Coach sells out players

I was comforted by the April 21 letter from the Memphis grad. I feel so alone for not being a fan of University of Kentucky Coach John Calipari. I never liked his “marketing mouth,” but gave him a chance until I watched him morph into the king of one and done. He couldn’t do it at universities of Massachusetts or Memphis. He needed UK to achieve his goal. He has pimped Kentucky basketball.

I picture him standing on a street corner when a limousine pulls up, and a bald-headed guy rolls down the window and says: “Whatta you got for me?”

“I have five more good ones,” Cal says.

“They’re not gonna want to stay in school are they?” the guy asks.

“Nah,” Cal says, “I told them they’ve already won the lottery. If they want a degree, they can go online and get one from the University of Phoenix.”

I do not fault the talented young men who love basketball and want to play in the pros and make money. Nor would I fault Calipari for supporting them if they had made a decision to go. But, in ESPN’s “30 for 30” documentary, I learned that he pushes them to go for the money. I think that is a very bad values message from the king coach.

This story was originally published May 24, 2017 at 7:30 PM with the headline "Coach sells out players."