Former Kentucky coach Eddie Sutton was selected as a member of the 2020 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame over the weekend.
Calipari was happy for Sutton and congratulated the former coach on social media.
“Coach Sutton had a long and storied career, from Creighton to Arkansas to Kentucky and Oklahoma State before finishing up in San Francisco. To do what he did at the level that he did for nearly 40 years as a head coach is special.
“We played against each other in the Elite Eight in 1995 and I walked away impressed at how hard his team played. I always had great respect for the job he did coaching and learned so much from watching his teams play.
“Coach Sutton was always very kind to me as a young coach and I’ll never forget that. I’m so happy for him and his family on this well-deserved honor.”
On Monday, Calipari told Tim Sullivan of the Courier-Journal that he wants to see Joe B. Hall inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. In 2012, Hall was inducted into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame, but he’s not a member of the Naismith Hall of Fame.
“When Eddie Sutton got in, I’m like, ‘Why isn’t Coach Hall in?’” John Calipari told the Courier-Journal. “No disrespect to Eddie; I’m happy he got in. Matter of fact, I thought he deserved it. But what Coach Hall did here — you have to look back to that time and that era and he walked in after Coach (Adolph) Rupp. Whoever followed a Coach (John) Wooden, a Bobby Knight, a Coach Rupp, a Dean Smith and had that kind of success? “Whoever followed a living legend and survived it? And not only survived it, thrived?”
In thirteen seasons at Kentucky, Hall led the Wildcats to three NCAA Final Fours and a national championship in 1978.
Hall is 91 years old and hasn’t even qualified as a finalist for the Hall of Fame.
[Courier-Journal]
