LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — "This is a basketball school. Alabama is a football school. So is Georgia. No disrespect to our football team. I hope they win 10 games and go to bowls. But this is a basketball school."
That’s the John Calipari quote that sparked a debate among the University of Kentucky's fan base.
UK head men's basketball coach John Calipari was expressing his want for newer facilities for the basketball team. A portion of his comments were shared on social media implying that Kentucky is only a basketball school.
Here are John Calipari's comments today on needing new facilities that has everyone talking.
A little more context to his "basketball school" remark⬇️ pic.twitter.com/U4HyxgSlNi— LEX 18 News (@LEX18News) August 11, 2022
UK football coach Mark Stoops didn't take too kindly to the comment and tweeted, "Basketball school? I thought we competed in the SEC? #4straightpostseasonwins"
Basketball school? I thought we competed in the SEC? #4straightpostseasonwins https://t.co/xUoKmUeonH
— Mark Stoops (@UKCoachStoops) August 11, 2022
Coach Stoops continued to tweet and retweet messages indicating that Kentucky is a football school.
"#BBN begs to differ! Don’t disrespect our great fans like that."
#BBN begs to differ! Don’t disrespect our great fans like that. https://t.co/7yCGQzmbuW
— Mark Stoops (@UKCoachStoops) August 11, 2022
The overall goal of Coach Calipari was to highlight the fact that he would love to see updated facilities take place sooner rather than later. Calipari also praised the facilities other programs have on campus, including football, soccer, and the incoming renovations for the track and field program.
"Look, our baseball facility might be the nicest in the country, and I'm happy about that. Our football facility, we spent $200 million. Soccer, unbelievable. Now, the track I love it. And now, I would say, the administration should be like, we're doing this. How about the state? If this is the University for Kentucky, and it's the basketball program for the state, which it is, how about the state says, 'we're in, we're gonna invest.' I'll tell you right now, Anthony Davis gave $350,000 on a text to me (for eastern Kentucky flood relief). Do you know what our former players would do? They just gotta see it: What is it? So it's the next challenge that we all have."
The Joe Craft Center was built in 2007.
