Kentucky fans on whether John Calipari should be booed in return to Rupp Arena

We spoke with several Kentucky fans who shared their thoughts on whether John Calipari should be booed when returning to Rupp Arena as head coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks.
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[@austinvanderpool]

I hope he doesn’t get booed. 15 years is an incredible time investment

[@Adtrevino37]

He should've cherished it more then by winning in March...instead he took shots at the fan base. Boo his ass.

[@MmaRicky]

@@austinvanderpool u and me both really says alot about our fans if we do. Some don’t realize what he did for us. He made uk cool again and that alone last decades. We don’t want to be ucla and live in the past of being a blue blood

[@austinvanderpool]

@@Adtrevino37 he did win us a championship. That alone is worth applause

[@Adtrevino37]

@austinvanderpool Did you applaud Pitino when came back coaching against us?

[@austinvanderpool]

@ No. Mostly because I was 4. Also, going to Louisville and going to Arkansas are two different things. Tubby Smith went to Minnesota. He didn’t get booed

[@ronmeadors4638]

Absolutely not. He did a lot of good & won a lot. Other schools would love to have him listed as a former coach. So should BBN.

[@TYoung21]

I think with where Kentucky is today as a top team in the country in year one and now with a coach that we all dreamed of and wanted. No need to boo Cal at this point. Time goes on people. Go Cats!

[@hdhxhebdh]

Amen !

[@victoriagensheimer3349]

Childish fans, why boo him? Fans complained and he left. Bad KARMA! AND HE BEAT US!

[@nolantriplett5603]

If a coach wins you a national championship that alone along with the major success the first 10 years is good news n my book I will always like cal and hope the best for him im a happy Kentucky fan now and that’s what mayyers

[@WiseAndLoco]

He deserves respect. He walked away and could've stayed. He knew his time at Kentucky was up! We needed to hit the restart button. He knew that. He didn't have the passion anymore! He could have left basketball and took Kentucky for over 50 million but he didn't. Nobody is realizing that he did Kentucky a favor!

[@skuttsupreme8351]

I understand many of you have no idea how this went. Please stop saying this. Calipari tried to strong arm this program and lost. When he was told breach, he took the entire team. He never meant to hurt this program. He was strong arming the boosters and hurting this program during games. The guy was absolutely pitiful. He didn’t do anyone favors.

[@ChristopherBishop-w1b]

Cal should not be booed. Fans wanted him out and that’s what he did. He gave 15 years and the split was best for both. Shouldn’t be a question. Kentucky got what they wanted, booing shows you are mad he left.

[@Coachemup73]

Classless booing…then got served.

[@ashleysmith4393]

I think the less we boo, the more we confirm BBN was never about Cal or any one coach. Cal will get fired up and inspired by getting booed

[@Adtrevino37]

Cal can get fired up all he wants. Doesn't magically make him the same coach he was from 2010-2015. There's a reason he's 1-6 in the SEC this year...

[@freedomforall5071]

Asking people at Bar been drinking all day if their going to Boo 🤦

[@jessexjeremiah]

News flash people at the game will be drinking all day too.

[@freedomforall5071]

No they don't! A lot of fans not been drinking alcohol! Not Fake News just Truth!

[@jessexjeremiah]

@@freedomforall5071 maybe some of old old folks lol. All the young cat fans will be drinking for sure. Trust me.

[@jennibrien8503]

Please folks, DO NOT BOOOOO!

[@hdhxhebdh]

Ya..!!

[@smr2bgky]

Very simple...make an announcement, "If you are glad Calipari is at Arkansas, CHEER. If you wished he was still coaching at UK, BOO. Problem solved, the CHEERS will be overwhelming.

[@Nobody-n2m]

Cal didnt save ky 33mil for a kindness to bbn. He breached his contract meeting w ark and when there was no money to keep him here he moved the Calipari U HQ to ark not caring where the program would be mid april w the portal about to close.

[@ethanstrong]

He deserves a standing ovation for not making us go bankrupt buying his contract out. More than we can say about stoops, and he’s done nothing for us.

[@Fordluvr]

Gonna cheer loudly for his introduction, as well as our former guys. Can’t ignore all the good times we had, even last year. The I’m gonna cheer my voice away when they introduce our guys.

