Kentucky Wildcat's Basketball: Media Castigation of John Calipari continues even in his finest hour
By Paul Jordan
I told myself I was not going to write this article. I told myself I was not going to write this article …. yet here I am. I have to say that at this point, I am pretty much thoroughly disgusted by all the attacks and all the attempts to drag John Calipari through the mud yet gloss over the fact that Jim Calhoun’s program is actually on probation as we speak. Yet, most media types are content to sit back and fling barbs at Calipari while giving Calhoun a “get out of probation free” card.
It’s really not hard to sort out the facts between the two coaches and their history with the NCAA.
FACT: Jim Calhoun’s program is currently on probation with the NCAA. Jim Calhoun will be suspended for three games next season and Calhoun was cited for failing to create an atmosphere of compliance and the school also suffered a scholarship loss. Granted, the school avoided the bullet of having to miss post season play, but these were serious violations.
The relationship between former team manager Josh Nochimson, who was Richard Hamilton’s business manager and Loul Deng’s agent, and former Huskie player Nate Miles are at the center of the storm surrounding Calhoun. Nochimson helped to guide Miles to UConn. Because Nochimson was a former team manager, he is considered a representative of UConn’s program. Also there was the matter of the UConn staff’s 1400 phone calls and 1100 text messages with Nochimson over a three year span ending in 2008.
It’s hard to argue that Calhoun did not know what was going on and the probation will tarnish his 40 year coaching career.
FACT: John Calipari has never been charged by the NCAA of any wrongdoing and he has no violations in his time as a head coach. Granted, his previous two teams have had their final fours vacated and this is what everyone harps one. The vacated appearances stem from former UMass ccenter Marcus Camby’s accepting money from an agent and the NCAA questioning the validity of Derrick Rose’s SAT test. All the vacation means is that players that were ruled ineligible by the NCAA participated in the Final Fours. It is not an indictment of the coach, yet no one seems to get that.
John Calipari actually was the one that turned Marcus Camby into the NCAA and Derrick Rose was not even a John Calipari commitment when he took the SAT test. And despite the NCAA proving nothing on Derrick Rose, the Memphis Final Four was vacated. And since he has been at Kentucky, every nutjob with a computer and “sources” have attempted to throw dirt on Calipari and have tried to find any evidence of wrong doing and after two years, not a damn thing has been found.
FACT: Jim Calhoun has been found guilty by the NCAA of violations, John Calipari has not.
Yet, most of the focus this week in Houston is on Calipari. ESPN’s Dana O’Neill, one of Calipari’s harshest critics actually said in a report that both coaches (Calhoun and Calipari) were on probation. She later apologized, but I find it hard pressed to believe that it was a slip of the tongue. Calipari has never been on probation and she knows it. Yet the urge to sleaze always manifests to the top.
We have hacks like Fran Fraschilla in my previous story feeling the need to point out that Calipari’s detractors would increase if he won the title. Even if his finest moments, John Calipari has to fight off the sewer rats and assorted leaches that attempt to drag him down.
Let’s ignore that fact that Calipari has easily pulled off the greatest coaching job of his career with this Kentucky team, but instead make snide accusations and give into rampant speculation. It’s a shame, but in the end, Calipari will have the last laugh. Critics be damned.
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