clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Dominican Republic Basketball Federation now looking at John Calipari

In the words of every KSR post written about Louisville: "folks, you just couldn't make this up if you tried."

With Rick Pitino appearing poised to be announced as the new head coach of the Puerto Rican national basketball team, reports are now surfacing that the Dominican Republic, P.R.'s Latin American rival, is making a serious play to land Kentucky head coach John Calipari.

Meantime, the blog Inside Puerto Rico Basketball (IPRB) reports that Dominican officials have reached out to Calipari about coaching their outfit. Calipari’s connection is that one of his current players, Eloy Vargas, is Dominican.

"If the Dominican Basketball Federation can bring in a well respected coach they have a real chance of qualifying for the 2012 Olympics," a source told the Website. "They have four very good NBA players in [Al] Horford, [Charlie] Villanueva, [Francisco] Garcia and [Trevor] Ariza plus a bunch of very talented role players. They put those four NBA guys together with Cal and its a wrap."

A source close to the Dominican Basketball Federation told ZAGSBLOG: "The Federation is seriously considering this. The fact of the matter is it makes all the sense in the world. Coach Cal and you bring in Coach Orlando Antigua [who is Dominican].

"Coach Cal is a proven winner and there is no question about his ability to communicate and get the most out of his players. He gets Wes [William Wesley] in the mix and all four NBA guys play."

This is all starting to remind me of that Chris Evert/Martina Navratilova SNL skit.