John Calipari and Kentucky basketball fans need some time apart before they can learn to appreciate each other once again. Right now, the animosity is shining through.

A whole lot of Kentucky fans wanted Calipari to be fired after another disappointing campaign. And he knows it.

“I think some people were happy,” Calipari told CBS Sports. “[Some were saying], ‘We’ve had this guy 15 years and we’ve only won 500 games.’ [Actually 410] We only won one national title and four Final Fours and eight Elite Eights? What the hell is going on here?'”

If your sarcasm detector is broken, just know it would be beeping off the charts.

Calipari isn’t saying this directly, but he clearly thinks Kentucky fans had unreasonable expectations for the program during his tenure. He wouldn’t say they’re entitled out loud, but you can read that between the lines.

Is that a fair assessment?

Sports is a “what have you done for me lately?” industry. Calipari earned a special place in Kentucky history by winning his national title and taking his teams to those Final Fours and Elite Eights. Those achievements may have earned him a “lifetime contract” but they weren’t going to shield him from criticism forever.

Calipari won just one NCAA Tournament game over the course of his last four seasons in Lexington. If he replicates that performance in Arkansas they’re going to turn on him too. That’s just the way it goes.

Kentucky expects to compete each and every year. Calipari recruited at a high enough level to justify those expectations. He stopped living up to them at a certain point.

So the divorce might have been best for both parties. Calipari gets to coach a team with a less demanding fanbase (theoretically). And Kentucky gets to move on in search of their next great head coach.