Cal combines fatherly instincts and NBA resume' to burn up recruiting trail

The following article can be found in the newest edition of Kentucky Ink Magazine.

When Kentucky coach John Calipari recruited Joey Dorsey to play at Memphis, the former Tigers’ coach didn't use any creative gimmicks that some coaches employ. Calipari simply told the chiseled powered forward the truth and made him feel like a son.

During a visit to campus, Calipari made it clear to Dorsey that he would have to earn playing time and that nothing would be given to him. One particular conversation he had with Calipari made a huge impact on Dorsey's decision.

"He was more like a father figure to me," said Dorsey, who just wrapped up his rookie season with the Houston Rockets. "Once I got to Memphis, he sat me down.”

"He was like, what are you going to do if you don't play basketball? You're going to go back to Baltimore and be on the street? What you're going to do? Sell drugs? I was like, I don't want to do that because most of the people in my family are doing that already.

"So when he sat down and talked to me like a father, I never had that before. That just stuck in my mind. I said I want to work hard for this guy for the rest of my life."

Calipari's genuine personality was a huge reason the Baltimore, Md. native decided to attend Memphis instead of other suitors including Southern Cal, Miami and Auburn.

It is also explains why the 50-year-old was hired at the end of March to replace prickly and private former Kentucky head coach Billy Gillispie, who was fired after two tumultuous seasons.

Though Gillispie was known as an excellent recruiter, he lacked the same charm and charisma that has served Calipari well throughout his 20 years as a college and NBA coach. Besides his basketball acumen, his ability to relate well to players and their families has enabled him to successfully recruit players when he was at UMass  (eight years) and his previous post at Memphis (nine years).

Calipari is such a people-person, he signed up for Twitter so that he could keep Kentucky fans or anyone interested in what he is doing up to date on-line by posting short messages including where he went to dinner and who he picked to win the Kentucky Derby.

Before taking over at Kentucky, Calipari landed recruiting classes ranked in the top 10 in the nation according to Scout.com in six of the last seven years.

From Dajuan Wagner to Kendrick Perkins (who signed, but turned pro instead) to Derrick Rose, Calipari has consistently beaten out traditional basketball bluebloods from BCS conferences for prized players. 

Any coach that has ever recruited against Calipari knows that he is in for a heavyweight fight.

Former college coach Paul Biancardi, now the national director of recruiting for ESPN's Scouts Inc., remembers targeting some of the same kids as Calipari when Biancardi was an assistant at Boston College and Calipari was at UMass.

 "So many things make him a great recruiter," says Biancardi. "I think he truly enjoys recruiting."

"He loves people. He genuinely cares about other people. He enjoys getting to know other people. He tries to seek out their needs and wants vs. his own and makes it work."

"He's relentless, persistent, an extremely hard worker and an engaging personality. He tells the high profile kids what they need to hear and not what they want to hear. That separates him from a lot of guys at that level."

So does Calipari's track record as a coach and his NBA coaching experience.

He took two middling programs in UMass and Memphis and led them to the Final Four. Under his guidance, numerous players have made it to the NBA and enjoyed lucrative careers playing overseas. Like Louisville's Rick Pitino and Florida State's Leonard Hamilton, Calipari is one of the few coaches who can talk about what the NBA is like with authority experience because Calipari spent three seasons as head coach of the New Jersey Nets.

Oak Hill Academy coach Steve Smith believes that Calipari's NBA background is a huge selling point with the players because most of them aspire to play in the NBA.

"He relates well; he carries himself well," says Smith. "My players don't know a lot of NBA coaches, but they usually know when a coach has coached in the league."

"That's what kids want to do. That's their goal. It doesn't hurt when you have that kind of resume."

It was a factor when it came time for Dorsey to make his decision.

He consulted with former NBA point guard Sam Cassell and former UMass player Donta Bright, Baltimore natives who were coached by Calipari. Both gave Calipari a ringing endorsement and Dorsey noted that he knew Calipari "had a good track record of sending players to the NBA."

The two still speak a few times a week and Dorsey credits Calipari with helping him make it to the NBA.

"I went there and he gave me a good mindset to understand the game and visualize the game," Dorsey said. "He was a great coach when I was there."

"Coach used to yell at me so much that his wife had to tell him to stop yelling at me. I mean he was so much harder on me more than any coach than I ever had. He pushed me, he pushed me to this level to get to the NBA." 

When you consider the high number of quality players Calipari landed while at UMass and Memphis, there is reason for other coaches to be fearful of what he might accomplish now that he is at one of the most storied basketball programs in college basketball history.

Though players are advised not to choose a college because of a head coach, whose status at a school is rarely secure, there is no question that the majority of players pick schools because of their relationship with the man in charge.

Since Calipari's arrival, he quickly helped the Wildcats land the No. 1 recruiting class in the nation by persuading Alabama natives 6-foot-9 DeMarcus Cousins and point guard Eric Bledsoe to follow him to UK. Even more telling was the fact that he convinced 6-9 Daniel Orton, who was recruited by the previous staff, to remain a Wildcat. Then he did some in-house recruiting which led to Patrick Patterson putting the NBA on hold to return for his junior year and topped it all off by landing arguably the nation's top player in John Wall.

"I don't see how you could claim there isn't (an effect on recruiting)," wrote hoops and recruiting author Adam Zagoria. "He's had a dramatic effect."

The good kind of drama that the Big Blue Nation hopes will continue for many years to come.

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