff.
There are certain people I do want to absolutely dislike me. And I want them to paint me as their enemy. Because I want nothing to do with them.
What I've always tried to do is undersell and overdeliver.
I want to thank all the assistants and staff who have worked for us over the years, as well as the people in the community who have added value to our lives.
When you're coaching at Kentucky, you're held to a different standard, and like in politics, there is a core group that absolutely loves you, and everyone else is trying to unseat you in any way they can - anything to trip you up; that's what it is. If you're not up to that, then don't coach at Kentucky.
If I have the choice between experience and talent, I'm taking talent every time.
High school coaches sometimes are better coaches than I am.
I never thought Marquis Teague would leave after a year.
We play for March.
You're coaching Kentucky - and you have a chance to change lives. That's not what this is up there in the NBA. You have assets. You're trying to piece a team together. You're trying to win more games than the other guy. You're trying to advance in the playoffs, and if you don't, they'll find somebody else that can.
My life, even as a college student, has all been through the NCAA, and I'm telling you there's so much good that comes out of it.
I'm not a fan of the NCAA. I don't think they make decisions for the kids. They make decisions for bureaucracy and for their structure.
If they're trying to get high school kids to go to the D-League, I will be shouting from mountaintops saying, 'What is this going to do to a generation of kids who say, 'All right, I'm going to do this,' you get one or two years to make it, and now you're out without any opportunities. Who's taking care of those kids now?'
People, on their bucket lists, are saying, 'I want to see a game at Rupp Arena.' Magic Johnson will call and say, 'I want to come to the game tonight. I want to see John Wall or Anthony Davis or Michael Kidd-Gilchrist.' It's become fashionable to be seen here, because people want to be seen and associated with success.
When you're up nine, you're supposed to win.
I gotta be able to sleep at night knowing that I'm being honest.
I'm not embarrassed about how we recruit, how we treat kids, and how we coach them.
People want to see how we get teams to come together so quickly. They want to see how we get young guys to play so hard and so unselfish. I'm fine with that. I have no problem sharing that.
I want to thank the people at UMass, Memphis, and Kentucky for giving Ellen and I an opportunity to coach at three great institutions.
Everybody wants to say that Kentucky fans are vicious or obnoxious. They're not. They're crazy in that they watch the tape of our games more than I do. But they're passionate and smart.
I don't even have a computer.
I think part of the reason some coaches don't want to be involved with social media is that they expect to be able to do it at a certain level. A lot of them are like, 'I'm not going to do it if we can't hit 100,000 or 200,000 followers.' Well, you're not going to right away.
My wife runs the house. She raised our kids with me only partly there. It's just what coaching is. A lot of times, you're raising other people's children, sometimes at the expense of your own. I hope that wasn't the case with my children, but at times, it probably was.
I refuse to go in a home and paint a picture saying things like, 'If you come with us, you'll be taken care of for the rest of your life by the program and by our alums,' even though you may only be in school for a year or two. How preposterous does that sound?
Obviously, I'm not chasing the NBA.
They want it all - all As, all wins by 20, and want the highest GPA. Don't coach at Kentucky if you can't accept that.
As long as I'm at Kentucky, you've got to be able to take the shots, or don't stay at Kentucky. To be the coach at Kentucky and get what I get, you can't be a 35-year-old coach whose never been fired. I've been fired.
Can I say this in a humble way - I don't need the money. If I stop coaching today at Kentucky, my toes are up, and I'm eating Cheetos, and I'm fine.
I've always taken the approach that it's about the seed in the NCAA tournament.
There are no boys in this game.
If you recruit a kid, and you're promising him the world, how in the world are you going to coach him in that short a period of time to do that?
In my humble opinion, again, to perform at Alabama, you must earn the spot and not have it given to you. You have to fight like crazy to keep the spot and that it's not guaranteed - it's week to week - and you'll play in a way that they have a chance to win a championship.
I want to thank the Big Blue nation for your warming and hospitality. You all have made us feel like we've been in the Commonwealth forever.
I tweet, Facebook, website, but guess what? Do I look at any response? Have I ever looked at a response? I wouldn't know how to get in.
I don't read the papers; I don't listen to radio.
My job is to protect my guys.
Malik Monk is special. Special.
If you can get a second-round pick that makes it, it's unbelievable for that franchise, what you save and all the other things to build. You're always looking for guys like that.
What our kids learn to do is fight. So when you watch a Devin Booker, you look at Tyler Ulis - they fight.
In most cases, in this sport, for guys to advance in this sport, you gotta fight. If you don't fight, you're not making it, because it's too competitive.
More than half the G League is going to be high school kids that are trying to make it. I hope I'm wrong. I absolutely hope I'm wrong.
He helped my career, helped me basketball-wise and every other way. I'm a big fan of Thibs.
I read books by other coaches all the time.