Originally Posted by
Scrap Irony
And if this is indeed the case, will public opinion change from "Calipari is slimy" to "Calipari was wrong"? By all accounts (aside from Forde, who knows a thing or two about obfuscating), Calipari knew nothing about the Rose/SAT debacle. But public opinion doesn't need proof to denigrate nor evidence to sermonize.
In this case, IMO, Pandora's Box has been opened, for good or ill. Calipari will always be seen as guilty, if not caught.
I wonder how, though, he can't get away with it, but Coach K and Roy Williams can? Pitino, too, for that matter. What's the difference in the coaches? K's program has been caught three different times in the past fifteen years or so and Williams' KU program was also saddled with sanctions. Pitino got caught early in his career, much like Calipari, but nothing came of it and he's widely regarded as fairly clean.
How are those coaches (and others) looked over and other villified?
I could see Knight, as there never was, IIRC, a whiff of an NCAA problem on his watch. Same with a select few like him-- Dean Smith, John Thompson, John Wooden-- none had the NCAA sniffing around them ever (though, to be fair, many former UCLA players have confirmed $100 handshakes and other bonuses to play for Wooden's Bruins in the early 70's, among them, Bill Walton).
You could argue the program, but that doesn't wash with Kentucky and Pitino, as UK is among the most penalized in NCAA history. Same thing with IU and Sampson.