UPDATE: Memphis president M. David Rudd has announced the school will no longer honor Calipari:
Memphis changes plan to honor John Calipari due to public outrage
This just in: Memphis fans still don’t like John Calipari.
Jamie Rhodes-USA TODAY Sports
Ricky O'Donnell has covered basketball at all levels for more than a decade at SB Nation. He’s currently the Associate Director of Programming.
Here is my response to our University and Community. pic.twitter.com/A8yx1ZlVDd
— Dr. M. David Rudd (@UofMemphisPres) September 10, 2015 Original story below.
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John Calipari is being inducted in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Friday night, but not everyone is happy that the coach is being celebrated.
Before arriving at Kentucky, Calipari coached UMass to the Final Four in 1996 and Memphis to the national title game in 2008. Both runs were vacated because of NCAA violations. UMass and Memphis plan to honor Calipari for the success he brought each program in conjunction with his entrance to the Hall of Fame. When Memphis president M. David Rudd announced his school’s intentions to do so, the responses quickly got out of hand.
Here’s Rudd’s initial tweet:
Will be honoring Hall of Fame coach @UKCoachCalipari in Memphis, Dec 28-29. Stay tuned for details. Will be a great homecoming.
— Dr. M. David Rudd (@UofMemphisPres) September 9, 2015 And here’s some of the best responses:
@UofMemphisPres Please tell me you're joking.
— Tom Simpson (@simpsontom4118) September 9, 2015 @UofMemphisPres @UKCoachCalipari this is a joke right
— Michael Anderson (@memphisfan2095) September 9, 2015 @UofMemphisPres Wholly disagree with this. Honoring him for what?
— Steven Duffel (@Duffelupagus) September 9, 2015 @UofMemphisPres I think you got hacked.
— Brandon Bumgarner (@BigBadBumgarner) September 9, 2015 @UofMemphisPres I think your Twitter account has been hacked... #Vacated #NoWins @GtownJohn @bharre55
— Brian Schneider (@schneidogg) September 9, 2015 @UofMemphisPres Have you lost your mind?? Unbelievable. #fail
— PL901 (@playcook) September 9, 2015 For his part, Rudd at least took the time to recognize the feelings of Tigers fans:
Looks like my tweet has generated a few responses. Some pretty funny, all very passionate. I'll read them all, appreciate the passion.
— Dr. M. David Rudd (@UofMemphisPres) September 9, 2015 The wins may be vacated, but the memories can’t ever be taken away. Who cares about the record books when you can watch Derrick Rose highlights?
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