Poor, Sweet, Innocent John Calipari

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it, George Santayana

Alas, the tragedy...

For the second time in his career, poor, sweet, innocent, master strategist John Calipari will have a Final Four appearance stricken from the NCAA record books. It breaks my heart to see such a fine man have to suffer through this embarrassment again. Why do bad things happen to goodf people. My heart goes out to him and...

Enough with the sarcasm... Kentucky - if you weren't before - you're now officially on notice. This is what the man does. He shows up, pours a mean glass of kool-aid, blinds his potential detractors with tainted win after tainted win, then gets the hell outta Dodge before the poo hits the fan. He's very, very good at what he does. He's now the only coach to have two Final Fours stricken from official record books. This is of little surprise to me, having suggested its feasibility the day after their (now no-longer existent) game against Kansas.

Yes, I know Calipari wasn't implicated in the Memphis scandal, just I like I know he wasn't implicated in the UMass scandal either. Like I said, he's very, very good at what he does. He was a desperation hire by Memphis in 2000. The Tiger program needed a big pick-me-up after the Tic Price Experiment went horribly wrong. The fans were desperate to field a winner, so they sold their soul to bring in Calipari, despite the turmoil that UMass was mired in because of him. Memphis AD R.C. Johnson basically turned his back and served as Calipari's "yes man" for 10 years.

Sound familiar? The Wildcats are in need of a big pick-me-up after the Billy Gilispie experiment failed to pan out. Big Blue fans are desperate to field a winner and broke the bank to bring in Calipari. While there's no way Kentucky AD Mitch Barhart will bend over and take it from Calipari like Johnson did, he knows that Kentucky has to win and win big. Given Calipari's history, is there any reason to think this scenario plays out differently? I have no doubts that he'll win big at Kentucky, but at what cost to the university? Two schools have suffered due to his... ahem... oversights, why not a third?

I hope it doesn't work out that way. Kentucky is the flagship program in the SEC and one of the Royal 5 programs in the country (along with Indiana, North Carolina, Kansas, and UCLA). They serve as something of a barometer for the SEC as a whole. When they're mediocre, it weakens the SEC as a whole. But when they're winning, it greatly increases the national perception of the conference.

After such a pitiful showing last year, the SEC needs a big pick-me-up. Just not one that turns out to be such a bummer when you realize the dirty truth.

I see your true colors shining through

Kentucky head basketball coach John Calipari is back in the news today as allegations of major violations have surfaced at the University of Memphis regarding "knowing fraudulence or misconduct" on an SAT exam by a player on the 2007-08 team. This should come as a surprise to absolutely nobody based on Calipari's track record. The school received the letter of notification on January 16th, making it look more and more like the Kentucky job came along at the perfect time for him.

Geoff Calkins has a fantastic piece in this morning's Commercial Appeal, with a couple of great opening sentences:

John Calipari is one of a handful of college basketball coaches to take two different schools to the Final Four. Before long, he may be the only one to have both of those appearances vacated from the NCAA record books.

He's got a great point, and one that I made more than a year ago:

John Calipari’s only other appearance in the Final Four has been stricken from the record books thanks to a fantastic watch that Marcus Camby was given. Though Calipari successfully weaseled his way out of that, the UMass program is just now righting itself from his tenure there. In my opinion, this appearance has at least a decent chance of disappearing too.

So, for those of you scoring at home, here's a brief recap for you: Calipari - complete with his reputation for being a snake oil salesman - led the University of Memphis to the Final 4, bolts a season later and - shockingly - allegations of major violations surface regarding his star player form that team. This just more than a decade after he led UMass to a Final 4 and bolted shortly thereafter when major violations surfaced regarding his star player. Kentucky - you're officially on notice.

Which brings up some more questions. Did Calipari let UK know about these pending accusations? With UK's somewhat sordid history with NCAA violations, would they have risked the hire if they knew about them? Calipari's always been a "Just Win" type of guy, and it may have landed another of his former programs in trouble again. A Sea of Blue offers a very nice summation here, and has this advice to UK fans:

So embrace that hate, Big Blue Nation, and take pleasure in the loathing. I know I will. It is fun urinating on the schadenfreude of others, and watching them contort themselves into a tizzy to create self-deluded hopes of NCAA sanctions to come. It makes me laugh out loud to see logic tortured to the point of screaming agony. Parsing Coach Cal's occasional cryptic tweets just adds to the aura of suspicion. Have fun with it.

