Okay, so he’s not quite on Shaquille O’Neal’s level yet—but University of Kentucky head coach John Calipari rules when it comes to NCAA college basketball coaches using Twitter to stay on top of his game. The coach was recently featured in the New York Times for his tech-savvy approach to Twitter and Facebook. “If you’re not doing it, you’re behind,” said Calipari, who currently has more than 1.1 million Twitter followers, 138,000 Facebook friends and his own iPhone app.
These days, he’s using Twitter for a little bit of everything, too. With Kentucky set to take on Cornell tonight as the NCAA Tournament resumes on CBS, he’s encouraged Wildcat fans to buy up tickets, asked fans to vote for point guard John Wall as the national player of the year and shown some love to a local restaurant in Syracuse. Of course, Coach Cal’s transition to Twitter hasn’t been all good. In February, he posted a TwitPic from a SLAM shoot featuring John Wall wearing a Kentucky uniform—with Kentucky spelled wrong.
Still, if you’re gonna follow anyone from this year’s NCAA Tournament, Coach Cal is the guy. Games start up again when Syracuse takes on Baylor tonight at 7:07pm. Time to get back into the Madness.—Chris Yuscavage