John Calipari has 'no connection' with main Kentucky boosters, insider says

For quite some time, John Calipari could have run for office in the city of Lexington or the state of Kentucky and received a significant number of votes. However, after the last few seasons at Kentucky, that personal connection no longer seems as intact as it was.

Kentucky Sports Radio’s Matt Jones sounded off on the state of the Wildcat’s program on his show on Thursday morning. As part of that, he explained how the lack of relationship that Calipari has with the people around the university, specifcially its boosters, has started to cost Kentucky in large ways and in more ways than one.

“Players come and go; that worries me less than the other stuff. And again, if people don’t want to believe this, they don’t have to,” Jones said. “But this is the truth: Calipari has no connection with the main boosters of this program, specifically the main couple. And it’s killing us. It just is.”

“The people around the program can’t talk to him; they don’t know what to say to him. And he is completely isolated from everybody,” explained Jones.

One well-known aspect of that has been a reported fracture between Calipari and UK AD Mitch Barnhart. Still, considering the pair were in Washington D.C. together on Wednesday to help push for federal NIL legislation, Jones continued to direct his comments towards Cal’s dire relationships with groups like boosters and the media rather than those in the athletic department.

“I was happy to see the picture of him and Mitch in Washington. I’m glad that happened. Maybe that’s the start of things getting better there,” said Jones. “But it is not a secret to anybody that he has not had a relationship with Mitch. He does not have a relationship with the boosters. He does not have a relationship with the media. And a lot of the folks that have worked there in the last year or two have either gone or are about to go.”

Overall, Jones’ comments are damning considering how Kentucky’s offseason has gone. As of today, the Wildcats are on the verge of running out seven underclassmen next season. That number could jump to 10 depending on recruiting updates in the next week or so. Those players would then all compete alongside UK’s lone ‘returner’ at the moment in Antonio Reeves.

Still, in general, Jones says things are like that and are the way they currently are because, frankly, no one, from the head coach down to the loyal fans in the bluegrass, seems to know what’s going on inside the Joe Craft Center.

“The program has been in disarray. I have people — and this has happened three times in the last four days — people who genuinely like and care about Kentucky basketball but also genuinely like and care about Cal say to me, ‘Matt, what is going on?’,” Jones said. “And the tough part is I don’t think there’s an easy answer to that.”