[@steveabner]

I respect Cal for what he did for Kentucky and I wish him the best. I will not boo someone that hung a championship banner for us.

[@KustomConcern]

Let’s look at this strategically… the more booing there is, the greater the desire for Cal (and our former players) to play as hard as they can to win. Having watched a few Arkansas games this year, that isn’t a given. 😆 Don’t give them another reason to actually try for once.

[@austinvanderpool]

Yeah look what Bradshaw did to us

[@MmaRicky]

I Hate this question, Idk when are fan base became so negative. Comments after the Vandy game saying Pope sucks its classless. We should absolutely Cheer Cal with a standing Ovation when he comes in. He is a UK legend. Its more then just banners. ITs the memories

[@Adtrevino37]

Umm no? At UK it is ALL about banners.

[@MmaRicky]

@@Adtrevino37 This went over your head, HE is not our coach anymore he gave us 15 years and he gave us a banner. He def needs to be cheered. ITs not all about wins its about 15 years of memories.

[@jt1765]

@@MmaRickyI agree, it’s about memories and BBN and all that stuff but at the same time there is a large portion of the fanbase who doesn’t think he was the greatest steward of uk basketball and was only using the program as an nba training camp. Wins were just a byproduct of that, not the main goal. Which, in my book, is kinda greasy. Doesn’t mean we HAVE to boo him or HAVE to cheer him, just that people have their own opinions of the way things were. I know people that didn’t even like him when we were winning, so…do what you like. Some, not all, of the negative comments towards our current coach and team though, like OP said, have really annoyed me because of what and who they are and the way they are representing us and themselves. These past few days have been a great lesson in philosophy and moralism and group behavior for those who like that sort of thing at least!

[@MmaRicky]

@@jt1765 some fans really are clueless tho, Uk was on a bad trajectory. We could have been the ucla with one more bad hire after Billy G. Tubby had a horrible last 3-4 years b4 that. Cal made popes job 10x easier bc the reputation of it being cool to go to UK. People forget all the memories of those regular seasons we had. We had 2 of the greatest teams ever assembled. None of that without cal. I applaud the man, pope says the same thing he knows what cal did to make his job easier

[@jt1765]

@@MmaRicky that is absolutely true, great points

[@shawndittman4844]

No need to boo him. He'll get plenty of that when he gets back to Hogg heaven. The dude left, finally, of his own accord and allowed us to save some $ and a lot of sanity

[@MikeJones-zp5cn]

Every opposing coach and players are booed. That's home court. It happens to the Cats when playing on the road as well.

[@skuttsupreme8351]

Please those of you who have made up the idea that Cal “did us a favor”. I don’t know where you get that, most just make it up in their minds. Cal didn’t do anyone a favor. He breached his contract while trying to strong arm Barnhart into his demands, and to keep his program free of the AD’s office. He also wanted more from boosters while also changing zero. He breached his contract by speaking to them and had no idea we’d tell him to walk. Calipari never meant to go to Arkansas. This isn’t hard to see, he even said last minute he’d back off and make the changes, but Mitch said no. We’re moving on. Cal and Ellen were crushed by this. Then he took the team and tried to hurt UK on the way out. This is why guys like Greenberg are hammering UK. Because rhey know how this went down. So stop saying Cal did favors. The guy was sabotaging this program and usually if want a good parting but no. He needs to be boo’d and kept away from this program.

[@tcrow49]

Don’t boo. Booing will say more about us than it does about him. The saying if you can’t say nothing good about somebody then don’t say anything. Boo a ref but don’t hold a grudge.

[@TheLibraryChamber]

Applaud the man for what he did for about five minutes as a courtesy from BBN...then boo the crap out of him...and the CATS win by 25.

[@coreyjohnson7393]

We should cheer - he helped put UK back on the map. He left and we moved on - just clap and move on.

we were desperate for a Coach and for a few years he worked hard and got us back. You are exactly right. We'll never know but I will always believe the Lifetime Contract was a serious mistake.

[@KustomConcern]

Agreed, and that will always be on Barnhart.

[@Adtrevino37]

Just like when Pitino left and "moved on", right? Pretty sure we didn't give him a standing ovation when he came back to Rupp coaching a different team...

[@Greasemonkeypk1]

Don’t boo. Thank him for leaving.

