Calipari Does it Again: First UMass and Now Memphis
College Basketball August 20th. 2009, 10:15am
John Calipari’s 2-for-2. He’s taken two college basketball teams to the Final 4 (Massachusetts in 1996, Memphis in 2008), and both have been scrubbed from the record books by the NCAA. At UMass, his star player Marcus Camby received money from an agent – Calipari got away unscathed, and immediately left for the New Jersey Nets after the Final Four appearance. At Memphis, his star player Derrick Rose is alleged to have had someone else takes his SATs. Again, Calipari got outta there before the SHTF, accepting a job at Kentucky. Is there a dirtier college basketball coach who consistently proclaims his innocence? And has the state of Kentucky ever had a dirtier pair of coaches – Calipari the cheater, Pitino because he shagged a woman – who wasn’t his wife – rotten on a table at a restaurant – running the show?
All the pathetic NCAA can do is strip past accomplishments from the Tigers. BFD. As if fans won’t remember that epic 2008 championship game. The current program will not lose any scholarships, or be prevented from playing in March. (Not that it should – why punish the current players for transgressions that had nothing to do with them?)
Maybe Calipari should think about ditching “Refuse to Lose” for a whole new slogan. Like: “Never implicated!” Or: “Not personally named!” It takes a village to take the fall for Calipari, doesn’t it? Or at least a university. To be sure, the university was complicit in this one. The university handed its program over to a scoundrel and let him do his thing.
Here’s the dangerous part – Calipari went to Kentucky, and immediately, prized recruit John Wall choose the Wildcats. Will the NCAA start sniffing around? Calipari, so skilled at avoiding punishment, couldn’t possibly have an escape plan from UK already in place. Then again, maybe he won’t even need one – the NCAA can’t pin him down, and without proof, clowns like the Governor think Cal is a “very upstanding guy.” Source: Memphis Tigers to forfeit record 2007-08 basketball season (Commercial Appeal)
24 Responses to “Calipari Does it Again: First UMass and Now Memphis”
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August 20th, 2009 at 10:18 am
Snake oil salesman.
Somewhat related — Rick Pitino must be awfully relieved. Vick, Favre and now Calipari.
August 20th, 2009 at 10:22 am
Does this make the Gheyhawks the worst NCAA “champion” of the decade?
I say yes.
August 20th, 2009 at 10:24 am
He already has reservations to his favorite restaurant.
August 20th, 2009 at 10:25 am
Can we stop talking about fucking music already
August 20th, 2009 at 10:28 am
I always thought it was awfully pointless to discuss/debate sports + politics on the internet … but music takes the cake, for sure.
August 20th, 2009 at 10:30 am
vezina’s fault. he opened the floodgates with his question to spencer. it’s like a booger eating sports talk radio guy saying the words “Pete Rose…HOF’er or not?” and just sitting back for the rest of his show.
August 20th, 2009 at 10:31 am
Situations like this make me want to apply for a job with the NCAA Infractions Committee, so that I can help get it right.
Snake-oil salesman is probably not strong enough of a term. He makes Larry Brown look honest, and that takes some effort.
August 20th, 2009 at 10:31 am
I liked the music discussion. I am not that big of a music fan, so it was cool to here why so-and-so was better, etc. Also, I agree that political discussions rarely go well, but what is wrong with sports banter on the net?
August 20th, 2009 at 10:32 am
screw you guys, im going home.
August 20th, 2009 at 10:32 am
re: Cal cheating at Memphis
even though I’m a Memphis fan, I was in no way surprised to hear they were under investigation. Cal is slimy, but he sure did get Memphis on the map for about 5-6 straight years.
August 20th, 2009 at 10:33 am
Someone sounds upset about their team being throttled by 18 points against a team that should have never been eligible in the first place.
August 20th, 2009 at 10:34 am
Obviously nothing “wrong” with it, it’s fun. I was thinking more along the lines of LeBron/Kobe, Michigan/tOSU, etc. … I mean, how many times can you hash that out without the topic getting old?
August 20th, 2009 at 10:35 am
if you’re a wolverine or buckeye, that topic never gets old.
August 20th, 2009 at 10:36 am
Someone sounds upset about their team being throttled by 18 points against a team that should have never been eligible in the first place.
!
Also, “Gheyhawks?” What are you? A closet Mizzou fan? Lame.
August 20th, 2009 at 10:48 am
What a crook this guy is. They’ll nail him to the wall eventually — and it will Kentucky’s legacy that’s tarnished for it.
Anybody gonna be surprised when he winds up working for ESPN in 2013?
August 20th, 2009 at 10:51 am
The current program will not lose any scholarships, or be prevented from playing in March. (Not that it should – why punish the current players for transgressions that had nothing to do with them?)
You’re not terribly familiar with the concept of the NCAA Death Penalty are you?
They punish current teams for past transgressions committed before the current roster was even in place all the time. Not one member of the 1989 SMU football team was on the team in 1987 when DP was handed down. Yet they still had to deal with massively reduced scholarships and restrictions on the amount of coaches and staff that the team could hire.
You can’t exactly hunt down and punish the members of a team who are graduated, so you punish the program in the form it exists in at that time. It’s imperfect, but if the NCAA is going to hand down penalties, I hardly see another way to do it.
August 20th, 2009 at 10:56 am
knew this day was coming. D rose is one dumb mfer. sad day as a Memphis fan. I will now drown my sorrows in rum under a palm tree
August 20th, 2009 at 10:58 am
somewhere out in LA, pete carroll is breathing a little easier knowing that everything that went on while reggie bush was there will continue to be swept under the rug, even though it happened 3 years before all this memphis stuff. makes sense.
August 20th, 2009 at 11:24 am
(holds breath while praying UK’s punishment wont be that bad after it wins the championship)
Please no mention of Bashear ever again. Worst Governor. EVAR.
August 20th, 2009 at 11:51 am
Good. I knew it was coming. Next up: The Wildcats.
August 20th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
Dude’s a smooth operator!
August 20th, 2009 at 1:27 pm
Did Calipari arrange for someone else to take the SAT for Rose? Did he even know about it? If they answers are NO, I’m not sure how all of this shit falls on him.
August 20th, 2009 at 2:03 pm
cabbage-
You’ve uttered the words as though they came directly from Cal’s mouth. Are you World Wide Wes, a UK booster, or Cal, himself?
August 20th, 2009 at 3:50 pm
Isn’t this like getting mad at catching Hep C from Pamela Anderson? You knew the risks before getting into bed with her. Can’t act surprised now.