Two years ago, the 'Big Blue Nation' felt they had options. Much maligned Tubby Smith "left" after ten seasons at the helm of college basketballs most prestigious program. And as it turned out, some of the prestige may had left with him.
Yet no one knew at the time.
Lexington was buzzing with opinions of big-name coaches that had to be chomping at the bit to replace Tubby and lead the Wildcats as "caretaker" of the program.
Right?
For a week, the only name on talk-radio was Billy Donovan, former assistant under Rick Pitino and coach of defending national champion Florida Gators, who just so happened to be getting ready for the Final Four that weekend. Billy's Gators would win their 2nd consecutive title that weekend, thus making Donovan a hot commodity.
Billy would then decide to take over the Orlando Magic, only to decide a couple of minutes later to renege on the agreement and return to Florida as college basketball's highest paid coach. You've seen the picture (thanks Coup)
Oh and in that process, he rejected Kentucky's more handsome offer, and leaving the bluegrass in contempt and a little despair. Jay Wright of Villanova, Ted Barnes of Texas were also high on the list, only to follow suit with Billy D and refuse Mitch Barnhart. The Kentucky Wildcats had lost it's appeal as college coaching's top position.
At this point, the mere mention of the name John Calipari would invoke grotesque expressions on Wildcats fan's faces before an answer was even given.
The answer usually..."he's dirty." From there Billy Gillispie was hired out of Texas A&M in a quick 24-hour swoon, preceding a two-year bad marriage in which Billy's inability to handle the job and it's range of duties resulted in his dismissal.
Now two years later, the commonwealth is on it's ear; utterly elated with the new hire. This time however, they are right to feel that way.
UK fans were not alone in how they felt about coach Cal. Many fans and sports writers have expressed in many forums their belief that Calipari was "dirty."
There certainly are questions. 
The most immediate and glaring concern is his relationship with William "Worldwide Wes" Wesley, the promoter-broker-street agent. The always controversial Wesley will all but likely frequent Lexington, thus raising eyebrows on his relationships with recruits of the program.
- Players in the past who have had brushes with the law e.g. Andre Allen, Sean Banks and Kareem Cooper. This could happen to any coach, and did in Lexington under Tubby Smith, but seem to be a little more frequent with Cal's recruits.
- There are inquiries about how some former players have received their degrees, particularly those who went the prep school route.
The other side of the coin presents this notion via Jason Whitlock: "Judging any man's character by his adherence to NCAA rules is quite possibly the dumbest thing sports writers and fans can do."
I'll do Whitlock one better, coach Cal has zero NCAA sanctions against him. Rick Pitino, Lord of college basketball in the Bluegrass despite going to hated in-state rival Louisville, has at my count seven.
The point is that although the perception of the program within it's fan base may have moved towards less relevance and lower prestige under Tubby Smith and Billy Gillispie, their desperation has been rescued by a great hire. The best hire. The only hire. A man who can, and probably will, bring Kentucky back to the elite. Andy Katz may have wrote that UK is "too valuable a program, not only to the Commonwealth but to the sport, to be dismissed," but make no mistake about it, Kentucky has not been to a Final Four in over ten years.
In Lexington, that is what's relevant. And now they have a man who has brought the top recruits into his programs, and won with them. He sells them on the style of play, a style now coming to Rupp Arena.
Calipari has done it at UMASS; he has done it at Memphis. Now imagine what he can do with college basketball's winningest program.
