By LARRY VAUGHT 
larry@amnews.com

The NCAA is investigating major violations at Memphis, but apparently the “major” tag belonged on the women’s golf program, not men’s basketball, based on the information the NCAA sent Memphis.

 

John Calipari is “not as risk” in the basketball investigation, but the NCAA wants to make sure he participates in the hearing.

 

Kentucky says it knew about the inquiry when it hired Calipari, but NCAA officials say they didn’t discuss NCAA investigations with UK – or anyone else.

 

Confused? Me, too.

 

However, many in the national media are not confused. Instead, they are teeing off on Calipari – and Kentucky. Never mind that Shepard Cooper, the director of the NCAA Committee on Infractions, sent Calipari a letter to “make it clear that you are not considered to be ‘at risk’ in these proceedings.”

 

Instead, he told Calipari he felt since he was head coach when the alleged violations occurred that he could possibly provide “helpful information” to help the committee understand the case.

 

As I understand it, a player is being accused of having a suspect college entrance test score that the NCAA approved before the player played at Memphis. There’s also the area of travel expenses to a player’s brother that were not reimbursed that apparently now have been or soon will be.

 

However, based on some national media reports, you might think Calipari had been caught taking the test and then giving out bags of money to players and recruits.

 

Here is part of what Orlando Sentinel staff writer Andrea Adelson wrote on OrlandoSentinel.com:

 

“All you Gators fans worried about John Calipari and what he is going to do at Kentucky should breathe easy today. In a few years, Kentucky could face some sort of NCAA sanction.

 

“That’s just the Calipari way. The two other schools he has coached at have gotten into trouble with the NCAA for rules violations that happened on Calipari’s watch.

 

“What is particularly outrageous in both instances is the fact that Calipari gets off unscathed, and in the Memphis case, he just ran away knowing full well what was going to happen. The NCAA sent its letter of allegations to the school in January. Calipari clearly knew the school was under NCAA investigation when Kentucky came calling.”

 

She went on to blast Calipari for taking the Tigers’ best recruits – DeMarcus Cousins, John Wall and Eric Bledsoe – with him to Kentucky.

 

She finally did concede this Calipari wasn’t named in any allegations.

 

Innuendo and speculation

 

Obviously, we all have our own opinions. Still, don’t I remember Florida coach Billy Donovan once being questioned about his ties with some high school summer all-star teams? Or North Carolina coach Roy Williams having some problems with graduation gifts given to players when he was at Kansas.

 

If the NCAA finds that Calipari violated NCAA rules, punish him. Who could argue with that?

 

However, saying he’s guilty by innuendo or speculation is just not fair and that doesn’t matter whether he’s coaching at Kentucky or Memphis.

 

Calipari knew the spotlight would be on him at Kentucky more than when he coached at Massachusetts or Memphis. He also coached the New Jersey Nets, but he knew also that the NBA spotlight wouldn’t match the one at UK.

 

However, he insisted in an interview after he was hired that outside criticism or distractions would not bother him.

 

“I don’t listen to talk radio. If someone gets on there and thinks they are jabbing me, I don’t listen to it. I don’t know what is on a chat room. I don’t know how to get in there. I can turn on a computer. That’s the extent of it,” he said. “You are not going to bug me in a chat room because I never see it.

 

“I am not going to read the local paper whether it’s good or bad. If they write the good and it pumps you up, that’s not good either. Ego – edging God out – is not good. Or when they rip you to shreds and call you the devil – and I am not the devil – I am not going to see that.

 

“I am a basketball coach. I go about my business and treat my players the way I want my son to be treated. I try to coach them up, make them feel good and try to recruit good players. That’s what I am about.”

 

So while many media members fire away at Calipari, it won’t bother him. The guess here is that it will irritate Kentucky fans, but not change their feeling for Calipari, either, unless someone does link him to wrongdoing – something that has not happened during his long coaching career.