Ken Davis of NBCSports.com was asked in his college basketball mailbag:
[QUOTE]Q: OK, Ken, if you had to choose between Rick Pitino and John Calipari to build a program, who do you choose? Tough choice, right?[/QUOTE]
[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
Davis said the choice actually wouldn’t be tough as he would hire Rick Pitino. He continued with the statement, “Honest, would never want to associate myself with Calipari.”
Here is an excerpt of his answer:
[QUOTE]A: Actually the choice wouldn’t be so tough for me, Ken. There are character issues with both coaches that would make me hesitant to hire either one. I’m sure you know what I’m referring to, so I don’t need to go into details. But if you put me in the chair of athletic director at a major institution and told me those were my only two choices, I would hire Rick Pitino.
Honestly, I would never want to associate myself with Calipari. We simply have too many philosophical differences, and I would even go so far to say that I think Calipari is bad for college basketball. He belongs in the NBA. I was covering college basketball at The Hartford Courant when Calipari was at UMass. I was part of the reporting team when our newspaper broke the story of NCAA violations involving Marcus Camby. I’ve seen how easy it is for Calipari to lie. I’ve seen how easy it is for him to run from a situation and let others suffer the penalties. Agree or disagree, but I think that is Calipari’s track record. He did the same thing at Memphis. I do not like the culture Calipari created at Memphis and Kentucky, cultivating the players who are forced to play one season of college ball, then head to the NBA. He is playing within the rules, but I don’t think those rules are good for college basketball or the athletes. Call me old school, but that’s the way I view it and that’s my opinion.
[/QUOTE][URL=”http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/40847080/ns/sports-college_basketball/?ns=sports-college_basketball”][COLOR=#0d1db8]Complete Article[/COLOR][/URL]
