Tom Crean and John Calipari on their relationship

It’s never easy going against one of your good friends.

But Friday, Indiana head coach Tom Crean and Kentucky head coach John Calipari will have to put their friendship aside for a few hours when their teams meet in the Sweet Sixteen.

These two are very active coaches and relentless recruiters. When at the same location to recruit, it’s not a strange sight to see the coaches of rival schools to sit next each other, as seen to the right.

Just how special is their friendship? They explained.

Crean on their relationship:

“I think John is somebody ‑‑ we have a little difference in age.  When I was a young assistant, I read a story one time that was in the old Big East magazine.  He was coaching in Pittsburgh, and they used to put out magazines on the different leagues.

And there was a side story in there that it really struck home with me.  He said, to make it ‑‑ and I’m paraphrasing, but to make it as a head coach, you’ve got to be known for something.  And he said recruiting is what I have really wanted to be known for at that point.

And so maybe he got his job for the recruiting, but as I continued to watch him and get to know him a little bit, I kept looking at a guy that is a great coach.

Where it maybe really took off is when we were both in Conference USA, and we played them one night on a Friday night.  I believe it was his first year.  We won a game, and I remember talking about how really good of a coach I think he was and the things that we learned from him.  And he thanked me later for giving him credit, he says, because he’s not used to that in his career with other people that they have faced.

That always stuck with me, too, because I think you’ve got to give credit where credit is due.  If I didn’t know John, I’d give him a ton of credit for what kind of coach he is, but I do know John.  I learned a lot from him.  Our conversations are very much about basketball a lot of times.  He’s been tremendous to me.

There’s no question in the last couple of years, as we’ve gone through this, that the phone has rang and I’ve answered it and it’s been him more than really anybody else outside of my family in this business.  And I will always appreciate that because it wasn’t just hey, hang in there.  Anybody can tell you that.  It was tangible things:  Have you thought about this?  Are you looking at that?  Things that really make you think.

And I think John has got so many things figured out, and when you watch him coach ‑‑ I always started, when he was in the league, watching how they defended and played against other teams, and I learned so much about spacing, so much about ball movement, a lot about the pick‑and‑roll game, things like that, just from observing him.  And then we’ve been out of the league, so we’ve been able to share more of those things.

I would say with him he never changes.  He always treats me the same.  I like to think I do the same.  I have tremendous respect for him.

Crean on the pain of playing a good friend
“I don’t think you spend a lot of time thinking about that.  I think what you learn is there’s very few relationships ‑‑ I shouldn’t say what you learn.  What I’ve learned.  What I’ve learned is there’s very few relationships that can weather a lot of storms.  In this business, it gets so competitive that you really ‑‑ just sometimes you don’t end up as close or you don’t have the conversations with people that you used to have.  You accept it.  You don’t wish anything negative.

Again, I still think ‑‑ there’s a lot of people out there that I would ‑‑ people would look and say, I don’t know if they’re this good, I don’t know if they’re that good, yet I watch them and learn a ton from.  It’s the same thing in other sports.

I think, when it’s competitive like this, you just understand that it’s part of it.  You have very few people that you really, really want that you’ve got those extra feelings for when they’re successful or when they’re not.  I think, if you’ve got a couple people like that in your life, then you’re fortunate to have them.  I would say that he is.

But it’s not going to change anything tomorrow night at 9:50, I promise you that.  If he’s trying to get it, I’m going to try to get it back.  That’s just the way it is.”

Calipari on their relationship
“As you know, I’m really close with former assistants and former players who now are assistant coaches or head coaches, Tony and all the guys, Derek and Bru.  But there are also guys you look at and you watch them and you’re impressed with how they work, their knowledge of the game, how they help young people.

Tommy worked at Pitt, and obviously I grew up in Pittsburgh and was an assistant there.  When he went there, that’s when I really got to know him and when I truly started to spend some time on the phone with him.  And out recruiting we’d get together.

He’s a basketball Benny.  He’s into basketball.  He’s not into a whole lot of other stuff.  He just loves it.  He’s into his kids.  And I’ve always had great respect for him because of that.”

Calipari on reaching out to Crean during the last three challenging seasons
“Let me start by telling you that it’s easy in this sport that we coach, and really coaching in general, when it’s going good.  When it’s not, to keep things moving forward, which is what he’s done, is incredible because it’s hard to recruit when you’re not winning enough.

He’s been able to latch onto a couple guys and do it.  It’s hard to get people to buy into the winning and what we have to do to get to the next level.  He’s done all that.  And you have to have a will that’s stronger than everybody around you, and he does, to get Indiana back to where now you’re looking at a top five program that kids from across the country would watch them play and say, I’d like to play for them.  To do that in the time frame is amazing.

As far as the comments, again, Tommy being somebody that I care for, but I’ve done it with other coaches when I look at it, and I just want them to know you’ve got a hard deal going on.  What you’re doing to keep in games and doing it, those are all small victories.  You’ve got to look at that and just keep building.  You’ve got these guys on the edge of what you’re doing.  You shouldn’t be in this game and you shouldn’t have been in this game.  You’ve got a chance to win.  Those are all W’s.  It was stuff like that.

Again, I don’t ‑‑ it’s not what I’ve done for Tommy, it’s what he’s done for those kids in that program.  It’s not easy when you’re walking in ‑‑ and, truly, everybody wants to beat an Indiana.  In that league?  They don’t care who you have in the uniform.  They see that name on there, and they want to win that game.

So to do what he’s done under the circumstances, Indiana is a big game for everyone when they play.”