Coaches anonymously criticize John Calipari and his “archaic” offense

The Kentucky Wildcats are struggling so far this season to say the least following their 89-75 loss to Missouri in the SEC opener.

John Calipari has been receiving a lot of criticism this season for his style of play and other college coaches agree.

Dana O’Neil of The Athletic wrote an article that compared John Calipari to Jimbo Fisher in that he is great at bringing in talent, but doesn’t put them in the best position to succeed.

In the article, O’Neil asked for comments from coaches that have or will face Kentucky at some point this season. The coaches were kept anonymous but their comments on Cal are not very pretty.

Here are some comments that were included in the article.

“Their offense is archaic,’’ says one coach. “It’s gotta be the same s— he was running with the New Jersey Nets.” Predictable is how another coach describes it, so much so that his team spent little time worrying about sets and simply concentrated on player tendencies.

“Yeah, he’s been running the same stuff for years,’’ adds another. “When you have stud players, though, it works. When you’re running floppy action for Tyler Herro, that’s a bucket. It’s a little different if it’s not him.’’

Most of the comments were centered around the struggling offense. However, one comment was about the changing reputation of the program.

“People don’t fear them,’’ one coach says. “I think they play hard for the most part. I do. But I also think Cal is trying to figure it out himself. Can he? Absolutely. Will he? That’s a different question.’’

To view all of the coach’s comments on Calipari, you will need a subscription to The Athletic.

This is just the latest of many criticisms Calipari and his offense have received in recent years.

If things don’t change, this season will only continue to spiral downward.