Have seen where some in the media report that after consulting with the NCAA, UK apologized for celebrating John Calipari’s 500th victory last season.
Have also seen where some have said that Kentucky refused to apologize.
Don’t think either one is correct.
Kentucky didn’t apologize.
Nor was it asked to apologize.
The NCAA never requested that UK issue any kind of apology. Instead, what the NCAA wanted was for Kentucky to acknowledge it was incorrect, given previous NCAA rulings that vacated victories that the Kentucky coach was involved in, saying that Calipari had attained the 500-win mark.
In its five-page letter to the university, the NCAA expressed a desire for UK to “issue a statement to the media announcing that, after consulting with the NCAA, its honoring of Mr. Calipari for his purported 500th career victory on Feb. 26 was in error and that, henceforth, it will reflect Mr. Calipari’s career record in its media guides, internet sites and other publications consistent with the NCAA’s official records and statistics.”
And here’s what Kentucky released today:
After consulting with the NCAA, the University of Kentucky has been informed that the honoring of our head men’s basketball coach for his 500th career victory on Feb. 26, 2011 was in error and that, henceforth, we will reflect our head men’s basketball coach’s career record in our media guides, Internet sites and other publications consistent with the NCAA’s official records and statistics.
No apology was given, because no apology was requested.
So 33 Calipari victories from now, Kentucky can celebrate Cal’s 500th all over again.
John,
Why was the letter 5 pages?? Isn’t that more to the point.
That, I have no idea.
You can actually read the five-page letter here: http://kentucky.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1232255
And no cries of “uncle” as Tipton would have it!!!
Can’t wait to read about the NCAA cracking down on the other programs brought to their attention by Sandy Bell as having “incorrect” notations in their media guides.
Seriously with all the other garbage going on in college sports today these egg-headed imbeciles make THIS a point of principle?
Unbelievable.
Another in a list of reasons getting as long as a highway from New York to L.A. why the top 60 schools need to tell the NCAA in the words of Michael Wilbon to “go to hell…” and start their own group.
As far as Jerry Tipton’s part in all this, I had nothing against him, I always felt he was just trying to do his job but now, this seems petty and stupid by him. I hope he enjoys his notoriety because it’s accomplished nothing but make more readers of the Herald-Leader despise him and possibly cancel their subscriptions which today is something no newspaper can afford regardless of where they may be located.
Mark Liptak
Mark, what did Jerry do that was “petty and stupid”? He asked UK about Calipari 500 wins and UK said it had not heard back from NCAA. So he asked the NCAA about it. That’s what a reporter is supposed to do: Ask questions.
It really does not matter. Most outlets laughed at the NCAA’s request. The only thing that hurts is the fact that this stokes the anti-Cal media heads. Tipton is a great journalist. It just sucks that the best fan base in college sport has a beat writer more interested in the negative “gotcha” moment than the positive/ fair stories that fans want to hear.
John:
I fully expected you to defend a colleague and I understand that. The fact is though that NO ONE repeat NO ONE but Tipton is making an issue out of this.
Talk about making a mountain out of a molehill.
Why John?, perhaps you should ask him that. Why does it appear to bother him and no one else in the profession?
This is the type of “journalism” that Jay Mariotti excelled at (and that’s not a compliment.)
Mark Liptak
John:
And on a larger note, I am fed up to here (indicating the top of my head) with the arrogance, stupidity, inconsistency and bullying tactics of the NCAA. Just who in the hell do they think they are?
Jerry Tarkanian twice has sued them and won millions, one of the assistant coaches at USC has just sued them over the way they handled the Reggie Bush “investigation” and the assumptions they made about him. When are they going to learn how to act?
I’m tired of these intellectual eggheads who have no, repeat NO conception of what is going on in the ‘real world’ and then sit back and pontificate like they are the be-all, end all in everything. These professors wouldn’t know their rear ends from a hole in the ground.
I hope I live long enough to see UK and the other top 59 programs tell them to shove it, go their own way and make the NCAA as relevant as the NIT.
Mark Liptak
Mark,
As for the NCAA, it is a member-based institution. It is the membership that makes the rules, hands down the penalties, etc. And the membership is other universities, not a body separate outside of athletics.
Is the NCAA hypocritical? Yes. Are a lot of the NCAA rules nonsense? Yes. But it’s up to the member institutions, Kentucky included, to change that.
Also, a lot of this could have been avoided had Kentucky not waited until 5:52 of Feb. 26, when its game with Florida started at 4 p.m. that day, to call the NCAA to get a ruling on whether it could recognize Calipari for his 500th win.