ILLEGAL CONTACT ... “John Wall PLEASE come to NC STATE!” ... Facebook group set up by NC State freshman Taylor Moseley to encourage a high school phenom to commit the school. The NCAA deemed that Moseley had made illegal contact with a recruit as a representative of the University, so they forced NC State to send a cease-and-desist letter to the student. ... bleacher report, 4-12-09
UK PREZ IS ‘STUPIFIED GNOME?’ … "If you have a coach who's charismatic, who can really help the marketing image of the university, he will generate more money for us than the differential pay that we've had to go up to in order to get him." … University of Kentucky President Lee Todd, commenting on the biggest-ever compensation package for new coach John Calipari. In an op-ed in the Boston Glob, columnist Derrick Z. Jackson quipped that, “[Todd] behaved less as a CEO of higher learning than as a stupefied gnome counting his treasure.” … Boston Glob, 4-4-09
CALIBRATING EXPECTATIONS … "I do not walk on water. I do not have a magic wand." … new Kentucky coach John Calipari, efforting to calibrate expectations of immediate success in Lexington. … USA Today, 4-3-09
March 2009
GILLESPIE OUT … "You're asking the wrong guy. All I know is to go to work, recruit, coach and that's what I did, that's what I've done and that's what I'll continue to do." … embattled Kentucky basketball coach Billy Gillispie, when asked if he’d be back next year, after the Wildcats’ loss to Notre Dame in the NIT quarterfinals. Gillispie firing was announced at a 4:30 pm news conference on Friday. The coach’s job security eroded when his team lost eight of its final 11 regular season games to squander a 5-0 start in SEC play. Gillispie was 40-27 at Kentucky and had a seven-year deal, which stipulated he would receive a $6 million buyout if he were let go after two seasons. … AP, 3-27-09
TK GROWLS … "We believe that the criteria for imposing a blanket penalty that vacates records should be established by the NCAA and its full membership, not by a committee using a seemingly ever changing and nebulous set of criteria.”… Florida State president TK Wetherell, announcing an appeal of the NCAA D1 Committee on Infractions’ order that the school vacate all wins involving 61 athletes in 10 sports who received improper academic assistance. The penalty could wipe out as many as 14 wins from legendary football coach Bobby Bowden, and could end his chance of being the all-time winningest coach in big-time college football. Wetherell went on, "This will affect 525 student athletes who did nothing wrong, and 52 coaches who had no involvement at all. ... To suggest that they be penalized is wrong and unfair." …FSU press conference, 3-16-09
SAGE Sr.A.C. … “I don't think there is less interest in college basketball. I think there may be less interest in spending money.” … Tim Allen, a Big 12 Senior Associate Commissioner, providing a pragmatic explanation of the effect of the economy on tournament ticket sales. The Big 12 men¹s tournament is usually sold out in advance, but not this year. … KC Star, 3-10-09
CHANGE AGENT … “Some people think rules are rules because they’re in the rulebook. Well, I want to change the rulebook. Some folks who think that the Good Book -- you know the big one -- was brought down the mountain by Moses also think that the NCAA bylaw manual was brought down with him.” … Gene Marsh, a University of Alabama law professor and former chair of the D1 Committee on Infractions, in an article for the March issue of the Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal. Professor Marsh suggested revisions to the infractions process by allowing dissenting opinions in cases and bringing in more nonpartisan judges.
February 2009
COACH HANGED… “First you walk all over me, and now you hang me.” … Pete Carril, former Princeton basketball coach, after the school had put his name on its court and raised a likeness of him to the rafters. … Sports Illustrated, 3-2-09
COACH VENTS … "We don't have freedom of speech as coaches. We cannot discuss those things (officials' calls). Maybe Obama will change the rule, where we can talk." … Tim Floyd, Southern Cal men’s BK coach, after being ejected in the final minute of the Trojan’s loss to Arizona State. … examiner.com, 2-17-09
SEPTUAGENARIAN MARTYR … “I feel like I’m suffering the slings and arrows of administrative injustice.” ... Ken Mink, a 73-year-old man playing basketball for Roane State Community College in Tennessee. Mink has been declared academically ineligible by the NJCAA because of some trouble in a Spanish class. …Knoxville News, 2-21-09
SHOULD KNIGHT CALL IT A DAY? … “Bob Knight is the rotary phone in a world of sci-fi gadgetry. He is the 12-inch black and white in a neighborhood overrun by home theater plasma.” … Ian O'Connor, Fox Sports contributor, writer at The Record (NJ), author of “The Jump,” wordsmith extraordinaire and a Clips favorite, from a column – “Can’t we just call it a Knight?” -- in which he unequivocally opines that the 68-year old Knight should just call it a career. More: “Walking an old lady across the street on Monday doesn't give anyone the right to treat people like garbage on Tuesday, and Knight could never grasp that truth.” Ouch. … Fox Sports, 2-4-09
THEY’RE FROM MISSOURI? ...“Believe half of what you see and nothing of what you hear.” .... An old saying said to be applicable to certain lofty and visionary goals laid out by the NCAA. The origins of said saying are quite murky; it has been variously attributed to eagle-eyed Drake Groupies, Tibetan yak herders and a sage & savvy commissioner of an unnamed southern conference. ...Beagle Bark Gazette, 2-1-09
January 2009
FLACCO-MANIA... "I'm boring, and I'm proud of it." ... Baltimore Ravens rookie QB Joe Flacco, who is more of a “regular Joe” than the “Joe Cool” he is thought to be. Flacco became the first rookie quarterback in NFL history to win two playoff games. ...AP, 1-17-09
GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION OF BCS SYSTEM? …“It’s not really in an area where the government belongs. Now, if the BCS system was corrupt and people were taking the money and doing criminal things or whatever, then yeah, Congress has a right to step in.” … Former US Rep. Tom Osborne (R-Neb.) – and current Nebraska AD -- who coached three national championship teams at the University of Nebraska, said he likes the president-elect but finds him misguided on this issue. Said Osborne, “I think maybe he’s ranging a little bit far afield from his area of expertise. Those of us who deal with this every day have a certain perspective.” … The Hill.com, 1-15-09
