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Dick Vitale Defends John Calipari’s Facility, Football Comments

Kentucky coaches John Calipari and Mark Stoops got into a fight on social media Thursday, as Calipari publicly asked for improved facilities by calling Kentucky a “basketball school,” something Stoops didn’t appreciate.

“This is a basketball school. It’s always been that,” Calipari said, via The Athletic’s Kyle Tucker. “Alabama is a football school, So is Georgia. I mean, they are. No disrespect to our football team. I hope they win 10 games and go to bowls. At the end of the day, that makes my job easier and it makes the job of all of us easier. But this is a basketball school.”

Now, one of college basketball’s most prominent names is siding with Calipari. Dick Vitale took to Twitter to explain why Calipari is on the right side of this argument.

“(John Calipari) was just being honest-when u think of KENTUCKY hoops is # 1 - a rich tradition jumps at you,” he wrote. “I think ⁦(Mark Stoops)⁩ got too sensitive as John recognized their recent success. Facts are facts BBN is hoops crazy.”

Kentucky is one of the premier programs in college basketball, but the football team has began to catch up in recent years. Vitale has been coaching in and covering college basketball for years, so it is not a surprise that he agrees with the college basketball coach over the college football coach, especially for a blue blood basketball program.

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