Beech Tree News Network

Tuesday night April 22, I went to Barnes & Noble in Bowling Green for UK coach John Calipari’s signing of his book Players First: Coaching From The Inside Out.  I arrived at 5:00.  By 5:44, the line of rabid UK basketball fans engulfed the entire store, wrapping around in a snake-like fashion.  Coach finally arrived a few minutes before 6:00.  He addressed the crowd before signing.
On people asking him why he did the book: “I’ve been approached by publisher and different writers. (People would ask)  How can you be good with kids leaving after a year or two? So this book is based on that.  Most of this book is on servant leadership and teaching servant leadership.  It’s not just one guy.  You’re teaching a team to lead and serve”.  He says there are many who say 17-18 year-olds can’t be molded.  “Michael Kidd-Gilchrist before we played Vanderbilt in the conference championship (in ’12) came to me and said “I want you to start Darius Miller in my place”. 

He said when this (2014) team learned to play together, “didn’t they look different”? And when people asked why it took so long, he said “Well they’re 17-18 years-old.  “If you really focus on those players and what’s right for them, things will be alright for us”.  When asked about his players leaving early for the NBA, “If they have an opportunity to run with that genius, we don’t have a right to tell them no”. 
“A lot of the book that you’ll read talks about one and done my issues with the NBA”.  After Coach Cal’s short talk, he laid out some ground rules for the book signing.  By the way, he’d already signed 700 books that day and had also been on a recruiting trip.  Given that, he was great to sign books and take pictures.  Thanks to Coach Cal, his crew, and Barnes & Noble for making this event happen, not to mention be wildly successful.

Hello.  My name is Andy Sullivan.  I received my bachelor’s degree in business from Mid-Continent University in June 2009.  I began writing for beechtree in July 2009.  I enjoy writing, photography, watching basketball and football, and playing guitar.  I also write a blog that encompasses sports and entertainment, called Sports and More, at http://andyuk79.tumblr.com If you have any comments, please leave them in the space below.  Thanks for reading!