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Bruiser Flint has coached at schools where winning seasons were celebrated. At Kentucky, SEC championships and at least Elite Eight appearances are demanded by fans.
“I’ll be honest with you, they expected winning at Indiana. So I get that. But this is the monster that you’ve built. I mean, Cal has put that in everybody’s head because of what he’s done here, so they expect you to win because he’s treated the job that way,” Flint said. “He’s built that program to the point where everybody expects you to win.”
Flint said combine Calipari’s success with UK’s tradition and Calipari made expectations what they are now.
“His résumé since he’s been here is incredible so the expectations are going to go with it. So I have no problem with it,” the new UK assistant coach said. “That’s part of the program and you have to approach the job that way.”
Calipari’s trust in Flint obviously played a major role in why he was offered the job at Kentucky. They have talked on the phone most days for years. Not only that, but Flint is the godfather of one of UK assistant coach John Robic’s children and knows assistant coach Tony Barbee well, too.
Flint joked he got his job at Indiana because Indiana coach Archie Miller went through Calipari to approach him. That’s why Flint said Miller laughed when he called to tell him he was leaving to join Calipari at Kentucky.
“Everybody knows the relationship (with Calipari). Honestly, I just wanted to make sure that our relationship could stay the same before I came to work for him. I want us to have a good relationship. We’re best of friends and I appreciate that relationship. I didn’t want that to be messed up because I come work for him. We discussed that a little bit. So that made me a lot more comfortable,” Flint said.
“I didn’t have to leave Indiana. It’s a good job. But I wanted to keep the relationship that we had. We’re on the phone with each other almost every day even though I worked at Indiana. That was the big thing.”
