‘I want to create hope.’ UK coach’s new weekly show seeks to help fight COVID-19.
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Coffee with Cal
University of Kentucky men’s basketball coach John Calipari is hosting a weekly show on Facebook Live called “Coffee with Cal” in which he interviews influential individuals from the worlds of sports, media, politics and beyond. The shows are designed to benefit COVID-19 relief and draw attention to the Black Lives Matter movement. Click below to read the Herald-Leader’s stories recapping previous shows.
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On Monday, Kentucky Coach John Calipari announced that he will appear on a new weekly show intended to raise awareness and funds to help with COVID-19 relief.
The show — titled “Coffee with Cal” — will be a Facebook Live broadcast on the John Calipari Basketball Fantasy Experience Facebook page. It will air the next 20 Mondays beginning next week.
“I want to do something that’s uplifting and creates hope,” he said, “and gives people an idea of what to do.”
Guests in the first few weeks will include a former United States president (Calipari teased the audience by declining to say which one), Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and ESPN commentator Dick Vitale. Calipari also said he was “very confident” that Dr. Anthony Fauci will be a guest.
Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984, appeared last week on Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski’s Sirius XM radio show.
The “Coffee with Cal” show follows earlier Calipari efforts to help with relief when an earthquake hit Haiti and a hurricane flooded Houston.
“I want to have fun with it,” Calipari said of the new show. “I want to be uplifting with it. I want to create hope. I want to do something (to bring unity) and help.”
Each show will last 30 to 40 minutes.
Calipari also said his foundation is part of an effort to bring $100 worth of groceries to 600 families during the coronavirus pandemic.
The “Coffee with Cal” show will also offer viewers ideas on how to make the most of being self-quarantined at home during the pandemic. The UK coach recommended bringing structure to each day, exercising and reading. He said he might recommend books on an upcoming show.
During the 30-minute announcement Monday, Calipari said “Coffee with Cal” will also be a forum for a range of topics involving on- and off-court topics. As if to preview this part of the shows, Calipari said:
▪ The two UK players who have announced they will enter this year’s NBA Draft are a “warrior” (Ashton Hagans) and a player he sought to challenge (Tyrese Maxey).
Immanuel Quickley will be making the same decision, Calipari said. He also put Nick Richards and EJ Montgomery in the same grouping.
Calipari downplayed any fear of such a mass exodus leading to a down season in 2020-21.
No matter what players stay or leave, “We’re going to be Kentucky,” he said. “We’ll be fine. Here we go. Let’s go. Who do we have?”
▪ UK will move its annual summer camps from June until August. But given the ever-fluid situation caused by COVID-19, the Father-Son, Fantasy and other camps might be moved to even later in the year.
“I even said, I’ll make it a weekend we have a home game,” he said of the Fantasy Camp.
▪ While noting how an NCAA-ordered travel ban has limited recruiting to phone calls and online communication, Calipari dropped what might have been a veiled reference to Matt Haarms, a 7-foot-3 player from Purdue who has entered his name into the NCAA’s transfer portal.
Of UK’s recruiting objectives, Calipari said, “Can we find another Nate (Sestina)? Or another Reid (Travis) to add to what we have?”
Sestina and Travis played for UK as graduate transfers from Bucknell and Stanford in each of the last two seasons.
▪ His gray beard was not a reflection of forgetting to shave for several days.
“I almost want to keep it till we get through this,” he said. “Just to remind me every morning when I wake up that this is a troubling time.”
Calipari also joked about the beard and the hair on his head being gray.
“I’m going to paint the hair,” he said. “And if I paint the hair, I’ve got to paint the beard. I can’t be gray.”
This story was originally published April 6, 2020 at 9:13 PM.
