After suffering an NCAA Tournament humbling, can John Calipari bounce back?
Hey Big Blue Nation, history tells us all is not lost.
Last Thursday, John Calipari joined the list of 10 coaches who saw their team as a No. 2 seed lose to a No. 15 team in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament when his Kentucky Wildcats lost to the Saint Peter’s Peacocks.
Among others on that list: Jim Boeheim, Lute Olson, Tom Izzo, and yes, Mike Krzyzewski.
Calipari has something else in common with that quartet.
They’ve all won at least one national championship.
And, by and large, even the embarrassment of being upset in the NCAA opening round by a shockingly low No. 15 seed has not sounded the death knell for the losing coach’s career.
Far from it.
Take Jim Boeheim, for example. His 1991 Syracuse team became the first No. 2 seed to lose to a No. 15 when it fell to Richmond 73-69. It took awhile, but both Boeheim and Syracuse eventually recovered to win the national title in 2003. Boeheim’s current career record, by the way: 998-425
It didn’t take quite as long for the late great Lute Olson to recover. In 1993, his second-seeded Arizona Wildcats lost to No. 15 seed Santa Clara 64-61 in the opening round. The next season, Arizona reached the Final Four. After another first-round loss in 1995, the Wildcats made the Sweet 16 in 1996, then defeated Rick Pitino and Kentucky in overtime to win the 1997 NCAA title.
Same for the greatest of them all, Mike Krzyzewski, who suffered a pair of shocking first-round losses — 75-70 to No. 15 seed Lehigh as a No. 2 in 2012 and 78-71 to No. 14 seed Mercer as a No. 3 in 2014. In 2015, Duke jumped up off the mat to beat Wisconsin for Coach K’s fifth national championship.
Tom Izzo joined the list in 2016 when No. 2 seed Michigan State lost to Kermit Davis and No. 15 seed Middle Tennessee 90-81. After back-to-back second-round losses in 2017 and 2018, Izzo had the Spartans back in the 2019 Final Four, the coach’s eighth trip to the national semifinals.
True, four other coaches whose teams lost as No. 2 seeds to No. 15 seeds never quite regained their footing. Eddie Fogler at South Carolina (1997), Larry Eustachy at Iowa State (2001), Frank Haith at Missouri (2012) and John Thompson III at Georgetown (2013) saw their tenures end shortly after suffering a stunning first-round exit. All four are now out of coaching.
The jury is out on Chris Holtmann at Ohio State after the Buckeyes lost to No. 15 seed Oral Roberts 85-79 last year. As a No. 7 seed, Ohio State won its first-round game this season, beating No. 10 seed Loyola Chicago 53-41. The Buckeyes were knocked out by No. 2 seed Villanova on Sunday.
Speaking of Villanova, Jay Wright stands as the patron saint of coaching comebacks. After reaching the 2009 Final Four, Villanova failed to advance past the NCAA Tournament’s first weekend for six consecutive seasons. Then in 2016, the Wildcats defeated North Carolina in Houston for the national title. Two years later, Villanova did it again, beating Michigan in San Antonio for Wright’s second NCAA crown.
And, of course, there is the ultimate coaching comeback. In 2018, Tony Bennett became the only coach to lose a first-round game as a No. 1 seed when Virginia fell to No. 16 seed UMBC. One year later, Bennett and his Cavaliers were cutting down the nets after beating Texas Tech in the national championship game.
To be sure, Calipari has a different personality than many of those other coaches. He’s bolder, brasher, more out there with his “We are college basketball!” and “We’re everybody’s Super Bowl!” (It might be “We’re everybody’s Music City Bowl!” now.) It will be interesting to see how the coach reacts to what has to be a humbling experience.
Cal’s not alone, however. He’s not the only Hall of Famer on the short list of coaches who have lost as a No. 2 seed. Now we’ll see if and when he too can bounce back.
This story was originally published March 20, 2022 at 1:50 PM.
