Meet the latest Mike Francesa Mongo: John Calipari.
Minutes after going on the air in-studio with Francesa, Kentucky men’s basketball coach dialed in to WFAN as “John from Kentucky” to defend Calipari after Francesa was critical of his X’s and O’s ability.
Francesa quickly caught on, before the two went back and forth about Calipari’s in-game acumen.
“How sensitive are you? You call me up?” Francesa asks Calipari. “You know what you’re like? You’re like a caller who doesn’t listen, OK?”
Francesa goes back to his original point, that Calipari’s strengths are recruiting and motivation, but not X’s and O’s.
Calipari: “That’s basically saying I can’t coach. You know what they call me? The Magician. Cal, the Magician.”
Francesa: “Waitaseckin’. Are there better X’s and O’s guys than you?”
Calipari: “You think I believe that?”
Francesa: “Yes.”
Calipari: “I will pass a lie detector test and say, ‘No.'”
Francesa: “No you won’t. No you won’t.”
Shortly after that, we get vintage Francesa, cutting off the call like Calipari was “Steve from Bayside.”
“Thanks for the call, because you’re gone,” he says, in his typically dismissive tone.
It’s unclear if Calipari hung up before he was hand-waved by Francesa.