Calipari will most likely skate through this unscathed. He's a master of his devious craft and he almost certainly had the proper procedures in place to disassociate himself from this incident as much as possible. He'll plead ignorance here just like he did in Amherst and the NCAA won't touch him. His ignorance plea will be an outright lie - just like in Amherst - but he's established himself as quite the NCAA cash cow, and that means he won't be touched. (Let's call it the USC Principle.)

Tuesday Things

* Chris Low rates Greg Hardy the 9th best player in the SEC. He sums up the essence of Greg Hardy in his first two sentences: “ Let's be honest here. Hardy has at times been a bit of an enigma.” When Hardy is healthy and properly focused and motivated, there are few offensive linemen who can match up with him one on one. He’s too quick and too good a slasher. With Peria Jerry gone, Hardy will be key to drawing double teams to let Patrick Trahan and others make plays in space.

My guess is that Jevan Snead ranks #3 in the conference behind Eric Berry and Tim Tebow. Or at least that’s how I’d rank them. Off the top of my head, in random order, Brandon Spikes, Rolando McClain, AJ Green, and Julio Jones will also be in the top 10. Who am I missing?

* The one thing Dan Mullen really had going for him so far this spring was he seemed to be the only rookie coach in the conference not making a spectacle of himself. Gene Chizik and his limos were all over the media and blogosphere. Lane Kiffin… well, that one speaks for itself. But Mullen seemed to just be going about his business. Until now.

Mullen used his recent stop at the Vestavia Country Club on his Bulldog Club tours to take jabs at Chizik and Kiffin. That’s most likely harmless as neither will be able to extract a painful revenge this season. Auburn and mitippi tate set modern football back 50 years with their heinous 3-2 game last year and Auburn won’t be blowing anyone out this season. And the bulldogs don’t face Tennessee in 2009, so no vengeance there.

Then Mullen decided to take a page out of the official “moou handbook for pandering to fans” and refer to Ole Miss by another name.

Go ahead, ask the New Hampshire native if he's already been introduced to his new school's rivalry with Ole Miss.

"The team up north?" he said. "We call them the team up north. I don't like to cuss by using the word that you just used."

That’s all fine and well. He needs to save up his profanities for when the season starts. This year’s Egg Bowl score may not be much different than the glorious 45-0 trouncing last year. I have a feeling that Mr. Mullen will be making up for lost profanities by the time the 4th quarter runs down to 0:00 this year.

* The All-SEC Baseball teams were announced and a big Dead Guy congratulations go out to first-teamer Jordan Henry and second-teamers Drew Pomeranz and Scott Bittle. Honestly, the Rebels weren’t as well represented as they should’ve been. Leaving Jake Morgan off is ridiculous. His numbers were fantastic – 7 Saves and a 1.29 ERA – but his emergence let us move Bittle to the starting rotation which turned our conference season around. David Brandt views it this way:

But really, as hokey as it may sound, this team hasn't been about individual honors. Almost every Ole Miss play(er) has good stats, but very few of them (except guys like Henry and Bittle) made you look at the numbers and immediately crown them All-SEC.

But hey, at least Alabama landed 5 guys on the first team alone.

* This is from last week, but somehow I missed it: Tommy Tuberville will talk SEC Football on BusterSports.com in 2009. In addition to radio appearances and podcast, he’ll interact directly with SEC fans through chat rooms, message boards, and call in questions.

After being tarred and feathered and run out of Auburn, it will probably be nice to take a year off and merely talk about the conference he coached in for nearly a decade and a half.

* After one of the worst years in recent memory, SEC basketball continues to improve itself for the 2009-10 season. With an influx of new coaches, including John Calipari, the league is set to return to relevance next season and prominence the year after that.

Calipari’s signing of John Wall to Kentucky will land the ‘Cats in the top 10 preseason. As the “basketball face” of the league, UK’s recent struggles under Billy Gilispie marred not only the school’s reputation, but also the conference’s as a whole. While I’m certainly not a Calipari fan, there’s no denying his impact.

What's next for Kentucky?

