Kentucky’s Calipari calls UGA campus ‘incredible’ and UGA job a ‘gem’
In his 18th year as a college head coach, John Calipari finally coached his first game in Athens on Wednesday.
Calipari
And he was very impressed by the place, he said before heading back to Lexington.
“I love it here,” the Kentucky coach said at his postgame press conference when DawgPost.com publisher Dean Legge asked about the potential of the UGA program.
First, Calipari said, “you’re in Georgia. Big deal. You got players. So you can recruit your state and do fine. . . . [The recruits] are an hour or two hours away from campus; it’s like they’re going away to school but they’re coming to the state institution.”
Second, he said, there’s the practice facility adjacent to Stegeman Coliseum. “I snuck into the practice facility. I looked at the locker rooms and all that. Incredible.”
Then there’s old Stegeman. “I love this building,” Calipari said. “[It's like] our UMass building — 10,000 [seats], right on top of you, not one bad seat.”
Anything else? “I drove around the campus today. Incredible. It’s just incredible.”
Add it all up, and Calipari — the former Massachusetts and Memphis coach — reached this conclusion:
“Georgia,” he said, “is one of those gem jobs that no one realizes.”
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Stegeman was packed on Wednesday night.
Among the 10,523 in the building were two former UGA football coaches (Vince Dooley and Jim Donnan), two former UGA basketball coaches (John Guthrie and Pete Herrmann), one Basketball Hall of Famer (Charles Barkley) and two former Atlanta Hawks general managers (Pete Babcock and Billy Knight).
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The game story on Georgia’s 80-68 loss is here. A few other notes:
– Travis Leslie left the court early in the second half because of cramping. He returned to the game, but not effectively.
– Kentucky’s 14 blocked shots were the most by any team in an SEC game this season.
– So now Georgia is 24-112 all-time vs. Kentucky.
Please follow me on Twitter for the latest UGA news and notes.
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65 comments Add your comment
wow
March 4th, 2010
2:11 pm
24-112…its that close?
copdawg
March 4th, 2010
3:59 pm
i hope to see the day when the posts do not contain the former and speak to the present. CMF, what a catch. i see his fire and passion for the game and what he has done with a bunch of kids whom no one expected much from and who i see playing their hearts out. i’ll bet if 95% of the posters were criticized about the job they do in the workplace the way they like to complain about everything the coaches at our beloved UGA do, they
would all be in therapy. it is easy to knock, why not change and support OUR, guys and our coaches from top to bottom are some of the finest in the country.
Floundering Fox Hounds Batman!
March 4th, 2010
5:46 pm
Too bad Damon Evan had to settle on a Mark Fox and wasnt able to hire the calibre of a Calipari. Did all of those visitors get a whiff of the cow stench in the Stegosaurus ? Charles Barkley had a look on his face as if he smelled something.
cantondawg
March 4th, 2010
7:09 pm
Why all the hate toward Calipari..I think it’s amazing the difference he has made in one year at Kentucky..Under Gillispie, KY was floundering last year and now they are one of the top 3 teams in america because of his recruiting and coaching…Plus, he has said alot of good things about UGA…
PT
March 4th, 2010
9:55 pm
Looks like people are marketing Mark Fox’s program. If it works, they will come.
d1reality
March 5th, 2010
11:10 am
Of course Calapari has good things to say about uga.
Vince Dooley also had a lot of good things to say about Furman before that big matchup.
Evansdawg
March 5th, 2010
11:22 am
It doesn’t matter who you are. Athens and the campus are both diamonds that just go together. I know plenty of Gators, Vols, and others that all confess to loving the atmosphere and beauty of Athens. It is the picture-perfect college atmosphere.
Shane
March 5th, 2010
11:35 am
Right on Evansdawg. Very few college towns in the country rival Athens for sheer beauty.
And the campus is pretty too.
Herms
March 5th, 2010
12:24 pm
Calipari has had nothing but glowing comments to say about Coach Fox and Athens this year. Not sure what to think about that……
Gdawg
March 5th, 2010
12:25 pm
Let’s see what the ~$15 million renovation does for the coliseum. I do agree with Calapari that there is not a bad seat in the house, however; I believe the seating capacity should be increased by 2 to 3K. Adams and Evans should keep the money flowing for new facilities and upgrades on existing venues. Things are moving in the right direction for UGA. I don’t think Calapari was just trying to be nice. UGA has one of the most impressive campuses in the country. I am biased, but I would absolutely rank it # 1 overall in the SEC. Adams / Evans, we need an indoor practice facility for football and we need additional capacity for Sanford Stadium. Keep up the good work guys. And yes, Fox is the real deal.
86 Dawg
March 5th, 2010
3:50 pm
Felton may not have had much success with the program, but he kept UGA from getting the death penalty from Harrick’s mess. He was soooo strict with his players and kicked several top players off the team for making poor decisions both on and off the court. I’m very pleased to have Fox as our coach, and I see big things coming for the b-ball team in the very near future! Woof!!
Gator On The Loose
March 5th, 2010
5:02 pm
13-15 is the real deal?? Fox and the b-ball program will be mired in irrelevance and mediocrity at best – as it has been for the past 25 years.
Calipari Impressed by UGA visit « MrSEC.com
March 6th, 2010
5:24 am
[...] Calipari gets it (from the AJC): “Georgia,” he said, “is one of those gem jobs that no one [...]
Wilkins was a thief
March 6th, 2010
4:56 pm
24-112 WOW at least the women in Athens are cute and very easy!
Faulkner
March 10th, 2010
5:37 pm
He hated playing Ole Miss in Oxford when he was at Memphis. But, our campus Has gotten uglier since the Presidential Debate. (Cut down every tree on campus it seems! Pitful)