[@606Knott]

People gonna say what they want. But I expect the boos to out weigh the applause by a lot. And I hope it does. Thanks for the chip, move on. He didn’t do BBN no favors last couple years. Now the players, I would respect them 100%.

[@jayhank5838]

I would remain totally silent and save my lungs for cheering the Cats to victory.

[@Nobody-n2m]

Maybe we should take the Pitino approach and just flip Cal off

[@Glaudge]

I mean could collectively just act like he's a stranger we've never met before and act like it's another day at the office

[@Glaudge]

"New phone. Who dis?" Moment

[@nolantriplett5603]

That stranger won us a national championship he will always be good in my book

[@Glaudge]

Man, it seems like any time I post a positive thing about coach cal the only comments I get is "f him. good riddance used car salesman" (used car salesman is the code word they all use btw if you didnt know) but I try to post something critical about him and the only comments I get are "you are wrong he's a great coach." No one wants to corroborate anything I say. Can't win for losing

[@minton227]

I was born a UK fan but sometimes our fans are a bit red neck and embarrassing. I'm pulling for the hogs this time

[@skuttsupreme8351]

lol you’re a f’n troll and a joke. No UK fan would ever say something so stupid. Go sit ur troll ass down nobody is buying it.

[@Sunuvagunner312]

Crickets for Cal, huge eruption for Pope!

[@purpleperc1012]

When he got there, they were losers after he made them competitive and always attracted the top prospects in NBA scouts. Good luck doing that with Nick Pope. 😂

[@hdhxhebdh]

He going get both ❤!! BBN 😊

[@brandireeves7653]

Silent….maybe a golf clap.

[@joshuaparsons8800]

I can’t wait for this to be over…ALL of media from top to bottom is trying to cash in on this. Boo, cheer, silent…who cares?! We want UK to win and move on. We aren’t hanging a banner for boos or cheers. Geez

[@RallyGuy-g6t5b]

It felt numb winning with Cal. And his decline at the end seemed to be self inflicted. I don't think he took the pressure of UK well. He thought his personality and bringing in talent was enough. He forgot about coaching and getting self satisfied players able to compete. Pitino kept his guys hungry and they saw the NBA as a reward for their dedication. Cal let them see the NBA as their entitlement, and allowed them to coast on promise and Cal making excuses for every failure they had, so the NBA would see their flaws as UK based, rather than holes in their game, Cal did nothing to improve. He gave the NBA flawed players. And only the great ones made it in the NBA. It wasn't because of Cal. If anything they had to overcome the slack in their game because of him. He's a hype man with NBA connections. He's not much of a coach. His last good team was the Covid year. After that he just became as self satisfied as his players. He needed to go. Probably in '21 to be honest. I wouldn't boo him, he didn't go to U of L, like Rick. But the best response to him would be indifference. How he treated the program should be returned to him, in kind. That being said, boo away...

[@charlesnback519]

Silence. Complete silence. Hand out a "newspaper" to the crowd with the headline "New Hope With Pope". When Cal is announced the crowd should be silent and hold the newspaper up as to be reading it. Completely ignoring him would be like torture to his ego. Get in his head and hopefully have some affect on the game. Can you imagine walking in to Rupp, 20,000 strong, and hear nothing? Just my rambling opinion. Cheer...Boo..Silence. The results at the end of 40 minutes is what matters. UK by 12 (86-64) Get LOUD, Be PROUD,and no Excuses ALOUD!! BBNWW

[@keithgunther418]

Cheer..we are glad he is gone

[@Seer645]

It will be interesting to see how much class or lack Thereof the fans display. If they boo or disrespect, it shows Cal was correct in his judgment.

[@Adtrevino37]

Sorry, but I'm still not over the loss to St. Peter's and Oakland, or saying 10 players getting drafted is the "biggest moment in UK basketball." It was big for HIM and his ego, not the UK program. That will always stick out to me. I would boo him. I can thank him for the title and final four banners later in life.

[@RallyGuy-g6t5b]

Agreed...

