Rod Strickland leaving UK
71-year-old coaching legend Larry Brown just accepted the job at SMU and he’s taking one of our own with him. Rod Strickland is leaving UK to join Brown as an assistant at SMU, according to ESPN.
Strickland came to Kentucky in Calipari’s first season as assistant and spent the last two years in an administrative role. He has been crucial in the development of guys like John Wall, Eric Bledsoe, Brandon Knight and Marquis Teague.
We’ll miss him.
“Guaranteed, made ’em jump like Rod Strickland.” ~ Wu-Tang Clan
25 Comments for Rod Strickland leaving UK
Bye Rod
Odds that Larry Brown is there more than a year just plummeted.
Rod must be the ole coach in waiting….hate to see him go, very cool guy and I would bet a huge help on player development
That makes sense….I guess????
Love Strick, hope he plays it straight down there. Larry wont have the clout down there that Cal has up here if he gets back into trouble
This sounds like an absolute senseless move… Could Rod be jumping ship before Cal heads to the NBA?
“Rod Strickland takes shots, shots, shot shots shots, shots shots, shots shots shots”
This hurts. Recruits love Strick.
This was arranged by WWW and Cal in order to help both Rod and Larry Brown. Rod wasn’t a real assistant here, mainly because of his DUI. At SMU the job is a true assistant, so it is a promotion in that sense. JMO
#6 Leaving after a championship to go help Larry Brown build SMU is senseless? Whatever.
Just to clarify, Cal and Brown are old friends and Cal is very loyal to him, so thats why I think it was a mutual thing. Its not like Rod is dissing Cal or anything.
…Stickland is now a true assistant.
Coach Rod, Thank You for everything you did . Will be praying for you and family
The Dallas Police Department has been put on high alert. My friend can’t get a job at Enterprise because of 1 DUI. Rod gets a 6 figure salary with a bazzilion DUIs.
All I have heard is this is Coach Cal helping both Coach Rod and Coach Brown…..this will give Rod more coaching experiecne than here and will also place him in a higher position on a bench that leads to better future endeavors (coaching jobs). And if he can stay off the sauce in public…will create him a coach in waiting position……in a BIG EAST program…..As for one fat kid in Eastern Kentucky – I wish him nothing but the best!
I was always wondering if Rod could talk. I never saw him talk in 3 years?
Nice shout out to the WU, drew. Well played.
Cal needs to hire McCarty to take his spot.Walt has told people he would like to get back into coaching
over/under Strickland will be Head Coach at SMU in 2 years
16. He can talk. I spoke with him in the phila airport this past Saturday evening. Needless to say, I was expecting some news this week regarding strick. I wish him well
How about Rex Chapman? He was a natural and could teach and inspire guys. Boy could shoot from outside too.
Then there are guys like Derek Anderson and Jamal Mashburn. I think those guys have made it in business investments.
Is Azibuke not playing anymore after last season? Wasn’t he back on the injury list?
It looked like Kenny and/or Orlando would get a wad job and rod would’ve become a true assistant again. That didn’t happen so cal shipped him on down to Larry. Smu has a lot of resources and a lot of money so I bet rods excited about building a big east team from scratch with a great staff and 1 of the all time great head coaches. He is NOT the head coach in waiting tho. I feel this is a HUGE loss for the cats considering every pg cal has gotten credit for has been mentored by rod (minus Dejuan Wagner and he was prob hurt by not getting the rod Strickland tutelage) but his hands were tied because of stricks indescretions. Good luck rod, please find a similar nba guy to transition into this spot cal:/
*head job
Good luck Rod! But stay away from the drinking!!
I like to drink and no one can stop me