10 years ago today, John Calipari tweeted about footprints in the sand

The John Calipari era contained a lot of memories. The ratio of good to bad will debated for some time, but I think we can all agree that when it comes to tweets Calipari sent out during his 15-year tenure as Kentucky’s head coach, one stands above the rest. Ten years ago today, Calipari tweeted about the poem “Footprints in the Sand” when he saw footprints in the sand on a walk in the Bahamas.

Walking on the beach this morning, doing a little thinking when I saw footprints in the sand. Reminded me of the poem Footprints in the Sand

— John Calipari (@CoachCalArk) August 14, 2014

The tweet caught fire, making national headlines and drawing even more attention to Kentucky’s dominant run in the Bahamas. The Cats were riding a 3-0 streak when Cal had his footprints in the sand moment, winning their games by an average of 28 points. Kentucky looked so good that the night before Calipari sent his tweet, Jay Bilas met with the team and told them they had a chance to make history. As we all know, they really did, going 38-0 before losing to Wisconsin in the Final Four.

We’ll always remember the “Footprints in the Sand” tweet but don’t forget the ones that came out shortly after. Later that morning, Calipari teased the BBN by saying he had “one of [his] best ideas yet,” one that was so “crazy” and “ridiculous” that he (or Eric Lindsey) tweeted out “Hum diddy diddy.” He said the same phrase two days earlier on the ESPNU broadcast after watching Derek Willis dunk.

When I get time to myself, you know I can’t help but think.Well, I’ve come up w/one of my best ideas yet. Crazy, ridiculous. Hum diddy diddy

— John Calipari (@CoachCalArk) August 14, 2014

BUT, not gonna tell you until it's ready to be executed. When I put it together, you’ll say, “That was the idea he was talking about.”

— John Calipari (@CoachCalArk) August 14, 2014

Calipari unveiled the platoon system in the Bahamas, rotating two five-man units, although they were different than the “Blue” and “White” platoons we’d come to know and love since Willie Cauley-Stein and Trey Lyles were still recovering from injuries. It was a crazy and ridiculous idea, and once the 2014-15 season was over. Calipari vowed to never do it again because teams used it negatively against Kentucky in recruiting.

Calipari’s August 14, 2014 tweets were just one part of his summer of swag. Less than a week later, he called Mike Francesa’s show in New York as “John in Kentucky” to blast Francesa for saying he wasn’t a great Xs and Os coach. The next day, Cal tweeted that he and Francesa were “good,” despite Francesa hanging up on him.

Calipari’s Twitter feed is a little different these days, and so is Kentucky Basketball. Time marches on, but we’ll always have the memories, impressed on our minds like footprints in the sand.