CBS Sports' Gary Parrish on John Calipari-Kentucky relationship: 'It's in an uncomfortable place'

As coach-school relationships go, the current malaise around Kentucky and head men’s basketball coach John Calipari by no means breaks the scale. But a run of solid teams falling short of expectations — all with elite talent — has things feeling stale.

The expectations at Kentucky are no secret: To compete for (and not infrequently win) national championships. Having failed to make a Final Four since the 2015 NCAA Tournament, CBS Sports’ Gary Parrish doesn’t think it’s surprising that things have gotten a bit prickly for those around the Wildcats.

“And at Kentucky, when you watch the NBA All-Star rosters come out and there’s like seven Kentucky players who were NBA All-Stars this, and then you look at it and you go, ‘Why don’t we have more Final Fours and more national championships than we have?'” Parrish said on “The Next Round” on Monday.

Parrish continued: “Now, UK fans are frustrated. And I think John is burned out a little bit and it’s just, it’s an awkward situation, now. I don’t think there will be an opening at Kentucky, regardless of how the season ends. But I also would not rule it out, because if they bomb out in the NCAA Tournament, it could just get so ugly where Kentucky says, ‘Even if this is going to cost tens of millions of dollars, we gotta do it.’ But it’s in an uncomfortable place right now, there’s no getting around it.”

Calipari has been at Kentucky for more than a decade, currently coaching in his 15th season at the helm of the Wildcats. He’s had just one losing season, going 9-16 during the Covid-altered 2020-21 season. Kentucky has also made the NCAA Tournament in 11 of his 14 complete seasons as the head coach.

But having failed to produce truly elite teams with what Parrish argued to be some of the best rosters in the country of late, Calipari has fallen short of expectations. There have also been recent shortcomings in the NCAA Tournament, including a trio of two-seed Kentucky teams failing to reach a Final Four, including the group that famously lost to St. Peters.

“They would both be better off if they could go their separate ways, but I don’t think John can find another job where he is making this kind of money,” Parrish said. “So he’s going to keep this one. And I don’t know that Kentucky can afford — and I know they can, but it’s a lot of money to move on from John Calipari. So they’re just sort of stuck. But the fans have grown tired of the same excuses and explanations. Once again, Kentucky has what is clearly the most talented basketball roster in the country. It’s not even close, from a talent perspective, and they’re just an OK team. They’re 5-5 in the first two quadrants, with a quadrant three loss at home to Wilmington. They’re good, but they’re not anything other than good.”

Parrish analogized the reasons for Calipari and Kentucky sticking together for so long to a married couple choosing to stay together for a number of reasons outside their own long-term best interest.

“It’s like you’re watching a marriage that you know everybody would be better off if they could just go their different ways, but for a variety of reasons it’s not practical for either one of them to go their separate ways,” Parrish said. “And I think we probably all know people like this. Like, ‘Man, they don’t seem happy together, but who wants to split up all the assets? And who doesn’t want to live in the same home with their children? And who doesn’t want to sell the house?’ And it’s just, ‘Maybe we’d be happier without each other, but we’re just going to stick together because it’s a lot of work to not stick together.’ That’s where John and Kentucky are right now.”