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Wednesday, Jun. 03, 2009

John Clay: Impressive list of coaches have vacated wins

Random notes:

■ A caller to Larry Glover's radio show on WVLK last Sunday offered an interesting trivia question.

What do Lute Olson, Jim Calhoun, Norm Stewart and Gene Keady have in common?

Answer: They are all coaches who had NCAA appearances listed as vacated.

Olson's 1999 Arizona appearance is now listed as vacated. Calhoun's 1996 appearance with Connecticut is vacated. Stewart's 1994 appearance with Missouri is vacated. And Keady's 1996 trip with Purdue is listed as vacated by the NCAA.

In fact, eight coaches who have won NCAA titles have had appearances — just not their title appearance — listed as vacated.

The eight are Calhoun, Olson, Larry Brown, Steve Fisher, Jim Harrick, Norm Sloan, Jerry Tarkanian and Jim Valvano.

Of course, if Memphis has to vacate its 2008 NCAA runner-up finish, John Calipari would be the first coach to have Final Four appearances vacated at two schools. But the first to have two Final Four appearances vacated was Fisher — 1992 and 1993 at Michigan — thanks to Chris Webber.

■ With Sonia Sotomayor's Supreme Court nomination in the news, there's a lot of talk about judges legislating from the bench. Were I the judge in the case of the UK-Billy Gillispie dueling lawsuits, I'd have to do a little policy-making.

I'd rule on behalf of neither party.

The university was too busy playing it both ways — the memorandum of understanding is a contract because we want to keep Billy G.; oops, no it's not a contract because we want to ax Billy G. — to shirk its responsibility of paying the $6 million buyout called for in the quasi-legal agreement.

But given the fact that Gillispie appeared never to have any desire to complete a formal deal — he once told the media it was in his briefcase, just waiting on his signature (Did Billy even have a briefcase?) — the erstwhile Kentucky coach doesn't deserve a big payday.

Instead, I'd order UK to write a fat check to a charity where it could go to good use. Say cancer research. Or to fill that downtown hole dug by the Webbs.

Or, how about this, the Tubby Smith Foundation?

■ If the NCAA ruled Major League Baseball, then the Los Angeles Dodgers would have to give back their 20 victories in 27 games with Manny Ramirez in the lineup, now that the outfielder tested positive for a banned substance. Instead of being 35-18 entering Tuesday night, the Dodgers would have been 15-38. Ouch.

■ No way LeBron should be let off the hook for not shaking hands with Orlando after the Magic beat James' Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Eastern Conference finals.

Bet that LeBron puppet in those commercials would have done the right thing.

■ Speaking of handshakes, don't you hate it when the camera cuts away just as the two head coaches are about to shake at game's end? What if one takes a swing at the other? Will it be fake? Will it be real? That's the real human drama.

■ By the way, I love Jeff Van Gundy.

■ I'm not saying Florida has had a lot of football players arrested — 24 over the past four years, by some reports — but NBC has added Law and Order: Gainesville to its fall lineup.

■ Idea for a sequel to Tina Fey's 2004 Mean Girls movie. New title: Mean Boys. It's about the current crop of SEC football coaches.

■ Speaking of which, did you see where the league passed a rule limiting the number of football players a school can sign to 28? Of course, each school can only give out 25 new scholarships.

Leave it to college sports to pass a rule that limits, but doesn't eliminate, schools circumventing the previous rule.

■ After reading her feisty media-rips on Facebook, every dad would want an Erin Calipari. I'm guessing she and Kerri Brooks are going to hit it off.