By LARRY VAUGHT

C.M. Newton admits he had some concerns when his son, Martin, told him he wanted to become director of basketball operations for John Calipari at Kentucky.

However, the concerns were not related to Calipari.

“Martin had spent a lot of years both with Converse and Nike and had worked himself into a very good position with Nike in college basketball. As I would get around, it made me proud to know he was so well thought of by coaches and others. When he told me he was thinking of doing this, I had some concerns. He was with a good company and already had a very good job,” said C.M. Newton. “You are rolling the dice a little bit when you change careers. But he is also in the age range in his 40’s where if he was going to make a change, now is the time.

So why did he change?

“There were  a lot of reasons to make the change. One, he loves Lexington and wanted to stay in Lexington. He would have had to move to Portland if he was ever going to take over college basketball for Nike. The more important thing was his relationship with coach Calipari over the years. And his love and concern for the university,” C.M. Newton said. “He is very excited. I have not seen him this excited about anything in a long time. He is like a newborn kid. He has been so excited about it from the beginning and is more excited today than the day he decided to do it.”

C.M. Newton first met Calipari when he was still an assistant coach at Pittsburgh when Newton was coaching at Vanderbilt and faced Pitt in the NCAA Tournament. He got to know Calipari much better when he was UK’s athletics director and then UK coach Rick Pitino “was mentoring” Calipari through his years at Massachusetts. “We also played them,” Newton said. “I have always been impressed with him. He is a people person. He is very bright. He has very good skills as a coach and great understanding of the game and all the things you want in a basketball coach. I know he has been very interested in this job for some period of time. I was just thrilled when Mitch (Barnhart) and Dr. (Lee) Todd made the decision to hire him.”

Part of that is because C.M. Newton knew Calipari would embrace UK fans.

“He gets it. He understands the Kentucky fan. He understands that the position as head coach is a position that whoever sits in it is not the key. It is being the coach at Kentucky that is the key. Occupying that seat, which he does very well, comes with certain responsibilities and obligations. Tubby (Smith) understood that. Rick understood that. John certainly understands that,” Newton said. “He is amazing with Kentucky fan base. That is what that job requires.”

Since Newton has been a major college coach, athletics director at UK and worked for the Southeastern Conference, he knows all about the rumors and innuendo that have followed Calipari from UMass to Memphis to Kentucky.

“I didn’t have any concerns about any of that with my son going to work for John Calipari. He is a great guy and I’m glad Martin is working with him,” Newton said.

“John Calipari is no different from Mike Krzyzewski or Roy Williams or Bill Self or Rick Pitino. He is no different in terms in interest and support of rules and yet I think what has happened is that the media has portrayed him and painted him in a certain way which is unfair.”

Want more? Newton wonders why the NCAA waited over a year after former Memphis standout Derrick Rose had been cleared to play and helped Memphis reach the national title game before it ruled him ineligible and forced Memphis to vacate its 2008 Final Four appearance.

“I would ask the question to of the NCAA would there have been the hullabaloo a year later after the clearing house clears a kid and kid that says I have taken the test if that had been at North Carolina or Duke. But it happened to be at Memphis. Or would there have been the hullabaloo if this agent thing with (Marcus) Camby if it was not at UMass and was at some other school,” Newton said.

“I don’t worry about that stuff. I know him and know he is a person of integrity. That whole gray area is where coaches operate today. That is why you have secondary violations and that is not to say they cheat or think of cheating. It’s just not within the spirit or intent of the rule, but every successful person will push the envelope. The Division I coaches are all that way looking for an edge and John is no different from any of the rest of them.”

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