Is Calipari to Kentucky a Good Idea?

You have to love the bizarre world that big-time college basketball coaches live in. John Calipari went from shooting for a trip to Detroit to taking a visit to Lexington, KY. On Thursday night he was in Glendale, AZ, leading his talented Memphis Tigers team in the Sweet 16 against Missouri. On Sunday, he was already in Lexington, KY listening to Kentucky’s athletic director Mitch Barnhart’s sales pitch to make him the next head coach of the Wildcats. One thing’s for sure: Dude doesn’t waste time.

It seems like the perfect fit when you think about it though. You can sum it up in one sentence: You can sum it up as arguably the most successful coach in college basketball, who is the coach at a mid-levl program (face it, Memphis isn’t BIG-TIME without Calipari) going to one of teh best programs in the history of college basketball.  Kentucky desperately needs to do something drastic to once again become relevant on the national stage.  This would be a good start!

Look, there are PLENTY of reasons for John Calipari to take the job in Lexington

From Calipari’s perspective, how in the world do you turn the job down?  Money is always a concern but there are so many positives for taking the job that I would be shocked if he turned it down.  Ben Howland left a successful Pitt program for UCLA a few years ago; and Bill Self was extremely productive at Illinois before he made the move to Lawrence, KS. The reason that both of these guys made the move is the same reason that Coach Cal will be the head of UK basketball sometime this week.

It doesn’t matter how good of a coach you are at Memphis, or Illinois, or even Pitt—Kentucky basketball is in a different stratosphere. I heard something from Mrs. Cheap Seats a couple of months ago that put things in perspective for me. I knew that UK basketball was a huge deal, but I guess I didn’t fully understand how much influence it has in the state. Mrs. Cheap Seats went to work in Louisville in February (when Louisville was already one of the best teams in the country), and an old lady explained to her that the 2 things that are in Kentucky are food and UK basketball. She was IN Louisville, and said that the crappy UK basketball team was one of the things that people from Kentucky live for.

Enter John Calipari and the University of Kentucky. Not only are they going to get one of the most successful coaches of the last 5 years (or even 15 if you want to go back to UMass and Marcus Camby), but you’ll get one of the best recruiters too. As great as that sounds, there have been some shady dealings in his past that show that his moral compass is less than perfect. And here’s where we get into the meat of the matter.

Kentucky needs to be careful about exactly how badly they want to win here. I understand that winning solves everything. When it comes to college athletics, I’ve said more than once that I have no problem with recruiting thugs. As bad as it sounds, I’m not rooting for an academic All-American team—I’m rooting for wins. There’s a morale line there that is different for everyone.

Some of the darkest days for the UK program were when they were placed on NCAA probation in 1989 for 3 years due to recruiting and academic violations under Eddie Sutton. It was under those circumstances that Rick Patino took over the program and led them back to the national spotlight. But the Kentucky faithful better be careful what the wish for—there’s a chance that this could lead them back down the same shady path. Here’s what the former UK President said in the aftermath of the NCAA sanctions:

“Suffice it to say that the University of Kentucky has suffered from a lack of proper administrative control in its athletic program.” –former UK President Dr. David Roselle

Are we sure that Kentucky has a firm administrative foundation in place this time? Desperate times make for desperate fans—and with Kentucky slipping in recent years, I doubt many people would have a problem with turning a blind eye to questionable practices as long as it brought in wins. Here’s how that same 1989 article ended in the New York Times:

“We’re going to have some tough times – we’ve had some tough times before—but we’re going to rebuild. And when we rebuild, its going to be a program that wins, because that’s the Kentucky tradition.” –former UK athletic Director C.M. Newton

If that doesn’t sound like a win-at-any-cost mentality, I don’t know what does. I sure hope things have changed in Lexington in the last 20 years—but changing the culture of an entire program, fanbase and STATE is not an easy thing to do.

Calipari's moral compass has been less than perfect

The truth of the matter is that even though Newton’s comments were 20 years ago, every athletic director at Kentucky HAS to have the same mentality. Mediocrity is not accepted—winning is expected. If current AD Mitch Barnhart didn’t have the same mentality, he would have been run out of town LONG ago.

Another red flag here is that Barnhart is no stranger to controversy. Do you really think it would be a good idea to put someone that was involved in the SMU program when they received the NCAA’s Death Penalty with someone that was involved with UMass when they became the only Final Four team ever to have their tournament games vacated? Barnhardt was the assistant executive director of the SMU Mustang Club from 1983-1986—during which time SMU was originally placed on probation before being dealt the Death Penalty in 1987. The reason the Mustangs were given the death penalty was because of booster payments made to players during 1985 and 1986 while the University was still under their previous probation. The NCAA said it was due to: “eliminate a program that was built on a legacy of wrongdoing, deceit and rule violations.”

Ironically, one of the only other teams to deal with the Death Penalty was University of Kentucky basketball in the 1950’s for a point shaving scandal. So let me get this straight: the University that has a history of paying players, adjusting test scores and shaving points is considering the hire of an ambitious, successful coach that has had whispers of wrongdoing (especially on the recruiting trail) follow him everywhere he goes. Another red flag.

Then we can look back at John Calipari’s history. There’s no doubt that UMass’s trip to the Final Four in 1996 was great for the University at the time. However, there were enough recruiting violations that the trip to the Final Four was removed from the NCAA stats and UMass was put on probation for serious recruiting violations. None of those penalties effected Calipari though, as he left the school and the sanctions were put on the school—not the coach. Yet another red flag.

When you look at it this way, this could be the perfect storm for NCAA improprieties. Of all the college teams in all sports, University of Kentucky has one of the worst track-records breaking for rules. They currently have an AD at the school that was caught and penalized for “lack of institutional control.” The coach they are considering has already been caught once for illegal recruiting and has been accused of continuing the practice at Memphis. Am I the only one that sees this as a recipe for disaster?