"Robes" - John Robic

COACH CAL’S ASSISTANT COACH, JOHN ROBIC

John Robic and I are both blue-collar town babies who grew up at the time when Kentucky basketball was the end-all, be-all. For guys from our generation, there was Kentucky in hoops and Notre Dame in football and everyone else was just kind of playing out the string. That bond is part of what has made our relationship so strong.

John first coached with me at UMass after serving on Larry Brown’s NCAA Championship staff at Kansas in 1988. An All American guard at Denison University in Granville, Ohio and a member of the school’s Hall of Fame, John was part of nine consecutive winning seasons in Amherst (including two as Associate Head Coach under my successor, Bruiser Flint). While he was at UMass, the Minutemen won an impressive 69 percent of their games and John was a huge part of every one of those 247 wins. He started off as a restricted-earnings coach with me at UMass, persistently working his way up the chain of command.

He has always worked tremendously hard – especially in the area of scouting opponents – and I believe wholeheartedly in rewarding loyalty and hard work. When I went to the Nets, I offered to bring John along in a front office capacity, but true to his dreams he stuck around UMass in hopes of one day landing a head job of his own.

That chance came for him in 1999 at Youngstown State University in Youngstown, Ohio. John is originally from nearby Pittsburgh (my backyard) and despite some of the inherent difficulties of the Youngstown job, he couldn’t resist the chance to go back to his home region. Youngstown has traditionally been a football school; in fact it is where Ohio State’s Jim Tressel coached for 15 years before taking over the Buckeyes program. John relished the challenge of making basketball relevant and in six years there he got the most out of every team he had. Unfortunately without the proper resources and with a foolhardy jump by Youngstown to a highly competitive league of “basketball schools” (The Horizon League) hindering his program’s progress, John was let go in March of 2005. I called him right away. “You’re going to be fine,” I told him. “Everything will work out.”

That off-season one of my Memphis assistants, Ed Schilling (another staffer from my UMass and Nets days) left us to start the Champions Academy just outside of Indianapolis. It was a slam dunk to bring “Robes” aboard and the move was made even smoother by the fact former UMass guys Tony Barbee and Derek Kellogg were already on my staff and had played under Robes. It was like a family reunion for all of us.

John was an invaluable addition to our staff and to have him by my side in Lexington means so much to me, you can’t even imagine. We have a comfort zone and a kinship that comes from all those late nights spent together, the long road trips and the pressure-filled games. He is an outstanding coach, a terrific person and he has a unique ability to keep things light even in the dog days of a season. When you meet him, he’ll surely tell you, our run of four straight 30-win seasons coincided with his arrival in Memphis! Robes, like all of us, wants to keep the streak alive in the Bluegrass.

The best thing about being able to bring John to Lexington is he’s the happiest I’ve ever seen him. He certainly wouldn’t trade the experience of being a head coach – and I believe he will one day be in that position again if he chooses – but the chance to get out of what was a less-than-ideal situation at Youngstown and into a great spot at Memphis and now at UK is one I know John and his family appreciate every single day.

“When my firing happened, I admit it didn’t seem like it was such a great thing and it was a shock to the system,” said Robes. “But things happen for a good reason. Being reunited with Cal has been the greatest thing for me, my wife and our three beautiful daughters.” “It’s amazing when you think about it,” he said. “The day I graduated from Denison I hopped in my Volkswagen Rabbit and headed out to Lawrence, Kansas to be on Coach Brown’s staff. I’ll never forget it, the Rabbit was a stick shift and I learned how to drive it on the way out there – but not very well. I never got it into fifth gear because I never knew it had five gears. I drove it in fourth gear the whole way. It took me forever.”

Ever since, Robes has been in fifth gear and cruising toward Lexington. With Robes on our staff you can be sure of this: we will never be unprepared for anything an opponent throws at us.

Big Blue Nation you are going to love Robes!

"O" - Orlando Antigua

COACH CAL’S ASSISTANT COACH, ORLANDO ANTIGUA

Orlando Antigua's story is one of personal triumph in the midst of challenging circumstances. One constant for the Dominican Republic-native has been his relentlessly positive attitude. That infectious attitude, his deep national recruiting ties and his knowledge of the game made “O” someone I had to have join me in Lexington.

