Gary Parrish recently told a story about John Calipari accosting a coach who was spreading rumors about the UK coach and staff.
Parrish’s full story can be heard here.
ESPN’s Tony Kornheiser even compared Calipari to Sonny Corleone:
“I loved Calipari until today. I love him 10 times more now because he’s established that he is a gangster,” Kornheiser said. “He thrives in it. He wants to be in it. He’s at the alpha dog school in Kentucky. He’s the alpha dog coach and he’s, he’s Sonny Corleone.” Sonny Corleone, of course, is one of the characters in the movie “The Godfather.”
Was the coach in question Iowa’s Fran McCaffery?
According to a source, it was McCaffery and the player was Tyler Ulis.
Iowa was definitely on Ulis’ final list and McCaffery put a ton of effort into recruiting the 5-foot-9 point guard.
Blackheartgoldpants.com has a solid rundown of Iowa’s recruitment of Ulis.
Here is an excerpt:
Iowa’s effort in recruiting Ulis certainly can’t be faulted. McCaffery and his staff identified him as a highly promising talent early in the recruiting process, made him a top priority for this class, and pursued him with the same dogged zeal that he brought to the recruitment sagas of Mike Gesell and Adam Woodbury. Unfortunately, this story didn’t have the same happy ending that those stories did. Still, it’s hard to fault Fran’s effort or find fault with anything he did. Ulis and his father were both full of praise for McCaffery:
“We’ve known (Hawkeyes coach) Fran (McCaffery) for a long time, and I call him my friend,” James Ulis said. “He’s a great guy and Tyler has really gotten to know him. You can’t just throw that out the window. And the same with (Michigan State coach Tom) Izzo.
Fran put together the best sales pitch he could; sadly, it’s hard to win when someone else comes along with a better pitch, even if he didn’t put in as much time and energy as you did.
The loss of Ulis is painful both for what he could have symbolically represented and for his actual ability as a player. Ulis would have been the biggest get for Iowa in several years, a legit top-40 (or better, depending on your recruiting service of choice) prospect from the recruiting hotbed of Chicago. Who knows how many or what kind of doors that may have opened for Iowa with other top prospects or within the Chicago recruiting scene. Going head-to-head with powerhouse programs like Michigan State (and, now, Kentucky) and emerging as the winner for Ulis’ services would have been one hell of a feather for Fran’s cap, too. Alas, that moment will have to wait for another prospect. I think there’s still some pleasure to be derived from the fact that McCaffery even had Iowa in the mix for a talent like Ulis, especially given the competition, considering where Iowa was just a few short years ago. But the satisfaction of just being in contention is pretty minor, much like Iowa’s ability to be “in contention” for an NCAA Tournament berth last year. We’re nearing the sell-by date on moral victories for the Iowa basketball program — if we’re not already past it.
Was it Fran McCaffery? We may never know the truth but the story certainly fits.
