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I sit here scratching my head, wondering how any coach is sports can $31.65 million dollars over eight years without sitting pretty with a championship ring on his finger. Jon Calipari has just signed with Kentucky for this absurd contract and there are definitely a bunch of wild-headed cats in their front office.
Not only are the Kentucky Wildcats foolish for this desperation move, Calipari is so unbelievably boneheaded for leaving one of the best situations on college basketball. Memphis went to the final game of the tourney last year and lost, but it was impressive how Calipari built up that program. Even though Memphis got destroyed by Missouri this year, they have so much to look forward to in the future. The recruiting class that has been put together has been argued to be one of the best recruiting classes of all time. Excuse me coach Calipari, but how can you just walk away from a possible three top six players in the country coming into your program? This boggles my mind.
Sure he goes to Memphis to coach players like Jodie Meeks and Patrick Patterson, but he could have the chance to have an undefeated season at Memphis, not to mention another trip to the championship game. Also, nothing is definite about Meeks and Patterson staying at Kentucky for the next season. Both players are NBA bound in their future, and after performing so well this season we might be seeing them waving goodbye to college basketball.
But I don’t want to sound pessimistic about them leaving. I would assume at least one of them would stay after the arrival of their new high profile coach.
Let’s talk about what makes coach Calipari so unbelievably desirable by Kentucky. Hmmmmm…beats me. In 1996, he took UMass to the final four. Ok that’s impressive, especially coming from a weak A-10 conference. And then he took Memphis to the finals a year, but didn’t win it all. Leaving Memphis is leaving a job undone. Kentucky is glorifying him for some reason as if he has won a championship. By giving Calipari this contract, he is making more money than some of the great all time college coaches who have rings on their fingers like Rick Pitino.
Obviously now Calipari has monstrous pressure put on his shoulders. There are no fans more dedicated to their team than the Wildcats’ in all of college basketball. With such a storied history, these fans have high demands, but need to be patient. Kentucky won’t go to the final four the next season or even the season after that. Calipari is a good coach, but needs time to bring back the luster the Kentucky program once had.
Like Calipari already said, “I’m a regular guy.” Well coach, now you’re just a regular guy with a $31.65 million dollar contract.
-Sam Gerb
Sam can be reached at sgerb@ut.edu
With seven seconds left in a basketball game between New Mexico State and Utah State a timeout was taken, which gave the mascots some time to get to know each other.
New Mexico State’s mascot is ‘Pistol Pete,’ a handgun-holding outlaw, while Utah State’s mascot is a blue bull, although both teams are called the Aggies.
Utah State’s bull made his way over to Pistol Pete and proceeded to rip his big, fake moustache off. Clearly offended, Pistol Pete jumped on the bull’s back and tried to take him to the floor. When that proved unsuccessful, Pete attempted to choke the bull.
With both of his valiant attempts failed, Pistol Pete withdrew and made the lonely walk back to his side of the court, defeated and moustache-less.
Apparently this feud was not a result of pure team spirit gone too far, it was the result of a man in the stands saying that he would give the Utah State mascot 100 dollars to rip Pistol Pete’s moustache off.
The man in the stands admitted to doing this, but did not think that it would escalate into something bigger.
Mascot fights are not anything new, but they are always interesting. When else could you see a duck take on a cougar, or a jaguar duke it out with an eagle?
Some people even find the fights more entertaining than the game that is being played, and although this may be true, the petty disputes between men and women dressed as animals and characters should never take away from the men and women who are playing the sport.
-Olivia Glynn
Olivia can be reached at oglynn@ut.edu
I have covered the men’s basketball team for a few weeks now and have seen them go through ups and downs. This this time of the year, more than any other, is the time to be “up,” so to speak.
The Spartans are nearing the end of their regular season and are now preparing to participate in the SSC tournament, where the hopes and stakes are both high.
The good news is that head coach Richard Schmidt is again leading the Spartans to a winning regular season. For him, it is more about staying consistent than anything else.
“We haven’t changed much, we just have to keep working hard,” Schmidt said.
Rashad Callaway has played incredibly well lately and leads the team in points per game. He is also the only Spartan to have started every game so far this season. Senior guard Johnathan Ball has also come on strong late in the season, including a career day in an overtime victory over Eckerd on Feb. 11.
“Certain people are having great games on certain nights and no one seems to be doubting themselves at all,” Ball said recently, regarding the team’s ability to step up when needed.
Ball has a point in this matter. The team has had contributions from its bench in addition to its starting lineup. One example of this is Arnaldo Abreu, who made his first start at Nova Southeastern on Feb.15 and played a team-leading 36 minutes, scoring 16 points.
All-in-all the team has a number of players who can contribute given the opportunity. Let’s just hope that it shows when crunch time arrives and the tournament begins.
-Ryan Burkett
Ryan can be reach at rburkett@ut.edu
As a freshman guard at Lees College in Ky., Ken Mink was kicked off of the basketball team for allegedly covering his coach’s office with shaving cream. While he still denies ever doing that, his basketball career was over, at least for the time being. That was in 1956.
After 52 years, Mink decided to further his education at Roane State, a junior college near Knoxville, Tn., and he even made the basketball team. Imagine that, a 73-year-old man playing basketball with kids in their late teens. As you can imagine, he is the oldest person to ever play college basketball.
On Feb. 7, Mink scored 2 points against Hiwassee College in a feel good win. Unfortunately this feel good story didn’t feel so good once Roane State had to forfeit that game because Mink was ineligible.
Student athletes at Roane State must be enrolled in 12 credit hours and pass all their classes. Mink was struggling in Spanish, so his coach advised him to pick up another course through an online college that could then transfer the credit to Roane State. He did so, and earned a B in the online sociology course, and proceeded to fail his Spanish course.
Mink thought that the online course would balance out his failing grade, but that is not how the system works. The National Junior College Athletic Association made Roane State forfeit the game because Mink did not go through the correct process of restoring his eligibility.
The president of Roane State appealed the NJCAAs decision to make the team forfeit.
Although he is 73, he is still a student-athlete and still has to abide by all the same rules as any other player.
It surprises me that a 73-year-old man could make a college basketball team, even at a junior college. I wonder how the freshmen trying out for the team felt while running suicides along side a senior citizen.
When the news first broke about Mink making the basketball team in the fall, it was a refreshing story about second chances. Now it is just an unfortunate story, about a man who does not know when to throw in the towel, and who needs to let the kids play the game.
-Olivia Glynn
Olivia can be reached at oglynn@ut.edu
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