Coach Calipari Leaves, Memphis Reacts

Despite recent comments that he would not leave, Calipari announces he is leaving the University of Memphis to coach at the University of Kentucky.

For several days, rumors swirl around the city ...will Coach Calipari stay or will he go? Local media outlets take up residence at the University of Memphis and at John Calipari's East Memphis home awaiting an announcement. We think, why is he not facing us? Why is he slipping out the "back door"? Is this the same John Calipari that is a part of our city...our family?

Reactions are mixed but there is a collective feeling that the city has been kicked in the guts. Memphis has historically had its hurdles to climb, faced with constant high crime rates, corruptions in local politics, the heartbreak of "almost" getting an NFL franchise team, feuding local governments, threatening to annex the county resulting in constant "Memphis-flight"...the list just goes on and on. University of Memphis Basketball helped bring us together, get our mind off these local issues that dominate our local news and "water-cooler" conversations. Our hearts and hopes went out to the University of Memphis and we embraced Coach "Cal" and he seemed to return the sentiment. But his actions of the last few days leave doubt in the minds of many.

Coach Calipari has dreams. He is following his dream...that we can understand. But what about the hopes and dreams of the players, students, administration, fans and alumni? This decision affects a lot of people. If Coach Calipari had handled this situation with grace and gone out in a more respectable manner, it would not be as much of a jolt to the city. My eight year old son can simply not understand and only sees it as one of the people he looks up to lying to him and then cowardly slipping away.

What went wrong here? We are lacking a humble apology and explanation from Coach Calipari who should have gracefully faced this city before leaving to fly to Kentucky. In one week we lost the top recruiting class for the 2009/2010 season, players that we respected and admired and a Coach this city thought of as family. We deserved more and I suspect he realizes that. The city will overcome this; goodness knows we have been faced with much worse. And of course, we will continue to support University of Memphis Basketball and hopefully even in this negative situation find a way to come together as a city.