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The 58-year-old John Calipari is about to enter his ninth season as the head coach of Kentucky, and he sure seems to hope he’s nowhere near the end of his time at UK, at least according to an interview he did with Cats Pause.
“This is one of those jobs where I’m loving it,” Calipari said, according to Cats Pause. “I love what it stands for – the kids. I love what it’s doing for other people while I’m in that seat. I love that it’s having an effect on people right around me. As long as I physically, health-wise can do it and know I’m not cheating the kids and I’m not doing it for numbers or money.”
Cal has always been a kids-first/player's-first kind of coach. As long as he’s capable of making their dreams come true, he will. It took him awhile to get the job, and he doesn’t want to let it go.
“It took me 20 years to get this job. Twenty years,” Cal said. “I always wanted to see how would I do in a job like this? I know we won here and we won there and we were competing with the big boys. But now you’re at that place and how do you respond to that? I’ve had fun going through this process.”
As his time has gone on at Kentucky, Calipari has learned to relax as a head coach.
“I don’t have to coach to live,” he said. “I don’t sleep in my office. I like to get away. I like to enjoy my life and my kids. I’m not as consumed as I once was early in my career, but I don’t feel like I’m cheating the kids doing it the way that I am. So as long as that’s the case, we’ll see. I’m not that old.”
When you’re the head coach at Kentucky, the pressures can certainly get to you, and Cal has no doubt felt those pressures. But it’s probably good for him to get away (and as long as he keeps racking up those No. 1 recruiting classes and sending players to the NBA, I’m sure his players and his fans won’t mind).