There are only three guarantees in life — death, taxes and rumors about John Calipari becoming a head coach in the NBA again some day. With Kentucky just four wins away from an undefeated season and a national championship, the speculation is heating up again.
Calipari was the head coach of the New Jersey Nets for two-plus seasons from 1996 to 1999. It did not go well, as he finished with an overall record of 72-112 after being fired early in the 1998-99 season.
According to Steve Popper of The Record, Calipari’s shortcomings during his brief tenure as an NBA head coach have left him with a desire to return to the professional level.
“He desperately wants it,” an NBA front office official reportedly told Popper. “He won’t say it out loud. The NBA is the only place he’s ever failed and it drives him nuts. He’s not the same guy he was then. He came to the NBA and he wasn’t ready. He’s ready now.”
More specifically, Popper believes Calipari could return to the Nets now that they are in Brooklyn.
For what it’s worth, if Calipari was “desperate” to return to the NBA he would have already done it by now. Before Kentucky lost to UConn in the national championship game last year, there were rumors — from an unreliable source — that Calipari was set to become the head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers. As the offseason progressed, it appeared that Calipari was seriously entertaining the thought of taking the Cleveland Cavaliers job. He later said he would not have left the Harrison twins, Willie Cauley-Stein and several other players who chose to return to school even if he knew LeBron was heading back to Cleveland.
Personally, I feel that an undefeated season would make it much easier for Calipari to leave for the NBA. He has already won a national championship at Kentucky and is a master recruiter, so he knows his teams are going to be stacked year in and year out. At age 56, Cal still has plenty of time to coach in the NBA. If the Wildcats win four more games, don’t be shocked if he makes the jump.
