At an introductory news conference as bright and sunny as the weather, only one discordant note was heard. And it came from the man of the hour: new University of Kentucky basketball coach John Calipari.
"I do not walk on water," he told the audience in the Craft Center. "I do not have a magic wand. I'm day to day."
Then referencing UK President Lee T. Todd Jr. and Athletics Director Mitch Barnhart (who were reduced to silent partners on the podium), Calipari added, "I told Dr. Todd and Mitch, if you want something to happen in a year, do not hire me. That's not how I do things."
Todd and Barnhart seemed like the reporters, deep-pocketed boosters, former players and current Cats in attendance: enthralled.
Yet throughout his bravura performance, the likes of which had not been seen around UK basketball since Rick Pitino commanded the Cats and media attention, Calipari repeatedly reduced himself to human dimensions.
His grandparents on his father's side came through Ellis Island. His grandfather worked in the coal mines of West Virginia, contracted black lung and died at age 58.
His mother's family was from Webster Springs, W.Va. Their diet included dandelion soup.
"I'm not the grand pooh-bah," he said. "I'm not the emperor. That's not what I want to be. We're regular people."
Calipari will have an irregular salary: $31.65 million over eight years, which makes him college basketball's highest-paid coach. That includes a buyout of $3 million per year remaining on the deal should UK decide to fire him without cause.
That didn't seem likely as Calipari touched just about every iconic note in Kentucky basketball's storied history.
He mentioned Hazel Keightley and Karen Marlowe, widow and daughter of the late Bill Keightley.
He noted talking to all but one of his living predecessors: Joe B. Hall, Eddie Sutton, Tubby Smith and Pitino. Conspicuous by his absence was Billy Gillispie, who was fired on Friday after two seasons. "I don't have his number," Calipari said of Gillispie. "There was no intent."
Other names dropped included Kyle Macy, Rex Chapman, Nazr Mohammed, Tayshaun Prince, Adolph Rupp and Herky Rupp.
In leading what he referred to as "the commonwealth's team," Calipari acknowledged that he has an unusually difficult job.
"This is a hard job and a hard life," he said. "It's a challenge I am so excited about taking on. I know it's going to be hard. There's no givens here. We're not just walking and waltzing. It's not going to happen that way."
Calipari all but called for help in a collective effort to lift Kentucky basketball back to the heights of college basketball.
"I'm a gatherer," he said. "Folks, if this happens here, my vision of this program, it's going to happen because of all of us working together. ... it takes a village. ...
"If I'm doing my job, 10,000 people will say, 'Without me, they couldn't have done it.' "
Barnhart described a simple and direct hiring process. "We quickly zeroed in on (a) coach," the UK athletics director said. "And, frankly, he zeroed in on us as well."
That raised an obvious question: Why didn't this news conference happen two years ago? Why didn't Kentucky zero in on Calipari two years ago when Gillispie was the ill-fated — and ill-suited — choice?
When a reporter noted that Calipari was not on the radar, he quipped, "Well, I was on the radar."
Then he added, "But I called my wife every day for six days. 'Did they call? Did they call?' Then I kind of figured out, they're not calling."
With perfect hindsight, Barnhart called that decision, "My mistake."
Barnhart said of Gillispie's hiring, "I had a guy that was the hot coach. I watched him play. I watched his team. I liked the way they did it. He had built a couple programs. I felt we had the right guy, and I missed. My fault."
Barnhart did not say specifically why he bypassed Calipari. When asked if the perception of potential NCAA rules issues played a part, Barnhart said, "No, no. Don't start that."
A check with the NCAA not only showed no problems, Barnhart said, but NCAA compliance staffers spoke of how they "enjoyed" working with Calipari.
"Our commitment at the University of Kentucky to compliance and discipline has always been strong, and that will not change," Barnhart said. "John's commitment to compliance and discipline has always been strong, and that will not change."
Calipari noted the difficult choice he faced: a Kentucky job he'd dreamed of or continuing a blessed existence as University of Memphis coach.
After completing the UK news conference, Calipari returned to Memphis, where he spoke to reporters outside his home.
"I know people are going to be angry," he said of Memphis fans. "... But I hope over a period of time that people will understand that we absolutely loved it here.
"You have to know I had a lot of opportunities to leave here for more money than I was making, and I never did. If I stayed, I would have made more money (at Memphis) next year than at Kentucky. They asked me a hundred times, 'Can we pay you more? Can we do more?' It had nothing to do with that."
With that, Calipari paused and then walked into his front door to presumably regain his composure.
A few minutes later, the Memphis team chaplain, Ken Bennett, came out with a message for the media.
"This is very hard for him," Bennett said. "Give him a minute."
A few hours earlier, Calipari had gotten sentimental as he recalled his first experience with Kentucky basketball. His Massachusetts team played at UK on Dec. 4, 1991. Kentucky beat the tired Minutemen, who stopped in Lexington for a game while returning from the Great Alaska Shootout.
"I could not believe the environment," he said. "At that point, I said, 'I'd love to coach there someday.' "
