Karl-Anthony Towns issues heartfelt statement on John Calipari's UK departure
The move of former Kentucky coach John Calipari to Arkansas still isn’t official quite yet, but dozens of former players are still grappling with what it means. Like center Karl-Anthony Towns, who played for Calipari at Kentucky during the 2014-15 season.
Towns chimed in on Twitter with his thoughts on Calipari’s departure.
“Gonna be weird not seeing you on the Kentucky sidelines, but thank you coach for helping me and my family achieve our dreams and giving us the best college experience,” Towns wrote. “My Love for Kentucky and Coach Cal has and will continue to have no bounds.”
The former Kentucky star was on one of the best teams in school history, albeit one that wasn’t able to see it through to a national title.
Kentucky won 38 straight games to open the 2014-15 season with Towns and the Harrison twins leading the way, before the program finally tripped up to Wisconsin in the Final Four to end the season.
Towns went pro right after, becoming the No. 1 overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft. He’s had a phenomenal NBA career since, becoming a four-time NBA All-Star and a two-time All-NBA third team selection.
He was also named the NBA Rookie of the Year in 2016.
John Calipari, for his part, seemed somewhat reticent to leave Kentucky but admitted he knew it was time after 15 seasons at the helm. The Wildcats hadn’t had much NCAA Tournament success of late, heaping pressure on Calipari in the head seat.
“Since our season ended, Ellen and I have spent a lot of time thinking about our time here at Kentucky,” John Calipari said in a video released on Tuesday afternoon. “What it means to us, the friends we’ve made on that court, regional championships, conference championships, Final Fours, the national title in 2012 — it’s been a beautiful time for us.
“This is a dream job. It was my dream job. Anybody in our profession looks at the University of Kentucky and basketball and says, “That is the bluest of blue.” The last few weeks we’ve come to realize that this program probably needs to hear another voice, that the university as a whole has to have another voice giving guidance about this program.
“The fans need to hear another voice. We’ve loved it here, but we think it’s time for us to step away and step away completely from the program.”