“Who has ever heard of a book tour for a paperback?” Coach Calipari asked the groups gathered at various stops during the past week’s “Bounce Back” Pep Rally Tour through the Bluegrass. “But it’s been great. I’m glad we’ve been able to do it.”

After Wednesday night’s stop in Frankfort, Coach Calipari will have spent time with more than 2750 Big Blue Nation citizens while signing at least that many books and taking very close to that number of pictures.

With 10 stops in 9 days, including two sold out venues of 500 each, Coach Cal re-connected with the Big Blue Nation in a big, bad way as the calendar inches closer to Big Blue Madness 2010 (October 15). (Interestingly, one of the new features of the paperback version of “BB” is the inclusion of the only printed version of Coach’s original BBM speech from 2009 when he gave his vision for the UK program.)

“At first, I was sort of like, ‘We’re doing what? For a paperback?’” Coach Cal confessed. “But then we did that first signing at Joseph Beth and I remembered what made it so great last year when we toured for the hardcover of ‘Bounce Back.’

Coach Cal had pie on Cloud 9 in Big Sandy during the "Bounce Back" paperback Pep Rally Tour

“When I go through places like Prestonsburg and Middlesboro, I’m reminded of where I grew up in Western Pennsylvania,” Coach Cal said. “The people who I was able to visit with, they were the same people as my neighbors, aunts and uncles in Moon Township.”

Recognizing that the Cats are truly the Commonwealth’s team, Coach Calipari visited three new counties and returns to the state capitol for another visit in addition to his four appearances in Lexington (including a students-only event on campus) and one in Louisville (Triton Stone).

“The books is selling really well and we made some best-seller lists last year, most notably at No. 3 on the Wall Street Journal list and I’d hope we’ll find ourselves on some paperback lists as well,” Coach Cal said. “But the paperback is a success no matter what because it has allowed me to meet more of the citizens of the Big Blue Nation. I still get blown away by the passion and dedication of our fans.”

Coach Cal talks to the Shelbyville Alumni group during the "Bounce Back" paperback Pep Rally Tour

Coach Calipari still has a few more stops on the tour spread out between now and the start of the season, most notably with a September 28 alumni gathering in Winchester (Clark County, another debut stop for Coach).

The additional 1,000 or so people Coach is able to reach will be the icing to a tasty paperback cake Coach has been baking this month.

-RTL-