Morgantown, West Virginia – When Oscar Tshiebwe left West Virginia University and was pursued by virtually every major program looking for a big man, it was assumed that Kentucky would not be involved.
Kentucky’s head coach, John Calipari, is close, personal friends with Bob Huggins. If Calipari were to reach out to Tshiebwe, a phone call to ask for Huggins’ “permission” would have been appropriate. Afterall, Huggins was not happy with the way that Tshiebwe left Morgantown and could have provided his friend with some insight on who Oscar Tshiebwe is as a person/player, and why he left the team.
However, Calipari did none of that. Instead, he simply texted Huggins.
According to Huggins, Calipari didn’t bother to pick up the phone and didn’t even ask him about Tshiebwe. “He didn’t call. He texted me. He didn’t ask me anything.”
Calipari’s text was likely something along the lines of this: “I’m going to recruit Oscar Tshiebwe to Kentucky.” This, of course, lacks etiquette among fellow coaches, but it’s flat-out rude and disrespectful to do to someone that is a friend.
Kentucky is 4-6 and perhaps Calipari is desperate to land a proven player like Tshiebwe, but is he really worth losing a long-term friendship over?
Check out Huggins’ response today to the media today:
Bob Huggins says he recently received a text from Kentucky coach John Calipari.
Watch Bob Huggins’ latest video conference here: https://t.co/wQjcgLlyP8 pic.twitter.com/lSpYkImYHl
— Gold and Blue Nation (@GoldAndBlueNtn) January 11, 2021
