re: Kentucky fans, help me understand what happened to Calipari

quote:

---

What changed? Is he recruiting the wrong players? Lax discipline? Bad schemes? Something else? To me this is like if Saban started losing to Group of 5 teams or something, help me understand.

---

He lost three key people who compensated for his glaring and abrasive personality: DeWayne Peevy, John Robic, and Kenny Payne.

Peevy was an excellent go-between between Cal and the UK Athletics department and the Administration. He kept Cal on good terms with them and I would also say with deep-pocketed donors.

Robic was the game film/ game prep/ X and O guy that Cal has never been.

Payne was the "player whisperer" who smoothed out the Cal-speak to the kids, was basically on-call for them, and helped Cal and the players stay connected healthily.

These guys all departed for various reasons around 2019-20 within several months of each other (I think). Cal was never the same.

That's my take (Matt Jones has a similar take).

If Arkansas is to be effective under Cal, they better surround him with people that can tolerate his ego and temper it to those in and around the program.