John Calipari: A brand all by himself
Since John Calipari was named head coach of the University Kentucky basketball team nearly 4 months ago, I’ve written a great deal about what Calipari’s arrival means for the power of the UK brand. The brand had suffered significantly over the past 5 years as Tubby Smith was on the way out, Billy Gillispie did what he could suck all the fun out of the game of basketball, and poor basketball was played throughout.
It’s certainly true that the UK brand is back and stronger than ever before and it’s largely because of John Calipari. However, most of what I have written has shown a lack of awareness of the fact that there is a brand surrounding Calipari that is a force to be reckoned with on its own.
The platform that is given the coach of UK due to the magnitude of the position was undoubtedly one of the big attractions of the job to Calipari. He may not have anticipated having over 460,000 followers on Twitter before the end of July, but he knew what having the rabid fan base of the Big Blue could mean for him.
The name Kentucky may have helped John Calipari land the tremendous 2009 recruiting class that he was able to cobble together in a short amount of time, but let’s face it: John Calipari will get big time players almost no matter where he coaches. John Calipari is not going to be able to win much bigger at UK than he has the past 5 years in West Tennessee, but coaching at UK is going to allow John Calipari to become one of the faces of college basketball to an extent impossible at Memphis.
At Kentucky, John Calipari is going to be able to have his team play on ESPN and CBS all season long and not be ignored during a lackluster non-conference schedule.
At Kentucky, John Calipari instantly becomes highly sought after for endorsements, both in the Bluegrass and nationally (see EA’s upcoming NCAA ’10 ad campaign).
At Kentucky, John Calipari becomes Nike’s primetime college basketball coach, with the power to form a partnership with a guy like LeBron James.
At Kentucky, John Calipari has a legion of fans to command with Twitter as the centerpiece of that interaction. Potential marketing partners of UK and Calipari salivate at the opportunity to be positively mentioned to a half million willing listeners.
The announcement of his website’s debut tomorrow at 11:30 is the latest step in the building of his own brand. No one really knows what Calipari is going to do with the website, but you know he’s going to generate a lot of traffic…sustaining it will be another matter. One thing I do know is that John Calipari understands marketing, marketing of both himself and UK basketball.
John Calipari also understands the impact of the around the clock sports coverage, the internet, and social networking on his job. The lines that used to be drawn between marketing, branding, and recruiting no longer exist. Calipari has the power to reach recruits, fans, and anyone else who wants to listen all at once and that is exactly what he does everyday with his Twitter account and will now do with his website as well.
They say that players don’t commit to a school, they commit to a coach, and if that really is the case, you have to feel good about UK’s chances with any big time player.
A couple quick notes before I close:
-The other news yesterday was the announcement of the SEC network by ESPN.
Unfortunately, this piece of news sounds bigger than it really is. Basically, it’s going to be Jefferson Pilot/Lincoln Financial Sports with an ESPN logo. For football, the network will broadcast one Saturday game just as JP/LF Sports did the last number of year. The station will not be a stand alone channel with national distribution, rather local channels will be able to pick up on their broadcasts (WAVE 3 in Louisville, WKYT in Lexington).
-Officially confirming that football season is nearly upon us, SEC Media Days began today. We will keep you updated on any significant happenings.
-The majority of college basketball coaches and recruiting gurus have descended this week on Las Vegas, as many of the top high school players will play in one of the last big summer events. According to Gary Parrish, Josh Selby’s decommitment is all the buzz among the coaching community, as there is quite a bit of teeth gnashing going on about Worldwide Wes’ involvement.
UK is widely assumed to be heavily involved with Selby, but it’s not like a commitment is forthcoming. As a matter of fact, we don’t even have confirmation that UK has been in contact.
John Calipari, of course, is in Vegas this week with 12 year old son Brad in tow. Calipari has said it takes creativity to find ways to spend time with family. However, I’m not sure ‘creativity’ is the word that comes to mind when I think of a 12 year old in Vegas.
Category: Kentucky
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Coach Cal definitely knows what he’s doing coming to Lexington. All those sheep need a shepherd.
