Gene Chizik’s Auburn Tigers won a national championship in football in 2009. The school fired him just three years later in 2012 after just one losing season (3-9).

Ed Orgeron’s LSU Tigers won a national championship in football in 2019. The school fired him just two years later, mid-season, after his team went 5-5 during the Covid year and then started 4-3 in 2021.

Kevin Ollie’s UConn Huskies won a national championship in basketball in 2014. The school fired him four years later in 2018 after only one subsequent NCAA tournament berth (UConn lost in the first round).

Shaka Smart was pushed out at Texas after four straight years with winning records and finishing third in the Big 12 his last two years.

Calipari won his sole national championship twelve years ago, in 2012. Calipari has not led the school to a final four in almost a decade (2015). He often justifies his teams’ early season struggles by claiming they are “built for March.”

Indeed, Kentucky has as many SEC tournament titles (31) as the entire rest of the SEC combined, but his “built for March” teams full of McDonalds All-Americans from top-ranked recruiting classes have not won the league tournament since 2018.

As I posted previously, Kentucky men’s basketball has a .200 win rate in its last 10 postseason games despite being favored in every one of those games (2-8).

Calipari’s last several years have been historically bad in different ways:

• 2021: Calipari coached his team to the worst finish in school history, and, I believe, the only losing record in UK basketball history (9-16).

• 2022: Calipari coached the team to the worst tournament loss in school history losing to 15-seed St. Peters in the first round (UK was a 2-seed).

• 2023: Calipari’s team exited the tournament in the second round.

• 2024: Calipari coached his team to three straight losses in Rupp Arena for the first time in school history (The arena opened in 1976). The postseason was a disappointment again, losing in the first round to 14-seed Oakland (UK was a 3-seed). This is the second worst tournament loss in school history.

During the last four seasons, his record overall is not good:

https://twitter.com/coreyp08/status/1771016896243986850

https://www.cougarboard.com/board/message.html?id=32855531

Compare those results to John Calipari's Kentucky 247Sports class recruiting rankings by year:

2011: No. 1 (four 5-stars) Notable players: Anthony Davis, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist
2012: No. 1 (three 5-stars, one 4-star) Notable players: Willie Cauley-Stein, Nerlens Noel
2013: No. 1 (six 5-stars, one 4-star, one 3-star) Notable players: Julius Randle, Aaron Harrison, Andrew Harrison
2014: No. 2 (four 5-stars) Notable players: Karl-Anthony Towns, Devin Booker
2015: No. 1 (three 5-stars, three 4-stars, one 3-star) Notable players: Jamal Murray
2016: No. 2 (five 5-stars) Notable players: De'Aaron Fox, Malik Monk, Bam Adebayo
2017: No. 2 (six 5-stars, two 4-stars) Notable players: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
2018: No. 2 (four 5-stars, one 4-star) Notable players: Tyler Herro
2019: No. 2 (three 5-stars, two 4-stars) Notable players: Tyrese Maxey
2020: No. 1 (two 5-stars, four 4-stars)
2021: No. 2 (three 5-stars, one 4-star) Notable players: Shaedon Sharpe,
2022: No. 5 (two 5-stars, two 4-stars, one 3-star)
2023: No. 1 (four 5-stars, one 4-star, two 3-stars) Notable players: Rob Dillingham

(Noting he brought in 49 5-star players since 2011).

I honestly do not think Kentucky fans have been impatient with Calipari. They have given him a long leash because (to his credit) he continues to bring in great recruiting classes. However, as shown above, he has done less with more than almost anyone imaginable over the last nine years.