NCAA must come down on Calipari

Although 13 years have passed since Kentucky coach John Calipari’s last incident, there’s been a common occurrence at the end of his two most successful seasons.

Final Four appearances at both the University of Memphis and the University of Massachusetts have had their records erased and banners yanked from the rafters. The most recent at Memphis came down only five days ago.

Here’s my question to the NCAA: Why has more not been done to look into Calipari’s most recent incident at Memphis?

Given his track record, you would think the NCAA would have more concern.

The Memphis basketball program was hit earlier this summer with allegations that Derrick Rose, a freshman from the 2007-08 team, had a stand-in take the SAT for him. Rose had failed the test twice before passing on his third try and becoming eligible to play at Memphis.

The NCAA forced Memphis to vacate its 38 wins tallied in 2007-08 on Aug. 20, and removed the Final Four banner.

Rose went on to play point guard for the Chicago Bulls, and he led them to the playoffs last season. Meanwhile, his coach at Memphis, Calipari, went on to 33 wins and Sweet 16 appearance in the 2008-09 season. He was rewarded with an eight-year $31.65 million coaching job to revive the historic Kentucky basketball program.

According to a statement released by Kentucky, the coach is in no danger of consequences stemming from the situation, and current Memphis coach Josh Pastner said the Memphis program isn’t in hot water, either.

Calipari’s coaching job before Memphis ended with a very similar situation.

The 1995-96 UMass Minutemen, coached by Calipari, had their Final Four banner taken down from the stadium rafters. The punishment came after it was found that NBA star and former UMass center Marcus Camby became involved with an agent and accepted $28,000 while in school.

While it was decided UMass officials had no way of knowing what was going on behind the scenes in ’96, this is the second offense at a second program to have a situation like this occur under his watch.

Lesser violations have been looked into further.

For instance, the violations by Kelvin Sampson at IU were much more heavily investigated by the NCAA than Memphis’ violation of academic standards thus far.

Isn’t the allowance of a student-athlete to evade educational standards a little worse than impermissible phone calls?

Everyone saw what Sampson’s example of cutting the recruiting corners can do to both the future of a coach and a program. A minimal investigation such as the one seen in the Rose situation does nothing to steer coaches and players away from the temptation of putting hoops before a high school diploma.

At the very least, a sort of probation needs to be the consequence on Calipari’s end. And, if evidence proves fault, a heavier sanction for Memphis may also be consequential.

ESPN’s Erik Kuselias summed it up best last week while on “The Herd With Colin Cowherd.” Kuselias stated the NCAA’s essential blind eye to the situation thus far is a reflection of a problem all too common in society: “If there’s production, there’s no wrong.”

While money and business are at stake in professional sports, collegiate athletics have an added classroom aspect. The current Calipari situation’s  educational ties make it a perfect time for the NCAA to emphasize its grades-before-glory purpose.