Kentucky Wildcats Coach John Calipari Speaks Out Against NCAA President Mark Emmert

Apr 2, 2012; New Orleans, LA, USA; Kentucky Wildcats head coach John Calipari at a press conference after the finals of the 2012 NCAA men

On April 26th, University of Kentucky Wildcats Head Basketball Coach John Calipari spoke at Samford University for a fundraiser, he took the chance to speak his mind on the one-and-done rule and NCAA President Mark Emmert.  Calipari had this to say about the subject:

The NCAA president said let them go right out of high school? What? How many ninth graders will think, ‘I’m going right to the NBA?’ Five hundred? One thousand? Now those kids will be really focused on academics. How could you make that statement?

Coach Cal clearly wanted to use this opportunity as a platform to get his views and beliefs on the current NCAA basketball rules and Mark Emmert.  Coach Cal does have a major point, though.  If the rule is set that high school players can leave for the NBA draft directly after their senior year of high school, then how much attention are those players really going to give to their school work? Not many kids are going to bother caring about their grades, when millions of dollars is just months away.

Apr 2, 2012; New Orleans, LA, USA; Kentucky Wildcats head coach John Calipari (right) is presented with the NCAA championship trophy by NCAA president Mark Emmert after the finals of the 2012 NCAA men

Calipari also mentioned that the NCAA could pay the injury insurance for 30 eligible players each year rather than have them take out $15,000 individual loans. And he said the NBA could pay more to rookies who graduate from college.

How about we encourage them to stay longer because it’s the right thing and it’s the smart thing?  There’s things we have to do to make it better for those young people.

It is becoming more and more evident that Coach Cal wouldn’t like for the rule to make players allowed to skip any college at all, but many believe that he is also against the current system as well.  It is true that Calipari has had success with this system in the past, but he also would like the rule to change to make the college players stay at least two years and then leave for the NBA if they wanted.  Coach Cal has made his statement and other coaches have as well, but what it really comes down to is both the NCAA President MArk Emmert and the NBA collaborating to change the rule for the better of the young players on their way into the NBA.