John Clay's Sidelines

Our Jerry Tipton is reporting that the John Calipari deal for the Memphis coach to come to Kentucky is nearing completion.

Meanwhile, have heard that UK has alerted players to be ready for a 4:30 p.m. meeting.

The mother of Memphis recruit Nolan Dennis tells the Memphis Commercial-Appeal that her son has an agreement with Memphis that he will be released from his letter-of-intent if John Calipari leaves as coach. He could then follow Calipari to the next destination.

Dan Wolken has the story in the Memphis Commercial-Appeal.

Carol Dennis says she nor her son has heard yet from Calipari.

Meanwhile, a Memphis radio station is reporting that Calipari has a 3:30 meeting with Memphis boosters. He could give his decision then. There is also talk of a possible 4 p.m. announcement. I’ve been told that another station is reporting that Calipari will not decide until tonight.

Memphis Commercial-Appeal is now reporting that Memphis has granted permission to Kentucky to talk to John Calipari about its head coaching position.

University of Memphis athletic director R.C. Johnson released a statement that said he had been contacted by Kentucky AD Mitch Barnhardt and has granted Barnhardt permission to talk to Calipari about the coaching vacancy.

“We have given Kentucky permission to talk with John (Calipari) about their position,” Johnson said in the statement. “However, I will tell you that we are elated with the job John has done as our head coach and we will do everything in our power to retain his services at Memphis.”

The way this has worked in the past few years, is that this is the final piece of the puzzle. Minnesota didn’t actually ask for permission to talk to Tubby Smith until it had received assurances that Smith would take the job if offered. Guessing it’s the same thing here.

Just got this e-mail from someone with a very interesting perspective:

John,
As someone who worked in athletics at UK and UMass when Calipari was
there, I can only say that of all the candidates out there, he is the
best fit possible. The style of play and John’s own personal style
will be amazing. Not to mention with he and Pitino both being in the
same state, it will provide tons of material for all the media.

I have confirmed the authenticity of the e-mailer, but he or she doesn’t want the name used.

William Wesley, right, with Ron Artest.

Update from Rick Bozich’s blog has Wesley saying, “What’s going to happen is going to be monumental for college basketball. It’s going to be exciting. It’s going to be great.”

With John Calipari’s name atop the UK buzz list, with most believing he is mulling an offer from Kentucky, you may have heard talk about William Wesley, the confidant/powerbroker type who has been connected with Calipari.

Here is a New York Times profile that ran last year on Wesley.

An excerpt:

Wesley has close ties to the Memphis Tigers, one of the four teams here this weekend. Wesley has been friends with Memphis Coach John Calipari since the mid-1980s, when Calipari was recruiting in New Jersey, where Wesley grew up, for Kansas.

In February, a day before No. 1 Memphis played No. 2 Tennessee in the regular season, Wesley grabbed rebounds for one of the Tiger players shooting free throws. On game day, he mingled on the floor with the team, sat directly behind the bench, walked off the floor with the players at halftime and joined them in the postgame handshake line.

At the Nike-sponsored LeBron James Skills Academy last summer in Akron, Ohio, Wesley worked his connections.

Michael Gilchrist, a 6-foot-6 high school freshman who has already said he will play at Memphis, did not play in the camp. But he hung around there, mostly with Wesley and the Memphis star Chris Douglas-Roberts.

At one point, James told Wesley, “Hey, I’m going to grab some lunch.” Wesley responded, “Why don’t you bring Little Mike with you?”

It is vintage Wesley, using one relationship to build another.

Gary Parrish of CBS Sportsline writes that John Calipari could be the UK coach in the next 24 hours.

Parrish:

Barring a breakdown in negotiations, the Kentucky job is John Calipari’s to take, and the Memphis coach could verbally accept an informal offer in the next 24 hours, a source close to Calipari told CBSSports.com. Meantime, the Commercial Appeal in Memphis is reporting that Calipari met with his players Monday morning, and that “the players left the meeting convinced Calipari would take the job.”

The guess here is that this will be wrapped up pretty quickly, one way or the other.

Update: I had made a post about one of the Calipari children’s Facebook page, but have taken the post down. An e-mailer questioned the media bringing the children into it, I think that’s a good point.

A current Memphis player tells the ABC affiliate in Memphis that he believes John Calipari will take the Kentucky job.

Jim Turpin of ABC-24 in Memphis says that he talked to a current Tiger who says that Cal all but said he was going to Kentucky in the meeting held this morning.

An excerpt:

That is the statement made to MyEyewitnessNews.com by a member of this year’s Tigers team following a team meeting with the coach. “Yes, we met with him. He was talking like he was going to leave,” was the quote from the player who attended this morning’s meeting.

Geoff Calkins, the terrific columnist at the Memphis Commercial-Appeal, just posted a quick column asking what is John Calipari willing to risk by going to UK.

An excerpt:

What does John Calipari want? And what is he willing to risk to get it?

This is the essence of the question. This is what Calipari will ask himself.

Does he want to be rich enough to buy a Caribbean island?

He can do that by staying at Memphis.

Does he want to win a national championship?

He can do that here, too.

Does he want to coach in front of sellout crowds, be celebrated as one of the most important figures in a city of a million and raise his son, Bradley, in an environment where the family is understood and embraced?

If Calipari wants all that, he should turn down the Kentucky job.

Memphis Commercial-Appeal is reporting that Memphis coach John Calipari met with his players this morning and gave them the indication he will take the Kentucky job.

The lead:

University of Memphis coach John Calipari met with his players this morning to discuss his involvement with the University of Kentucky opening, according to a source close to the situation.

While Calipari did not say explicitly what he planned to do, players left the meeting convinced that Calipari would take the job. According to the source, Calipari told the team that Kentucky was the Notre Dame of basketball.

ESPN’s Andy Katz is reporting that John Calipari will meet with Memphis officials today as he considers a lucrative offer to be the next basketball coach at Kentucky.

Katz says the offer was made when Calipari met with UK officials on Monday.

Katz writes:

Coach John Calipari is spending Monday meeting with Memphis officials and contemplating what is expected to be a multiyear, multimillion offer to coach Kentucky, a source close to the situation said.

Calipari met with Kentucky officials on Sunday at an undisclosed location, at which time he was given an outline of length of deal and contract dollars to succeed Billy Gillispie, the source said.

But more than the money, Calipari has to decide if he wants to leave a program in Memphis that he has transformed into a national championship contender for one of the most tradition-rich programs in the sport that has recently fallen upon hard times.