Hello Big Blue Nation. How has your summer been? Great …. good. How about those Cincinnati Reds, huh? Excellent. My summer? It’s been good. Just trying to keep the Wildcat Blue Nation filled in on the latest on John Calipari and his myriad of scandals, so I haven’t really had a chance to keep an eye on what other basketball coaches have been doing. No seriously, there are other college coaches having a bad summer. I Know you have not read about them much, but I am not making it up.
See the guy above? His name is Bill Self, the coach of the Kansas Jayhawks. His summer has pretty much sucked. First, it turns out that one of the high ranking members of the Jayhawks athletic department and the father of Jayhawk Brady Morningstar were involved in a ticket scalping operation that netted more than a million dollars over five years. Then after suffering heavy losses to the NBA Draft (including one and doner Xavier Henry), the Jayhawks are anxiously awaiting the results into an NCAA investigation into Josh Selby’s amateur status and his links to a professional businessman. Seems that you catch the attention of the NCAA when a high school student just starts driving a Mercedes all over the place.
Or we can take a look at Josh Pastner’s summer. We all know Pastner. He’s the one-who-would-be-Calipari in Memphis after Cal left. Pastner guided his Tigers to a NIT bid last year, but his forte was as a master recruiter. Last year, it was thought that he pulled a major recruiting victory over Calipari when he landed five star Will Barton (and his three star brother Antonio in a package deal) to the Tigers. Flash forward a year and we find that Will Barton is ineligible academically for the Tigers and most think he will never suit up for Memphis. Don’t worry. Antonio will be around all four years.
And how about that Hall of Famer coach Jim Calhoun who all the media pundits absolutely love? he must be living that semi charmed kind of life, right? Well after an 18-16 season and a 5 year – $13M renewal at UConn, Calhoun and his staff have been accused of eight major NCAA infractions, with investigators citing hundreds of improper calls and texts from UConn staff to recruits. Besides the calls and texts, the accusations include giving recruits improper benefits and improperly distributing free tickets to high school coaches and others. Calhoun is cited for failing to promote an atmosphere of compliance. It’s kind of a big story, right? I know … but since it is not Kentucky, Calhoun’s name is not drug through the mud daily.
And even though it is not his fault, Mr. Bean Sean Miller at Arizona is not having a great summer either. Seems that former Hall of Fame coach Lute Olson left quite a mess in the desert for Miller to clean up and as a result, the NCAA recently vacated 19 wins from the 2007-2008 season and placed the Wildcats on probation for two years. The probation consists of limiting recruiting contacts and visits and the loss of a scholarship or two. It definitely does not make Miller’s rebuilding job any easier.
I love how all these people decry John Calipari and say that he will never be a Hall of Fame coach due to the illusion of shadiness they say he creates. Yet Hall of Famers Calhoun and Olson wrack up the violations and put their schools on probation. Just saying.
No list of college coaches having a bad summer would be complete without ….. never mind. It’s just too easy.
And finally, we go from college coaches having bad summers to coaches that do things that make you say WTF (Why the face). Meet Florida International University’s Isiah Thomas. Despite the NCAA wanting to crack down on NBA agents and their runners having contact with their college players, Thomas was just hired as a consultant for the NBA New York Knicks (the same team that he destroyed from within) and one of his duties with the Knicks will be the recruitment of players.
Whaaaaaaa?
Yes, I know. College players are drafted and not recruited …. yet college free agents that are not drafted are recruited. But don’t worry. The NCAA approved this and see no wrong with the dual responsibilities of Thomas.
It’s been a weird summer in college basketball.
Keep following www.http://wildcatbluenation.com for the best in Kentucky basketball and football news, rumors, and opinions. By Kentucky fans for Kentucky fans