When the viewer reaches the most powerful and poignant sequence of the new John Calipari 30 for 30, it’s truly an “a-ha” moment. At this portion of the film, which comes about a half-hour in, you understand how this documentary works on numerous levels. You also realize how and why John Calipari is such a complicated human being.
The next installment in ESPN Films’ 30 for 30 series, “One and Not Done,” will take an intimate look at Coach Cal. 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.
The most thought-provoking and utterly powerful segment of the film, in this viewer/reviewer’s opinion comes while B roll footage of Calipari hitting the recruiting trail is shown and he states:
“Whenever I ask a player, what is your why? Why are you doing this? What do you want to attain? 98% are going to say, ‘I’m taking care of my Mom. All the kids are taking care of their moms. Some coaches (say) ‘my kids aren’t poor.’ Okay, most of mine are. I don’t know where you’re getting ’em from.”
“I see a family has been down in poverty for generations. That family has no college graduates in it, like my family, like where I came from. That family is living in a $13,000 home, like I lived in.”
That’s where the never ending ambition in Coach Cal comes from. He draws inspiration from what he lacked in his formative years. It’s only natural that Calipari, the son of a school cafeteria worker and airport baggage handler, would gravitate towards kids with similar circumstances.
If you fully appreciate this segment, and what it means on every level, then you’ll truly appreciate everything that watching “One and not Done” has to offer.
“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.”
Go here for the audio and quotes from the interview. Hock articulates the three distinct layers of the film in detail. Go here for more detailed information on and a preview trailer of the film.
As the film conveys, Cal has spent most of his life as an outsider trying to break through and reach the rarified air where the elites reside. The giant chip on Coach Cal’s shoulder obviously originates with his very humble beginnings, and it only gets reinforced every time the blue bloods worked together to keep him down.
There’s a great scene documenting and analyzing the 1992 Sweet 16, when Cal was then coaching UMass and they were taking on Kentucky, then led by Rick Pitino.
It’s a paradigmatic example of the elect working together to keep the guy from the wrong side of the tracks from rising up. It wasn’t until John Calipari finally got a blue blood job, at UK in 2009 that he felt he truly joined the club.
This documentary is a classic American dream story, where the offspring of an immigrant makes his way in the world, and reaches higher levels than the generation ahead of him.
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. “Make sure you’re connected. The writing’s on the wall,” as early ’90s one-hit wonder Stereo MCs taught us. Credit Cal for hustling to make his own connections; he was not born into them like most people are.
You’re probably already familiar with William Wesley or “World Wide Wes,” but if not, Hock’s masterful documentary will edify you.
Every year Kentucky dominates the McDonald’s All-American Game, and every Media Day the UK signees tell me what makes John Calipari such a great recruiter- “he’s honest; straight shooter.” Cal is described in the film by one interviewee as able to “sell water to a well,” and another with “he could talk a starving dog off the back of a meat truck.”
Yet we live in a college basketball world where John Calipari is regarded by many as among the sleaziest and most dishonest.
“There’s room in the truth for both narratives, but it is truth and the film is truthful,” as Hock so eloquently put it.
At the end of the day cash rules everything around this subject matter and it’s very fitting how the film reaches conclusion on 2016 NBA Draft night.
Kentucky doesn’t just dominate the MCDAAG, the SEC and the Final Four. Draft night is always their night as well. “It’s graduation day for my child,” Calipari is filmed saying at the event. “He wouldn’t miss NBA Draft night, it’s like a holiday,” said former Wildcat and current Phoenix Sun Devin Booker.
Kentucky and John Calipari are two brands that are as polarizing as one can find in sports, and that’s what makes this “pull oneself up by their bootstraps” tale all the more compelling. There’s a plot twist though, as we’re “not sure if he’s a good guy or a bad guy, but he’s making his way in America,” Hock tells us.
“He’s a complicated dude,” he added.
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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