Rece Davis says Kentucky moving on from John Calipari would be 'foolish'

The talk of the town in Lexington this season has been the job security of one John Calipari. Although he is currently signed to a lifetime deal with the university, some around the Bluegrass are ready to run him out with how things have gone for Kentucky on the basketball court as of late.

Even so, Rece Davis, in a College Gameday Podcast with Pete Thamel, shared how foolish he thinks that would be. Considering the class he has coming in, the mentality of Calipari, and the usual uproar of the Wildcat fanbase, Davis says Kentucky shouldn’t be too hasty about making a decision on the future of the Hall of Famer.

“I think John Calipari stays there. He’s got a really good recruiting class coming in. And I think that anyone would be foolish to (say) otherwise,” said Davis. “There are two people on the planet built for that job and their names are John Calipari and Rick Pitino…They’re built for that job.”

“I think he’s got a really good recruiting class coming in. I think he’s adaptable, I think he’ll make changes, and I think he should stay,” Davis said. “He should choose to stay and I don’t think Kentucky should entertain the notion of making a change. I know the fanbase is mad. But they’re always mad if they don’t hang a banner. That’s the way it goes.”

It’s hard to argue when you consider the run Calipari had from his arrival to the turn of the decade. Over his first ten years, he only had two seasons end before the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament. Besides that, he had one end in the Sweet 16, three in the Elite Eight, two in the Final Four, and two in the National Championship with one win and one loss.

However, the results of the last four seasons very obviously aren’t up to snuff to Kentucky’s standard. They’ve seen one tournament get canceled but then they’ve missed one due to a 9-16 season, they were bounced out of one due to an all-time upset to Saint Peter’s, and, as of this year, are fighting for their lives on the bubble.

That’s where Davis’ argument shifted a tad. While he still thinks Calipari should be the head coach and has achieved plenty over 14 seasons there, he believes the Wildcats need at least one more title to truly validate him and this era of their program.

“But I also do think, for everything they’ve done? I feel like that they need another championship to sort of put a validating stamp on it,” said Davis. “One title? I know it’s hard. Every time you say this? Coaches get mad. They say it’s hard, it’s a one-shot deal, you get upset by Saint Peter’s, and all of that stuff. And it’s true. All of those things are true.”

“But more than one thing can be true,” Davis added. “And the other thing that’s true is that Kentucky needs another championship in this run with the great players they’ve had to sort of put a validating stamp on what John has accomplished there, which has been a lot.”