UMass head coach Frank Martin and John Calipari have been close for years, regularly exchanging friendly jabs and standing up for one another when the ground has gotten shaky. The Kentucky head coach spoke on Martin’s behalf when he was fired at South Carolina in 2022, ending his ten-year career in Columbia, a run that included the school’s first Final Four appearance in 2017.
“Frank Martin should have been Coach of the Year in our league,” Calipari said at the time of his firing. “No disrespect to who got it, but his team was picked 12th and they finished 5th.