By Drew Teague

With robberies becoming a common occurrence on the UK campus,  a campus celebrity is getting involved to make people aware.

Via a video posted on Facebook, UK men’s basketball head coach John Calipari advised students on how to stay safe on campus. In the video, Calipari  said students need to put down their technology and pay attention as they are walking home at night around campus.

“The thing is to pay attention to your surroundings, even late at night, even if you’re with a group,” Calipari said in the video. “You may have to get off the phone; you may have to stop texting until you get home.”

Calipari advised students to not walk near things or situations they do not feel comfortable with.

“You see something you don’t like, walk the other way,” said Calipari.

Coachcal.com editor Dave Scott explained why Calipari got involved in campus safety in response to the recent robberies.

UK basketball assistant coach John Robic has a daughter who attends UK and thought it would be a good idea if Calipari got involved in campus safety,  Scott said.

“It came about because Assistant Coach John Robic had gotten an alert and he was talking to coach [Calipari],” Scott said. “Robic said, ‘You know, it might be a good idea if you try and do something or find out what’s going on.’”

Calipari called the UK Police and they gave him some of the general tips that they use to inform the students, which are mentioned in the video, Robic said.

Robic is not the only coach to have children attending college. Calipari’s daughter is currently attending the University of Massachussetts, so he knows that campuses should be safe, Scott said.

“These things happen and you just want to be proactive,” Scott said. “Coach Calipari probably figured that if he could do anything, he’d be happy to.”

Scott said Calipari thought many students and staff would be able to see the video if it were on Facebook and Twitter.

“We’ve got the ability to reach a lot of people,” Scott said. “Our Facebook followers are up to about 200,000 right now. We put it on Twitter as well, which is up to 1.1 million followers.”

Scott said he feels the video is a great way to  teach students to be more aware and to avoid suspicious happenings.

“It’s just a way to let the campus know you have to be careful out there,” Scott said.