With Kentucky bowing out of the NIT last night, the SEC’s basketball season is officially over. In all honesty, it couldn’t come soon enough. I love college basketball, but from a Rebel standpoint, this was obviously not the season we had hoped for, both on and off the court. The silver lining – of course – was the emergence of freshmen Terrico White and Murphy Holloway when thrust into more minutes than expected due to the rash of injuries.

It also quite possibly marked the end of the Billy Gillispie era in Lexington, which was doomed to fail from the beginning. He never gelled with the fan base or administration there. His run-in with Jeannine Edwards in Oxford earlier this year was childish at best, and his attempt to run off the floor without shaking Darrin Horn’s hand after a home loss to South Carolina (skip to 4:00) was inexcusable. I’m not typically a proponent of axing a guy after just two seasons, but it’s hard to make the argument that things will be any better in the foreseeable future as long as Gillispie is there.

Currently, the top three rumored choices for Gillispie’s replacement are Michigan State’s Tom Izzo, Memphis’ John Calipari, and Florida’s Billy Donovan. I’ll go ahead and say that Izzo won’t be making the move to Lexington. He’s got the most impressive resume of the three – 8 Sweet 16s in the last 12 years, 4 Final Fours, and National Title – but he’s MSU through and through, having been there since 1983, including 15 years as head coach. He’ll retire in East Lansing.

That leaves Donovan and Calipari. Depending on which ‘Cat fan you ask, you’ll get a different answer as to which they’d rather have. Donovan is the one with the rings, but Calipari is the hotter commodity now, with three straight Elite 8 appearances, with a chance to make it four with a win tonight. He also has connections with the top two unsigned high school prospects in the country that may follow him if he does bolt for UK.

While Florida has been just average the last few years, Donovan has proven that he can win in Gainesville. The Gators have really just been lacking an enforcer inside the last 2 seasons to complement Nick Calathes and company. Al Horford didn’t get the attention (until NBA draft time) that Joaquim Noah, Corey Brewer, and Taurean Green, but his play underneath the basket was key to the Gators’ title runs. I know Kentucky would throw money at him, but the Florida program is his. I’m not sure he would leave Gainesville for the pressure of Lexington.

Which brings us to Calipari. You gotta figure he’s the ‘Cats’ #1 choice based on the program he’s built at Memphis. Question his recruiting tactics (World Wide Wes), question the level of talent they face after the turn of the calendar (C-USA has failed to put a 2nd team in the NCAA Tourney for 4 straight seasons), but there’s no question that he brings energy and a presence to a school, which UK hasn’t had since Pitino roamed the sidelines. Tubby Smith is one of the really good guys in the coaching business and certainly didn’t deserve the treatment he got in Lexington, but he’s not a commanding figure; Calipari is. And has the ego to handle the unrealistic expectations that Kentucky fans have.

Now whether or not he’d leave Memphis is another story. Kentucky obviously has a much richer tradition than Memphis does, but even in a down year like this, the SEC is still stronger than CUSA is. Calipari has never coached in a major conference and has padded his W-L record in the A10 and CUSA. He would no doubt win at Kentucky, but certainly not at the ridiculous rates he has at his previous stops. As much as he clamors for respect at Memphis, as long as he continues to beat up the little guys 16 games a year, it’s just not going to come. While some (not me) tend to give him more credit than others, until he proves himself in one of the BCS conferences, right or wrong, there will always be doubters.

He’s compensated extremely well now, but Memphis doesn’t have the budget that Kentucky does. If they decide that he’s their guy, you can bet Mitch Barnhart will put together something with a base of $3.5M+ as well as plenty of incentives.

Of course, this may all be moot if the ‘Cats sense they won’t be able to get Izzo, Donovan, or Calipari, or they decide to give Gillispie another season. I just can’t see that scenario. Despite their recent mediocrity (by their standards) Kentucky is the flagship basketball program in the conference. Florida has been better lately, but when you think SEC basketball, Rupp and Pitino are some of the first names that come to mind. When the Wildcats struggle, it brings down the perception of the league as a whole.

I fully expect there to be a new head coach in Lexington next season. Even if the “Big 3” turn them down, Anthony Grant and Travis Ford are certainly viable options as well. As a conference, we need The Big Blue to be good again. Sure it’ll bring out the crazies, but it will also be a major step toward bringing SEC basketball back to relevancy.

***UPDATE***
Fantastic piece by Pat Forde