Whether you deify or demonize John Calipari, you’ll find corroboration of your view point in the next installment of ESPN Films’ 30 for 30 series, “One and Not Done.” You’ll also find plenty of evidence to make you possibly re-think your position, as the movie is very informative for the fence sitters too.
The documentary takes an intimate look at Coach Cal, and having screened it three times, I can tell you there’s something here for Coach Cal acolytes, detractors and also for those with ambivalence. In fact, you’re likely to find Calipari admirable at certain times in the film, and repugnant at other times.
You may even emerge unsure of how to feel about him once you’ve finished viewing it.
You will have a strong reaction though, similar to how you might have reacted to Rory Karpf’s 30 for 30 “I hate Christian Laettner.” The film, directed by Jonathan Hock (“Of Miracles and Men,” “Survive and Advance,” “The Best That Never Was”) will premiere on Thursday, April 13, at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN.
You can see a full list of Hock’s producing, writing and directing credits at his IMDB profile. Go here for more detailed information on and a preview trailer of the film.
Go here for our in-depth review of this masterful must-see film.
Hock was gracious enough to give us a very substantial amount of his time, and the audio of our exclusive phone interview is below. The Coach Cal 30 for 30 breaks new ground in that, for the first time, we have a subject who still has a story with which there is so much that is yet to be written.
“He’s still doing his thing,” as Hock put it, or better yet “still at the peak of his power.”
“It gave us an opportunity to create three films in one, or one film with three distinct layers would be different from all the other 30 for 30s.”
Those three layers, or three movies within a movie, consist of:
1. The Calipari life story
It’s the child of an immigrant, who’s seeking to move up the socioeconomic ladder from where he started. It’s the classic American dream story, and the story arc is similar to all the other 30 for 30s. The twist is that we’re… “not sure if he’s a good guy or a bad guy, but he’s making his way in America,” as Hock put it.
Chronicling the career of Coach Cal reminds us that Horatio Alger is alive and well, but “One and Not Done” accentuates the old truth that who you know is much more important than what you know. The film reminds us just how important having good connections is.
2. All-access docudrama
Chronicling a sports team all season, with an insider’s point of view, is commonplace, but this is the first time we’ve seen this layer in 30 for 30. The fact that the subjects are Kentucky and Coach Cal, brands that are as polarizing as one can find in sports, makes it even more compelling.
“30 for 30 doesn’t want to follow a story they don’t know the ending of,” said Hock. “They have so many directors and projects on tap that they don’t want to spend them on one that hasn’t been figured out.”
3. Examining what’s right and wrong about the system itself, through the lens of Coach Cal
“The issues he’s shining a light on, through the one-and-not-dones, through his methods, his style- what we have is a sort of meditation of the very nature of college sports in America,” said Hock.
“This enterprise that we all invest so much time and energy into. What does it really mean and is it for the good or for the bad?”
“That’s why Cal is such a fascinating figure, and such a worthy subject for the film- he holds up a mirror to both of us, we all have to look at ourselves” when we look at Calipari.”
Coach Cal Synopsis/Legacy: Social Trail Blazer? Sleaze Merchant?, Somewhere in Between?….It’s just complicated?
In the doc, you can see and hear John Wall describe Coach Cal as “a trend setter.” Big KAT, Karl-Anthony Towns calls him “the Godfather, from all three films.”
Hock informed me that the poster art ESPN made for the film is an oil paining of Calipari looking very regal, and the name plate of the painting reads “the disruptor.”
“The idea is that he really is the disruptor, the guy who is not going to accept the status quo for what it is, but he’s going to exploit the status quo for what he wants and by doing so he changed it.”
“I don’t think college coaches are visionaries or heroes or villains; I think they are people going about their job like anybody else.”
Every year when I cover the McDonald’s All-American game, the event is always dominated by Kentucky commits. I always ask them the same question- “what makes Cal such a great recruiter?” It’s remarkable how consistent the responses, from every signee are each year.
“He’s honest. He’s a straight shooter,” they always respond. So how can the coach’s players see him this way, while so many outside observers see the polar opposite. A headline from an article written by Charlie Pierce, “the sleaziest coach in a sleazy game” appears in the film’s opening sequence.
How can these two alternative realities both exist?
“That’s a good way to put it- two alternative realities, two narratives competing to tell the same story,” Hock offered.
“But I think Cal is a really complicated guy and I think it’s possible that both narratives exist within the truth. Both sides have a good point, and where you come down on it depends on what you think of the enterprise of big time college sports.”
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times and NBC Chicago.com, contributes to Chicago Tribune.com, Bold, WGN CLTV and KOZN.
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