By: Dan

Just days after firing Billy Gillispie, the Kentucky Wildcats made a huge splash by hiring Memphis Coach John Calipari to an eight-year deal that made him the highest paid coach in the ranks of NCAA basketball.

In Gillispie’s two-year stint as the UK coach, the Wildcats were really nothing more than a middle-of-the-pack team in the SEC. With Calipari at the helm, it shouldn’t take very long for Kentucky to return to leader of the pack. He has had great success (except for a stint in the NBA) everywhere he’s been.

He took UMass to five straight NCAA tournament appearances, including a Final Four berth in 1995-96. (It’s important to note that the final four appearance was vacated by the NCAA because star player Marcus Camby had accepted about $28,000 from sports agents.) At Memphis, he took another team that had no real basketball heritage and turned them into a winner. In his final four years at Memphis, the team posted a record of 137-14, made two appearances to the Elite Eight and was the NCAA runner-up in 2008.

So what does this all mean for Billy Donovan, the Gators and the SEC? Well, the competition will certainly be stiff, and now all the other 11 teams will be vying for recruits against Calipari, who is a tremendous recruiter. Although three high-profile Kentucky recruits de-committed when Calipari was named head coach, he will have no problem getting some of the best talent in the nation.

But I think that the hiring of Calipari is definitely a good thing for the SEC, and by extension, for the Gators, because it lends the conference more credibility when it comes to basketball. National pundits crucified the SEC for having weak teams and playing cream puffs in non-conference. As a result, only three teams from the SEC made this year’s tournament (LSU, Tennessee and Mississippi State). The selection committee likely would have only taken two SEC teams had MSU not won the SEC tournament.

With the addition of Calipari, not only does the SEC now have one of the best leagues in terms of coaches (Calipari, Donovan, Tennessee’s Bruce Pearl, LSU’s Trent Johnson, Alabama’s Anthony Grant, etc.), but the SEC’s premier program has returned to national relevance. While the Gators and other SEC teams might go back to taking their lumps against Kentucky, the SEC will get more exposure on a national scale, which will attract recruits and bring national attention to the league.