ESPN’s Dan Dakich seems to have a bone to pick with John Calipari, and he called out the Kentucky coach once again during a broadcast on Sunday.
Dakich was working the Cincinnati-Xavier game when the topic of Georgia Tech’s big upset over Kentucky came up. The Yellow Jackets beat No. 20 Kentucky in a stunning 79-62 blowout on Sunday. Dakich took the opportunity to needle Calipari about how he probably won’t ever schedule another game with Georgia Tech.
“If Cal loses this one, he’s going to start running out of opponents he won’t play,” Dakich said as Kentucky was trailing, according to Austin Nivison of 247 Sports. “He won’t play Indiana. They beat him. He won’t play Evansville. They beat him. He’ll never play Richmond again. He’s going to run out of opponents if he keeps getting beat in out of conference games.”
The implication, of course, is that Calipari becomes sour after the Wildcats are beaten by a non-conference opponent and avoids playing them again in the future. He has said Kentucky’s rivalry series with Indiana is not coming back, though his issue with the Hoosiers seems to be with their fans.
As Nivison noted, Dakich also called Calipari out last month when discussing scheduling. Dakich ridiculed the coach for “(making) it about him all the time” and taking attention away from his players.
Dakich has never been afraid to speak his mind, and that has resulted in him getting into spats with other prominent coaches in the past. Calipari probably won’t be thrilled with the analyst’s latest commentary.