The 2008-09 season was his first on my staff at Memphis. Orlando grew up in the Bronx, New York and among other obstacles of inner city life; Orlando survived a drive-by shooting at age 16 – despite a bullet being lodged in his head. For a time he endured homelessness and the despair of a tough childhood. Still, Orlando never stopped reaching for his goals and built himself into the true definition of a student-athlete by being elected student council president at the famous St. Raymond's High School and earning McDonald's All-American honors as a player.

He went onto a successful career at the University of Pittsburgh as a four-year letter winner and two-year team captain for the Panthers from 1991-95. He ranks in the school’s Top 15 in career three-pointers made Top 10 in career three-point field goal percentage. He also ranks among the school's career leaders in blocked shots.

A former member of the Dominican Republic national team (1994-95 and 1997-98), Orlando holds the distinction of becoming the first player of Latin American descent to play for the world famous Harlem Globetrotters. Nicknamed "Hurricane" for his dazzling moves and quickness, Orlando played with the Globies for seven years until 2002. In 2003 he returned to his alma mater first as the director of basketball operations and then as an assistant coach. The Panthers had five-straight 20-win seasons and had 10 or more wins in Big East play in each of his five years on the staff.

He has established himself as one of the elite recruiters in the nation and it’s due in no small part to his infectious personality. But it’s Coach Antigua’s life experiences that he sees as some of the biggest assets he brings to the Wildcat program. “My family had some hardships growing up and as a family, you go through rough times. You have obstacles and you try to overcome them,” Coach Antigua said. “Fortunately, I was able to be around positive people at that time, and they helped me overcome that challenge. “I feel like I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing, and that’s to enlighten people and share my experiences and share things I’ve learned through my basketball life.”

Staying relentlessly positive like Orlando gets you to where you want to be. Do you see why I am so excited to have him with us in Lexington?

Big Blue Nation you are going to love O!

"Strick" - Rod Strickland

COACH CAL’S ASSISTANT COACH, ROD STRICKLAND

I know what it was like to have to game plan against Rod Strickland and I’ve got to tell you I like it a lot better now that I’m game planning with the 17-year NBA veteran. When I was coaching the New Jersey Nets and we had to face Rod, I knew we were in for a rough night. Rod was one of those players you could never adequately prepare for – he was tough as nails and did all the little things to give his team the best chance at winning.

A Bronx native who is legendary in NYC basketball circles, Rod had a standout career at DePaul where he led the program to four NCAA Tournament appearances and was a two-time All-American. He was drafted No. 18 overall in the 1988 NBA draft and sits among the Top 10 all-time assist leaders in the NBA with 7,987 (7.3 a.p.g.). He led the league in the category for the 1998 season.

Upon retirement from the NBA, Rod could have done anything he wanted and been his own boss for the rest of his life. But Rod had a different desire. In mid-2006, word reached me that Rod wanted to get into college coaching and I thought he’d be ideal for our program. His playing days were still close enough that our players were aware of who he was and what he’d accomplished. To be honest, when Rod and I talked seriously about him joining our Memphis staff for the first time, it was almost embarrassing to be offering such a paltry package to an NBA stud. But it was all I had.

“I’ll do anything, Cal. Whatever you need,” Rod told me, never once flinching over the money or the somewhat low stature of the job. He accepted a position as “Director of Student-Athlete Development/Manager” that paid $1,200 a month for eight months – with no benefits and no guarantees.

But titles and money was not what Rod was after. “Just get me started,” he kept saying. He wanted an opportunity to learn the coaching ropes and to conquer his next challenge. He did all the grunt work that first season with us. He checked to make sure players were going to classes and reported to me when they didn’t. He spent hours and hours with our guys retrieving balls and feeding passes. I never once heard the word “no” from him. Nothing – I mean nothing – was beneath him. He’d just flash his million-dollar smile and go do it, whatever it was.

Think about that. This was a guy who is right there alongside John Stockton, Magic Johnson and Oscar Robertson on the career assists list, but he took what amounted to an entry-level position. How many of us would accept a starting point so low after climbing so high? When Rod was inducted into the New York City Basketball Hall of Fame in 2008, I was touched to hear how emotional Rod got when he thanked me for “changing his life. Coach gave me direction and got me off the couch,” he said at the ceremony. “My four children now see me working and Cal has meant more to me, my wife, Cheryl, and my family than he’ll ever know.”

The opportunity to bring Rod with us to Lexington and be able to promote him to an assistant coach position is something that will pay huge dividends for our program for years to come. Rod has a special way about him and the young men he coaches all gravitate towards the manner in which carries himself.

Big Blue Nation you are going to love Strick!