Sunday, May 31, 2009

Gone Gangster, How coaches master the art of cheating.

John Calipari, Eddie Sutton, Todd Bozeman, Jim Harrick, Jerry Tarkanian, Kelvin Sampson and most recently Jim Calhoun have all had their brushes with "recruiting violations". Some of them have been considered secondary violations but for the most part, even the most respected coaches in the game may look the other way when a prized recruit is still up for grabs.

Have you ever had Jim Harrick's class the fundementals of basketball? I here it's an easy A. What about Jerry Tarkanian showing "loyalty" to Lloyd Daniels because he was so concerned about this kid getting a chance at a college education. How about having Kelvin Sampson posing as a stalker in coaches clothing? Do you really believe that Calipari knew nothing about Marcus Camby's dealings with an agent at Umass? The pressure to win isn't the real culprit to why college basketball coaches cheat right? WRONG.


The latest saga of "As the recruiting world turns" reveals yet another episode of cheating. Derrick Rose's SAT score is in question. Apparently evidence has mysteriously appeared that has revealed that another player on the Simeon High School roster took the test for Rose. To add insult to injury it is also believed that Rose's grades were altered to help him gain eligibility into college. According to scribe Pat Forde of ESPN.com, three other Simeon athletes got the same help.


Kentucky claimed that an extensive background check was done on Calipari before they considered the hire. I guess they never checked into his dealings at Umass. Maybe they never made the connection between him leaving for the NBA just before the violations were reported by the NCAA. If this was a movie, his ten year stay at Memphis would be a sequel to his days at Umass.


The physical evidence in the lastest installment of this trilogy connects Calipari to the scene of his recruiting crimes. Ironically, he somehow manages to fool yet another unsuspecting A.D. and escapes into the night. If Kentucky fans don't view their program as the third movie in the trilogy then what does that say about them? They hired Eddie Sutton after his sketchy run at Arkansas. Have they forgotten what happened after the 1988-89 season?


It would be naive for any sports fan or journalist to believe that major college coaches have no knowledge of grades or test scores being altered. In conspiracy and gangster movies, the main characters always have a "patsy" or alibi that allows them to be vindicated because the evidence doesn't directly tie to them. Calipari has been a master of finding creative ways to cheat. How could the Memphis program allow Reggie Rose (Derrick's older brother) to fly with the team to away games and stay with the team at the hotel if some prearranged deal wasn't made during the "recruiting process"?


R.C. Johnson, Memphis's athletic director overlooked the baggage Calipari brought because he wanted to create a national power out of a team that historically recruited all its players from the talent rich Memphis area. He knew he was making a deal with the devil when he hired Calipari. Mitch Barnhardt knows that to. He couldn't afford another hiring debacle like Billy Gillespie. This points to the pressure that college coaches are under to deliver a winning product and not graduation rates.



It's not rocket science here. Calipari has the same pattern in all of his collegiate coaching stops. His hiring at Memphis was perfect timing considering that the dust had settled from the Umass debacle after his stint in the NBA. It didn't take him long to lure his first major recruit in Dejuan Wagner but how did he do it? How about hiring Wagner's father as an assistant coach? How about giving up a scholarship to the younger Wagner's best friend Arthur Barclay?



Kentucky fans should also consider that these violations were on the horizon in mid January but the NCAA and Memphis kept it under wraps because the team was still one of the major draws for the upcoming NCAA tournament. This gave Calipari enough time to plan his escape. He was still fresh off of his final four run from the previous season. Of course he knew that if he had a decent run in this years tourney that another program would offer him a job. Enter Kentucky stage right. Remember that Gillespie's "contract" was more like a year to year lease than a standard contract.


There were constant rumblings about Gillespie's future as early as late December and early January. Search firms contact coaches throughout the year to gain "interest" in coaches taking over other programs throughout the year. It seems shocking when our favorite coaches leave for greener pastures but the reality is that these things are in the works behind the scenes long before they are reported. Let's address some factors that make it easy for coaches to cheat.



1.Close the loop holes that entices coaches to cheat in their pursuit to land prized recruits.


How did Calipari land Derrick Rose? The jury is still out on all of the facts. Plane rides with the team and over 2200 dollars worth of benefits to a family members certainly help matters. I guess if we work in reverse, we can also ask if these types of promises were prearranged during the recruiting process. Major college coaches are having to make special promises and shady backroom deals with AAU coaches, high school coaches, shoe companies, parents and numerous handlers just to land top tier talent. Does the term "friends" of the program ring a bell?

The cult classic Blue chips starring Shaquille O'neal and Penny Hardaway has a scene in it where Nick Nolte's character, Pete Bell is recruiting him. Neon Badoe (O'neal's character) ask Coach Bell that if couldn't play basketball would he be concerned about him going to college. Bell is honest and flatly says "No". That scene is a microcosm of the state of college basketball. Strangely enough Coach bell "arranged" to have Neon "tutored" to pass his SAT. Sound Familiar?



2. High School Seniors and College underclassmen should consider all of their pro basketball options.


Nick Calathes, Florida's do everything point guard is skipping the last two years of college to play professionally in Greece. Dick Vitale has been a great ambassador for the game but he has also poisoned the perception of playing professionally overseas. According to answers.com the average salary for European pro leagues are 1 million euros. That's better than getting the peanuts under the table in college while hoping to get drafted in the NBA before your sophomore season.

Brandon Jennings has started a trend. Josh Childress spurned NBA teams for more money overseas. Hall of Famer Dominique Wilkins finished his career playing internationally. His team also won the championship. Tons of NBA washouts have become stars internationally. Ever heard of Trajan Langdon? Charlie Bell was undrafted superstar internationally and eventually played his way into the NBA. These examples tells us how selfish we are as college basketball fans. It certainly exposes the sinister plan of the NCAA and its exploitative business plan to the tune of billions. Their little empire is worth billions. College sports in general is in need of real reform. Maybe this time the revolution will be televised.


3. Coaches should pay the price like the University at their prior jobs and the kids should be allowed a one time golden parachute.


Kelvin Sampson's violations has wrecked the Indiana program. New coach Tom Crean left a great situation at Marquette to "clean up" the Indiana program. His Crean any cleaner than his predecessor? On paper maybe but do we really know that considering the cesspool that college sports has morphed into. Calipari covered his tracks enough to get nearly 4 million dollars a year to coach at Kentucky but why should he get to coach at Kentucky without any penalties to him and UK just like it happened at Indiana?


If the NCAA were really interested in reforming its product it would change certain rules. One in particular that needs to be changed is that kids should have the choice to terminate their scholarships should their coach leave for another job. Schools that hire coaches with recent violations should face some form of punishment as well. That then reduces the likelihood of repeat violations at another program. It also creates an environment of fairness and makes college coaches honor their promises they make to the kids.


Considering today's climate of win at all costs that is to much like right. College administrators and their rabid fan bases aren't concerned about the education of their players. They are more concerned of giving the illusion of institutional control while the men behind curtain continues to make shady deals with coaches, boosters, and recruits. One hands washes the other. Brother Baines (the character from Malcom X) was right, college basketball and religion are hustles.

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