For the second time in his career, John Calipari may again be the best coach never to have been to a Final Four, at least according to the NCAA.According to sources that leaked it to most major sports media and the Memphis Commercial Appeal, the Memphis Tigers will be forced to vacate their 2008 Final Four appearance and the 38 wins they had in the 2007-08 season. That, at least will be the decision of the NCAA Rules and Infractions Committee.
This, of course, will be the second Final Four appearance by a Calipari coached team to be vacated due to player eligibility issues -- something that is singularly unique to Calipari, and not accomplished by any other coach. Not in a way, though, that will enhance his resume. The odds are that the basketball Hall of Fame will not be calling on him soon.
The 1996 UMass squad had their appearance also vacated because of the eligibility of Marcus Camby. His eligibility had been compromised for accepting cash and gifts from a street agent. Like the UMass affair, John Calipari was not found to be at fault, and had already left for a bigger contract.
This is also the second time Memphis has had a Final Four appearance vacated. Its 1985 appearance in the Final Four under Dana Kirk was also vacated due to numerous NCAA violations.
The only good news for Memphis is that there do not appear to be any penalties going forward on the program. Memphis and new coach Josh Pastner can attempt to rebuild from the rubble of a Calipari departure and NCAA investigation without a postseason ban or loss of scholarships.
John Calipari, of course, is ensconced safely in Kentucky with a top-10 preseason team and a huge new contract. Derrick Rose is happily playing in the NBA with his hometown Chicago Bulls.
Comments (Page 1 of 2)
While this is ANOTHER black mark on Coach Cal it also says something about the NCAA. All players in all sports are cleared through and by the NCAA before they are allowed to show up on campus. Tell me how a player cleared by the NCAA can now be "uncleared" and all games lost. Something is not right here and the NCAA is to blame, not the University. Since they answer to no one, what they say goes????
Hope the fans at Caltucky know what they bought into. It will not last.
Hmmm, Tennessee, ain't dat where dey wander on over to da mountain top and do da Hokey Pokey till da sun go down???
Do the names Tubbs and Pitino ring a bell?
who really gives a shit. NCAA makes millons and they bring all the players who dont care about education. The NCAA and the people who run it are as bad as the government.!!!!!!!
Why would Kentucky hire this man ? The NCAA has more rules and regulations than the IRS but cannot do anything about this scum bag since he left Memphis to peddle his lies somewhere else.. and we wonder why we the put up with this culture of winning at all costs...Shame on you Kentucky.. hope you lose every game while Capone is there...
I have to agree. I am not a Wildcat fan, but I do live in Lexington. I have not agreed with them since they let Tubby get away... well not get away, since they ran him out of town. And then what they did to Billy G. They are the worst fans around... but there will be justice. Cal will screw up here too and move on to another team.
All the coaches and I mean all the coaches in college sports cheat in one way or another. There isn't an innocent one in the bunch. You will never be able to convince me that at one time or another, coaches like Pete Carroll, Roy Williams, Rick Pitino Coach K and any other coach you can think of hasn't cheated at one time or another to get the kidd they think that can put them over the top. You have to be nieve to think that there are not skeltons hanging in every coach's closet. The pressure and the money are way, way to big. These guys are not the saints that the news outlets lead you to believe. If they don't bend the rules directly, they do it indirectly. However, alot of these guys will never be accused of such indescretions because they are cash cows for the sports netwtworks and the NCAA. They also have themselves so well insulated, that it would be really tough to ever prove that so many of these so called coaching gods, have ever cheated.
eat it
It can't help but make one wonder what sort of people would hire this man. Are the folks at Kentucky idiots or just plain evil? Neither is good.
cheaters....and 20 years from now, they will still be known as cheaters.
Coach Cal....a cheater....and 20 years from now, will still be a cheater...a rich one but still a friggin cheater
Memphis...Mass...cheaters, and 20 years from now, they will still be remembered as cheaters.
Coach Cal...a cheater, and 20 years from now, he will still be remembered as a cheater....a rich one.
Integrity is more important than winning!
Again it goes to tell our youth that you can cheat and get ahead! You don't have to do hard work untill after you get that big contract. Any idea of why the youth think the world owes then?
Kentucky hired Calipari for one reason.
His teams win.
Winning teams put well-heeled posteriors in seats and cause wealthy alums to write big checks.
FOLLOW THE MONEY, PEOPLE.
Always follow the money.
Division One Sports are always about the money.
Minor sports don't sell the tickets, but winning teams do create donations to the University and the overall athletic program.
FOLLOW THE MONEY.
Today's players are often "hired guns" from Fourth and Fifth Grade on.
Standout athletes are recruited into private Junior High and High schools with full ride financial aide, room and board, and alums donating clothing and cars.
Parents of standout athletes suddenly are offered better jobs, help starting businesses and GREAT home loans.
In the San Franciso Bay region, as far as San Luis Obispo County to the south, the Sierra to the East and Mendocino County to the north, there are numerous private schools which actively recruit and reward stand out athletes -- for Football, Golf, Soccer, Basketball, Track, Tennis, Baseball and even academic competitions.
Let a student win his/her Grade Division of a County or Regional Mathaletics competition from Fifth to Eight Grade -- and watch the private schools clamor for him, all expenses paid.
Do you really think any university is devastated because a National Championship won four or five years previously is vacated.
They have banked and spent the millions resulting, and prepared the foundation to win another. Do you really think they care if the coaches break some rule which will get the next championship taken away -- three to six years after the fact??
The money is already donated and spent.
Bam! Couldn't have said it better. From politics to athletics, to entertainers to investors, it is INDEED all about the money.
AMAZING ! these guys like Calipari or Sampson from Oklahoma and Indiana cheat like pigs..have no conscience about it..and why should they? They leave one program in disgrace and then some other idiots hire them to coach again! And then they cheat just like before!
C'mon everybody. It really couldn't be Coach Calipari's fault that all these devious 18-20 year olds feel they are above the rules and were able to get through a season(s) without their little secret(s) getting discovered. They didn't need any help to perpetrate their scams. It's all their fault..really After all,he only sees these guys more than their mother (father) ever did. He's only their sole adult supervision, but why should he know.
I honestly believe that he knew nothing about these transgressions, just like Sergeant Schultz from Hogans Heroes didn't know about the tunnel!
(I see Nothiinngg, I hear nothiinngg))
ANYBODY REMEMBER KELVIN SAMPSON???????? THEY BOOTED HIS "BLACK" BUTT OUT OF COACHING IN THE NCAA. CALIPARI IS "WHITE" , HAS GOTTEN PROGRAMS IN TROUBLE TWICE AND HIS WHITE BUTT STAYS. I'M JUST SAYIN ! ! !
What about fines and jail time for the scum-bag agents who profit financially from exploiting these student athletes. I bet if these guys new they would end up in jail and their right to negotiate contracts for athletes were rescinded, there would be a whole lot less of these types of incidents. Instead of making naive kids and bureaucratic athletic departments pay the price, make these agents who corrupt the student athletes accountable. Throw a few of them in jail and it'll clean things up real quick
NCAA members should take a remedial course in comprehension on what the rules really are and don't wait until a team has moved on to say forget you played in the final four.That is the stupidiest crap I have ever heard. Its like you are here but don't believe you were birth.Give me a break the team won the games and even if you give the other teams the wins ,they will not feel any better because they could have had a chance to be the Champs.Come up with other rules and not wait until the season is over and people have moved on.