Bobby Knight blasts Calipari. Bitter old man or correct?

[coloradobuff]

The general bobby knight calling out Calipari, saying he lacks integrity because of NCAA sanctions against Umass and Memphis when Calipari was there.
You agree with Knight here or do you think hes just a bitter old man? Interested to hear what people think here.
thanks

[Hammew]

Both. I also like both of these coaches, but Calipari is a bit sketchy. Both of these coaches know how to win. One guy chokes players and the other buys them cars or whatever miriad of violations that Calipari committed.

[capri5421]

The game has changed, bit time. Look at Kentucky, yes they are a great team, but they never looked the way they do now. I feel the General is right about the lack of Integrity in college hoops. I feel Knight shouldn't of called coach Calipari out like that, that was terrible. Bottom line college basketball has changed very much since the 80's. IT'S ALL ABOUT WINNING, ALSO THE DOLLAR'S.

[bigcat1]

Everyone has always been jealous of kentucky, even the Great bob knight, EVERYONE hates that uk is a top team again, TO BAD KNIGHT IS NOT A TOP COACH ANY MORE!!!!!

[floridagolfer]

Where Calipari goes, trouble is soon to follow.

[LLXC]

I agree with Knight!

[bigcat1]

little upset over the FLORIDA LOSS

[The General]

I do not think bitterness has anything to do with it except for the extent of cheating in general within hoops. Coach Knight has commented on this subject and made such suggestions about cheating in NCAA for over 20 years.


"If my primary purpose here at Indiana is to go out and win ballgames, I can probably do that as well as anybody can. I would just cheat, get some money from alot of people around Indianapolis who want to run the operation that way, and just go out and get the best basketball players I can. Then we'd beat everybody." - Bobby Knight

[rjt721]

Truer words were never spoken.

Knight is one of the few who has the balls to say what everyone around college hoops feels.

[INVEGA MAN]

Knight just telling the truth. Today, most teams want to win and at any price.

[yostertoaster]

cal is completely crooked....just look at his past an look at his present...his ties to that guy named wes are enough reason for ncaa to investigate him....

[poker_dummy101]

Agree with Knight 100%

[Nickelicious]

cal is completely crooked....just look at his past an look at his present...his ties to that guy named wes are enough reason for ncaa to investigate him....

That's William Wesley, for those who didn't know. Or Worldwide Wes, as he is commonly called. Calipari is a known associate of the most powerful unknown basketball influence in America:

"In his March 2005 ESPN “Page 2” column, the well-known basketball writer Scoop Jackson wrote, “I believe Phil Knight is the most powerful man in sports next to Wes Wesley.” Eight months after Jackson’s column, New Jersey-based basketball journalist Henry Abbott mounted an obsessive open-source investigation on his blog, TrueHoop, that brilliantly illustrated how, if you look closely at the various forces at work in basketball at every level of the sport—the AAU programs that funnel players to college programs, the agents looking to land players as early as NBA rules allow, the shoe companies, coaches, franchise owners, front-office executives, players—it eventually dawns on you that they have one thing in common: William Wesley."

In Memphis, it was rumored that Worldwide Wes was instrumental in helping Calipari land some of his top recruits in the past few years.

Does that make Coach Cal dirty? Well, he's like the Teflon Coach: nothing seems to stick to him. But as another member said here, wherever Coach Cal goes, trouble is sure to follow.

Down here in Memphis, I'd say the vast majority of Tigers fans are glad to see Cal gone, and we are very happy with this kid Josh Pastner, who has recruited a monster class for the 2010 season.

[bigcat1]

i LOVE all the jealous people, we get one good team in 4 years, and all i hear is the boo hoo..KNIGHT CRIED EVERY TIME WE BEAT THEM IN THE PAST 15 YEARS, AND so did davis when he was there, DADDY WILL WE EVER BEAT KENTUCKY

[ClydeFontaine]

Saying Calipari is a little sketchy is like saying Tiger Woods is slightly unfaithful.

[The General]

www.rivals.yahoo.com



Calipari is referring to ESPN's Pat Forde, whose name he probably knows how to spell but decided to get intentionally incorrect as a sign of disrespect. Coaches love to do that. James Joyce could reincarnate, write a brilliant, semi-harsh and completely indecipherable piece about a college basketball team, and that team's coach would find a way to pretend he had no idea who "this so-called writer" was. Oldest trick in the book, and also completely bush-league. You don't get to John Calipari's position by not knowing the names of national sportswriters.

Anyway, knowing the more extreme factions of the UK fan base, one could only assume some serious Big Blue anger was headed Forde's way. (The reaction was more restrained than I would have imagined.) But why? What did Forde do? Apparently, an interview on ESPN's "Outside The Lines" is what had Calipari all riled up -- specifically where Forde discusses Calipari's past recruiting black marks and his bond with shady relationship man William Wesley (which happens at the 2:10 mark):







Not to get all defensive on Forde's behalf, but Calipari is playing things a bit dirty here. It's Forde's job to discuss this stuff. The points he's making -- that UK has changed its stance on Calipari's past in as they've become more desperate to win; that Calipari is at least someone who deserves close monitoring when it comes to flouting NCAA rules -- are valid ones. They're inherent to the discussion of Calipari's hiring. Not mentioning them would be dishonest.

Calipari can react to that as petulantly as he wants. He can whip his Twitter followers into a frenzy, if he feels that way. But if he didn't want to have his name attached to recruiting violations, he shouldn't have been so apparently careless at UMass. If he doesn't want to deal with the questions, he should work even harder to prevent them. There have to be better ways of doing so than lashing out in 140 characters or less.

[Rixsaw]

totally agree with coach Knight message. However, I don't think 1 coach should call out or single out another coach.

[jjgold]

Bobby is right most of the time and he is right here.

[Team Ramrod]

Knight is right on.

[3PtShooter]

Knight is very correct on this issue, but he must be very careful with the skeletons in his closet at IU

[Chi_archie]

were the sanctions against Umass and Memphis directly related to Calipari?

[iceminers26]

Heck yeah I agree with Knight and in no way is he out of line with his comments; he had a clean history during his coaching days in this particular area. But the bigger picture, it is taking a shot at the NCAA in general because of their weak punishments to Cal, while his former colleges suffer.

[keitht]

Bob knight has done alot of crazy shit in his days coaching, but never gave kids grades to play, or never had a recruiting violation.... grades and graduating was first for knight, check the records... he had one of the highest graduating percent in college.... calipari would sell a blind man a pair of glasses to win a game!!!!

[FishFace5]

Both. I also like both of these coaches, but Calipari is a bit sketchy. Both of these coaches know how to win. One guy chokes players and the other buys them cars or whatever miriad of violations that Calipari committed.

+1.

[patswin]

bitter

knight quit on his team a few years ago

[koby25]

Bobby knight was a real good coach. Very mean but alot of these kids nowadays need that.

[DOMINATER]

Bobby Knight Wasn't that mean there was no reports of any murders nor any broken bones. So whats the big deal. He did try to strangle a few guys.

[bettilimbroke999]

Every team Calipari coaches gets to the national championship AND gets puts on probation

He is one of if not the most sought after coach in college basketball, moral of the story there is no integrity in college basketball and winning truly is everything, an "honest" great coach that gets knocked out in the 2nd round every year bc he cant recruit the talent will lose his job a dishonest jackass like Calipari who cheats at every school he coaches at theyll line up to pay him 5 mil a year

[BestPlay2day]

Coach Knight is 100% correct. Calipari is crooked and I wouldn't be surprised to see santions against Kentucky in the next few years and he will bail on Kentucky and go coach another school.