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John Calipari's job is under question.
Following Kentucky's opening-round exit to Oakland last night, many are wondering if Calipari's days as the Wildcats head coach are numbered.
"Our odds suggest Calipari will most likely be back with the 'Cats next year, giving him a 60% chance (-150) to retain his position," BetOnline tells Gambling911.com.
Those who believe he is going to no longer be coaching in Kentucky may want to bet the NO at slightly better than EVEN odds (+110).
Now 1-4 in his past five NCAA tournament games, matching the program's worst five-game span in the tournament.
Calipari mulled over his future even prior to Thursday night's loss.
"I've done this with young teams my whole career, and it's going to be hard for me to change that, because we've helped so many young people and their families that I don't see myself just saying, 'OK, we're not going to recruit freshmen,'" Calipari said.
Following the loss, folks were relentless via X, formerly known as Twitter.
Clay Travis tweeted:
"John Calipari has one NCAA tourney win in the past five years, Kentucky gave him a lifetime contract, can’t afford to fire him and pays him $9 million a year. Holy crap. It’s going to get NASTY in the bluegrass."
Others wrote:
"Send him packing."
"Kentucky is the Dallas Cowboys of College Basketball, they should fire John Calipari!"
"John Calipari is a clown @UKCoachCalipari @KentuckyMBB now a clown show because of him! Fire him now."
Calipari remained unfazed.
"I'll look at other ways that we can do stuff, but, you know, there's -- this thing here, it's a different animal," Calipari said. "We've been able to help so many kids and win so many games and Final Fours, national titles and all this stuff, win league championships with young guys.
"It's changed on us. All of a sudden it's gotten really old. So we're playing teams that our average age is 19, their average age is 24 and 25. So do I change because of that? Maybe add a couple older guys to supplement."
- Dan Shapiro, Gambling911.com
