Barnes a big fan of Calipari

By: LARRY VAUGHT

If John Calipari has a bigger fan than Texas coach Rick Barnes it was hard to tell based on what Barnes said Wednesday during a teleconference with media members previewing the Kentucky-Texas game in Rupp Arena Friday night.

Barnes called Calipari’s coaching “underrated” and almost raves about his ability to get players to “buy in” to what he wanted do annually.

“John has done just an incredible job with what he's done to get those guys to totally buy into the team concept, what he's done by basically getting two guys at — I guess I'd use the word power forward or a step-out post player to buy into a different position by moving guys out ... to make way to utilize everybody he's got on his team,” said Barnes in reference to UK’s platoon system this year. “That's what I think he's done.

“I think the job of a coach is to take the players that you have and find the best possible system that you can put them in, put them in the best position. I think he has done a great job throughout his career of doing that, and I think what he's done with this team is what he's always done: giving his best players a chance to be the best team they can be. I think it's great what he's done.”

That’s why Barnes said the UK defense has been so good.

“Defensively, you can talk about this, that or whatever, but defensively obviously with their length, their size, their quickness, baskets are hard to come by. So, with that said, I'm really just impressed with the way, more than anything the way he's got those guys to buy into what he sees. He's always had a great vision for the way he sees his teams to play,” Barnes said.

Barnes first met the Kentucky coach at a 1978 summer camp at the University of Pittsburgh and said that “I respect John as much as anybody that I've ever met in the coaching business.”

“ From that time we've been friends. We've had mutual friends. I've got so much respect for him,” Barnes said.

The Texas coach appreciates the way Calipari handles expectations and pressure without receiving a lot of credit for his coaching.

"As a coach – I think he's always been underrated as a coach, because I look at everywhere he's been. He went to UMass and I went to Providence. Like anybody being a young head coach like he was, like I was, you go into leagues that he's had to go into, leagues that I've had to go into and sometimes when you go in there you want to fight for everything you can,” Barnes said.

“And John is a fighter. He's a guy that's going to do the job that's in front of him, whether it's a UMass, Memphis, wherever. He's going to look at it -- he's hired to do a job, and he's going to do it.

"I just think he's been really really underrated as a coach. Again, I've watched his teams, and you look at his record, people will talk about talent. I don't think people realize it's not as easy as you think that when you do have talent, and it's certainly not as easy as you think when you've got a bullet on your back – I mean, a target on your back every night and you've got bullets coming at you. When you look at everything, I just think he's one of the great coaches.”

However, Barnes wasn’t through praising Calipari.

“I think if I had a problem, a personal problem of any nature, if I needed some help with helping someone else or anything, I know if I called John Calipari he would say to me, 'What do you need? Don't say another word. You just tell me what you need.' Because I've watched him in situations with mutual friends where he's done some incredible things and he's never asked anything other than, 'Hey, don't say another word. Just tell me what you need,’” Barnes said.

Wait. There’s more.

"And I want to tell you this about John, too: I've recruited against John a lot, and I can tell you this. With (Texas freshman) Myles Turner — and it's happened numerous times — every time John Calipari has walked into a house prior to us coming in, and we go in, people always ask me, 'Are you and he close?' And I say, 'Why?' and they say, 'Well, if you didn't know better, you'd think he was recruiting for you,’” Barnes said.

“And I respect that, the fact that he has always said good things about me when we've gone into some recruiting situations together. I just wanted to say that, because I just think that, again, John has done a lot of great things for this game."

He says he considers Calipari a “dear friend” — but Barnes did joke he was a much better basketball player than Calipari — who has never got enough credit for his coaching ability.

“You look at what he's done — 30-win seasons — I'm wondering if he's ever going to get bored,” Barnes said. “The fact is, he just keeps doing it, and when people criticize him for whatever they want to criticize him for, half the people have no idea what they're even criticizing him for.”

Barnes said he took on “City Hall” when he was coaching at Clemson and had an altercation with then North Carolina coach Dean Smith.

"I think John Calipari throughout his career has been willing to take on City Hall. I think he believes in what he believes in and he's right and he's going to stand up for it, whether it's his players or what his philosophy is,” Barnes said. “And when that happens, you're going to get judged real quickly. The people that know you, they're going to love you and respect you for it. The people that don't understand it, they're not going to like you, and then things are going to be said or written or whatever.”

Barnes said Calipari is about winning.

“Because his teams, when you're winning games like he's winning, it gets back to coaching. It's not just ... and I'm not just talking about the psychological part; I'm talking as an X and O guy, he's very much underrated,” Barnes said.