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Calipari: “If you kill one of mine, I burn your village”

John Calipari

Kentucky head coach John Calipari on the bench during the second half of a first-round NIT college basketball game against Robert Morris on Tuesday, March 19, 2013, in Coraopolis, Pa. Robert Morris won 59-57.(AP Photo/Don Wright)

AP

John Calipari has a new book coming out, Players First: Success From The Inside Out, set for release on April 15 of next year. Prior to that, The Penguin Press, the publishing company releasing the book, leaked an excerpt from the book that might explain Calipari’s love for all things Kentucky and coaching in six paragraphs.

He starts by expressing his gratitude for his position. From the passionate (i.e. crazy) fanbase to the coaches that came before him. Dating back to his time at UMass, Calipari realizes how far he and his long-time assistant John Robic have come.

The fifth-year head coach also calls Kentucky “college basketball’s legendary program”, alluding to the banners that hang in the Joe Craft Center.

But then Calipari takes on the subject of why he does what he does. And it’s not for the state, the fans or the school.

I coach for the names on the back of the jersey—not the front. My players. They’re sent to me by their fathers, their mothers, their grandmothers, their aunts—whoever in this world raised them and loves them. Others look at their NBA bodies and consider them lucky. Future millionaires, just stopping through before they cash in. That’s not what I see. They’re kids, some of them as young as seventeen. They all need me in a different way. Some want my affection, others my approval. It’s a burden to be responsible for other people’s children, sometimes a heavy burden.

At the end, Calipari explains his spirituality, a subject you rarely hear about coming from him, at least publicly. Then, in probably the most poignant statement that I’ve ever heard from Cal, he hints that his passion for his players may exceed Kentucky fans’ passion for the program itself.

If you come after one of my players, I come after you twice as hard. If you kill one of mine, I burn your village. It’s the Italian in me. I’m not proud of that, but it’s who I am.

There’s no doubt Cal cares about all aspects of his job. From the fans to the players. He’s had a great amount of success in a short period of time — of course, up until last season — and he’s said before that he measures his own personal triumphs by the players he sends on to the NBA Draft or otherwise.

But that last line really brings it home. Love him or hate him, it’s obvious from that statement and others in the past that the truly man cares about the players that are under his watch.

Follow David Harten on Twitter at @David_Harten