[@china_sickness7005]

Rick Pitino has swayed me. Cal has coached Kentucky for almost all of my life. He was an awesome coach, and he truly did bring the best talent to our program that any program has ever seen. He deserves a standing ovation. He left when many people, including myself, wanted him gone. It’s his team who I’m not overly keen on. I think they ditched our program, and. I think it was a selfish move. BYU fans can say the same thing about Jackson Robinson. Maybe they’d be right. I understand that getting a new coach is probably like getting a new parent. It’s a tough adjustment, but the Kentucky fans invested a lot into those Arkansas players. Kentucky fans literally payed for a billboard in Lexington to raise awareness of Big Z to ensure that he got cleared to play. I don’t think he gives a crap about the fans and how much we cared about him or his teammates. It’s things like that where I don’t mind one bit to see the fans booing the team. Cal has done nothing wrong though. We’re better off with Pope, so it’s a win win for us

[@skuttsupreme8351]

Been a fan since 1992 Pitino. I’ll always be a Pitino kid. He’s so much better and more important to this program than Cal ever was. And he was much more dominant in his prime than cal was. He screwed up going to the Celtics then thinking UL was big enough for his name brand. It pulled him down. But cal didn’t want to leave that’s not how it went. He was strong arming and breached his contract. Then tried to tank us. He was also sabotaging the program and losing crazy games. That was a shot at the boosters. He needs to be boo’d

[@truck_it_23]

Cheer. If you boo him you are booing the banners in the rafters

[@mearthfromearth806]

I think everyone should laugh at cal, or ignore him and read the newspaper like they use to do. That would mess with his ego.

[@rickcrump9226]

Instead of booing when he walks in go completely silent.

[@KentuckyFan8181]

We should boo. His an opposing coach that use to coach here. So yes please booo. I Don't agree with any disrespectful comment's to him or the players that use to play here. But yes i agree with booing.

[@martinnorton7713]

Boo him! He's coaching Arkansas which is an SEC rival. We can cheer him when he comes back as a retired coach. Plus it'll be good for his pride and help him learn some humility.

[@jonathonhancock5445]

Yes boo

[@johnhankla6040]

I’ll be standing and applauding a great man that gave our team some really special moments. BBN ask yourself… What Would Mark Pope Do? And then let’s beat the socks off Arkansas and send them home. Prove it with Basketball and keep it classy in the bluegrassy.

[@freedomforall5071]

ANOTHER GUARANTEED WIN FOR WILDCATS 😺

[@clintsmith7]

To the people saying cheer ,why?The snake oil salesman got found out and we are supposed to cheer .GET OUTTA HERE.GO BIG BOO 😂

[@nolantriplett5603]

Sales man delivered a national championship and a opportunity multiple times to get more

[@clintsmith7]

@nolantriplett5603 ALL that talent and 1 NC is shameful.What happened last seven years in Lexington.He was a good recruiter but failed coaching that talent.

[@nolantriplett5603]

@@clintsmith7 I get that the last 5 years were pretty bad to our standards no question But college basketball is random he had been to 4 final 4s and a lot of the games came down to a few paoesssion or even 1, winning a championship is random and not many other coaches have the resume he has

[@Timothy0430]

When his name is called everyone go silent.. that would kill his ego more than anything!!

[@MmaRicky]

ITs about 15 years it is not about Wins and losses. It feels like some of us have no loyalty, After the Vandy loss how many comments did u see trashing pope saying he is in over his head then 1 game later they love him again. Not all of are like that but we really do have some lame ass fans tbh. This is a time we show our class and pride and cheer on a coach we had for a very long time. If u don't like him boo Barnhardt for keeping him that long. We moved on and I'm happy and wish cal the best just not better then us.

[@Dlphn1994]

All Cal was good for is getting NBA recruits. He couldn't even win the sec tournament let alone a national title since 2012. So yes.. I will be booing him.

[@ryanfields6770]

Boo all day

[@dwphillips42]

If Cal was having a great year and kicking butt yes he should get booed. That's not the case, so i think fans should be glad he's gone and just show love and respect. not cool to kick people when they're down.

[@buddys4134]

Who cares about this crap…… just win!

[@Adtrevino37]

That's what I'm saying! We have a game to win on Saturday. Not a test to see how we greet a former coach coming back.

[@wayneroberts8209]

Just thank God he’s gone

[@six3r]

Boooooooooooooooooooo. When the game is over and the cats win by 15 i’ll give him a thx and good luck. I’ve seen some videos from that arkansas guy you interviewed. He’s is good at what he does.

[@ShawnCooper-e9o]

Kentucky has no class