“The name Kentucky may have helped John Calipari land the tremendous 2009 recruiting class that he was able to cobble together in a short amount of time…”
Are you kidding me… He had this exact same class being assembled at Memphis. You guys need to lay off the Kool-Aid there kids. This was not “your” class. And before anyone calls me a Memphis “homer,” I am not one of them. However, this was one of the most hilarious articles I have read on this site in a while.
“At Kentucky, John Calipari is going to be able to have his team play on ESPN and CBS all season long and not be ignored during a lackluster non-conference schedule.
At Kentucky, John Calipari instantly becomes highly sought after for endorsements, both in the Bluegrass and nationally (see EA’s upcoming NCAA ‘10 ad campaign).
At Kentucky, John Calipari becomes Nike’s primetime college basketball coach, with the power to form a partnership with a guy like LeBron James.”
First, while at Memphis, I was able to see Memphis play numerous times throughout the year on TV even during conference play. Will it be easier at Kentucky, obviously yes; however, to insuate Memphis just disappeared during conference play is ridiculous.
While at Memphis, Calipari was a highly sought after comodity. He was already dealing with EA while at Memphis and during that time he signed one of the largest university shoe contracts nationwide… Evidence of this were Memphis’ new jerseys and shoes during their tourney run this past season, not to mention the original dealings he set up with the CBA WHILE AT MEMPHIS WHERE THE RELATIONSHIP WAS CULTIVATED.
Also, Calipari was already a primetime comodity at Memphis getting TV time on the “Best Damn Sports Show Period” on numerous occasions, Mike and Mike in the Morning, Pardon the Interruption… I don’t think I need to continue.
This whole article seems to be more of a slap in the face to the University of Memphis rather than a piece describing John Calipari. Again, I read this site for the humor it gives along with referring other college basketball fans of the university I support to get a daily laugh as well.
And how was it impossible at Memphis? Yes, UK is a legacy program. I am not trying to take that away from you, but John Calipari has done nothing really on his own. Yes he has made it to the Final Four twice, never come away with the big one. The offense he runs, not his own… took it from Vance Wahlberg and dumbed it down to a 3 man weave at the top of the key with certain cutters in the post and through the passing lanes based on the look of the defense (and yes I am qualified to say that seeing as how I played college basketball and coach it as well and having been to a number of his clinics… there is a reason this offense is not widely run in D1 basketball today.) He consistently in the big games runs up against teams that are just as athletic and the outcome is not positive for him. Just look at his record against Tennessee for example. What will he do facing teams that he plays 2 and with the SEC tourney possibly 3 times a year?
The season hasn’t even started and it’s like you already want to crown him King of Basketball. Well, I was at the final four 2 years ago when Memphis was there, and that team I would put up against any team from UK including this one in 09-10, and he still couldn’t win the big game. Cal-Northridge shouldn’t have even been on the court with Memphis this past year and look what happened. Without the 35 point outburst by a role player, Memphis goes home because “your” coach couldn’t make adjustments. Enjoy watching your team this year with your “Branded” coach. Yes there will be a lot of good times and big wins, but that championship will still elude you until you have a “real” coach, not one that uses handlers and “power brokers” to persuade kids. Until that time, have fun looking up at the top at KU, UNC, etc….
My point is that John Calipari was big at Memphis, but being at Kentucky allows him to take things to another level. John Calipari himself lamented the fact Memphis was not more in the public eye once CUSA play started. I’m not even going to address the “you’re never going to win a title” because I only closely read the first 700 words of your comment.
Thank you though for sending fellow fans to our site, even it is just for a laugh…a hit’s a hit!
No problem, I honestly wasn’t trying to bash what you wrote even though it came off that was I was just trying to make a point that the way the article was written makes it sound like UK is making Calipari and Memphis did nothing for him when they gave him a chance when no one else would after his massive NBA failure. And when he came to Memphis, yes they were down, but they had been a major player in college basketball for a while more so than many other programs. It just seemed like you were putting a school down that didn’t deserve it.
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