John Clay's Sidelines

Big Blue Links for Tuesday:

• Jerry Tipton and Ryan Alessi of the Herald-Leader write that John Calipari appears headed to Kentucky.
• Mark Story writes an open letter to Lee Todd questioning the choice of Calipari.
• Tipton and Alessi write that expectations for new UK coach may be higher than ever.
• Andy Katz of espn.com reports that Calipari is sleeping on Kentucky’s offer.
• Dan Wolken of the Memphis Commercial Appeal reports that Memphis boosters are trying to block UK’s shot at Calipari.
• Geoff Calkins of the Commercial Appeal writes that Memphis’ maneuvering for Cal has gone into overtime.
• Gary Parrish of CBS Sportsline writes that the Calipari drama will carry into today.
• Rick Bozich of the Courier-Journal writes that Calipari isn’t Kentucky’s best choice.
• Andrew Wolfson of the C-J reports that some question Calipari’s temper and recruiting.
• Brett Dawson and Bozich of the C-J write that Calipari is the choice.
• Larry Vaught writes in Kentucky Sports Report that it’s a done deal.

Continue reading ‘BBL: Battle for (and over) Calipari continues’

SEC links for Tuesday:

• Wally Hall of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette writes that new TV deal gives SEC basketball a rebound shot.
• Ian Rapoport of the Birmingham News reports that Alabama is giving raises to all of its football staffers except Nick Saban.
• News columnist Kevin Scarbinsky writes that Anthony Grant understands that football can be his friend.
• Seth Emerson of the The State reports on how spin cycle is bringing new coaches to the SEC.
• Pat Dooley of the Gainesville Sun writes that Florida is disappointed with its defense this spring.

Continue reading ‘SEC links: TV deal should help conference hoops’

Memphis Commercial Appeal just posted Geoff Calkin’s latest column in which he reports that Memphis is working overtime to keep John Calipari.

An excerpt:

Somewhere in the late afternoon or early evening Monday, Memphis vs. Kentucky turned into one for the ages.

Could mighty Kentucky overpower Memphis? Or would plucky Memphis pull an upset for all time?

As of press time, it still wasn’t over. Syracuse vs. Connecticut, eat your heart out.

Those two teams played for 226 minutes a few weeks ago, and everyone thought it was a big deal. Memphis and Kentucky officials must be chortling at that now.

They were going at it all day Sunday and Monday.

At first, everyone thought Calipari was leaving. It was a blowout. Not even close.

Kentucky was reportedly offering $40 million over six years. Memphis couldn’t possibly withstand that.

Sure enough, Memphis boosters started to assemble a list of candidates to pursue when Calipari left.

Here, too, is Gary Parrish’s update for CBS Sportsline. Gary lives in Memphis, by the way.

Update: This Washington Post story says that Memphis basketball grad rate for basketball players in NCAA 2007 tourney was 25 percent. And here’s a USA Today comparison of teams in final Top 25 of 2006-07. Memphis tied for 15th out of 25.

Update: Here is Memphis academic progress report by NCAA for 2006-07. The basketball program has a rating of 927, which is in the 40-50 percentile. Here is UK’s APR. It’s 941 rating ranks in the 60-70 percentile.

M.B. sends an e-mail saying he remembered that Memphis graduation rate for basketball players has been very low under John Calipari. And, according to this report from last year, he’s right. Memphis has not graduated its African-American students at a high rate.

An excerpt:

* The median six-year graduation rate for black men (not just basketball players, but the entire student population) at school that made the 2007 NCAA men’s basketball tournament is 50.6%. The highest is Vanderbilt (92.6%), while the lowest is Memphis (18.9%). Seventeen schools graduate one-third or fewer black men within six years.

Also, Derrick Jackson writes in the Boston Globe:

BACK IN the National Collegiate Athletic Association basketball tournament this year after just missing the title last year, Memphis coach John Calipari said, “We don’t feel we have anything to prove because we’re a different team.” One thing is not different. Memphis should not be in the tournament at all, with a 44 percent graduation success rate for its African-American basketball players.

Mike DeCourcy of the Sporting News asks which job is better, the open Kentucky position or the Arizona position?

Here’s the pro and con Mike gives for UK:

Why it’s a great job: No program enjoys greater financial and public support for basketball. Kentucky basketball is the state’s franchise. That leads to postgraduate opportunities for players and to a powerful home game atmosphere.

Why it’s not as good as you think: The talent base is all but dead. Kentucky no longer produces elite players, which makes it harder for UK to land championship-level talent. Expectations are more reasonable than some believe, but scrutiny is not. No place picks apart a coach’s methods with greater zeal. Billy Gillispie’s authority was undermined from the very start as his approach to changing a country club culture was ridiculed.

He ranks Kentucky as the 7th best job in college basketball. Arizona as 12th.

And he lists Pitino as the No. 1 candidate for the Arizona job.

Andy Katz is reporting on espn.com that UK and John Calipari are in final negotiations over a contract that would call for $35 million over eight years.

The 6-year, $30-million deal was what had been thrown around. Some have heard it was going to be in the $40 million range over eight years. The negotiations may be why things have grown quiet in the past couple of ours. Memphis radio had been saying there could be an announcement at 5 or so, but that obviously hasn’t happened. My guess is that there will be no press conference before Tuesday afternoon.

Katz writes:

John Calipari and Kentucky inched ever closer to a deal on Monday night that could make him the highest-paid coach in the country, a source close to the situation said.

While Calipari met with Memphis officials, representatives for both sides were working out details of an agreement. Sources told ESPN.com that the offer is believed to be for eight years and around $35 million.

One source close to the situation said that the deal could be ironed out by later Monday evening.

Florida’s Billy Donovan is currently the highest-paid coach in the country, securing a deal for $3.5 million per year after his second national championship.

Update: Here’s another report of pretty much the same thing.

Tiger Sports Report, the Rivals site for Memphis, is reporting that John Calipari has rejected Memphis’ counteroffer and will be the next head coach at UK.

It is a subscription service, but here’s the link.

Joe Posnanski

Here’s a good column from Kansas City Star columnist and SI contributor Joe Posnanski on John Calipari, written just last week.

Joe says John just rubs some people the wrong way.

An excerpt:

Why? Well, that part’s hard to explain. Yes, there are a few public incidents you can point to … there was the time he called a reporter a “bleeping Mexican idiot,” because the reporter dared give him a D in a midseason report card. There was the time the NCAA made Massachusetts vacate its 1996 Final Four appearance – Calipari coached that team – because star Marcus Camby had been paid by an agent. There were the many, many times that people felt like he went way over the edge in the way he went after officials. And so on.

But the public incidents do not add up to the general disdain that so many seem to feel about Calipari. There’s something about the way he looks. He can’t help himself. Cal is America’s college basketball bad guy. I suspect many people across the nation knock Memphis out of their March Madness brackets early simply because they want John Calipari out.

And I’m not the only one who suspects that.

“Each round we go, more and more people pick us to lose,” he said. “Sometimes I don’t know if it’s their opinion or their hope.”

He knows. It’s their hope. John Calipari just sets people off.