Calipari daughters take exception to photo of dad with story on college basketball corruption, feud with Jay Bilas

A photo prominently featuring Kentucky Coach John Calipari was used to help illustrate an OregonLive.com article titled “Basketball bribes: How Adidas bankrolled a black market for top teenage talent,” and it has drawn the notice and ire of Big Blue Nation and the coach’s adult daughters.

The article by Brad Schmidt and Jeff Manning, published online Sunday, looks at the role of longtime basketball insider T.J. Gassnola in alleged college basketball corruption, including the 2017 FBI investigation that led the University of Louisville to oust coach Rick Pitino and athletics director Tom Jurich.

“So you’re telling me this is the only picture available of him? This picture. Where he is not even in focus but my dad is? Do better @Oregonian,” Megan Calipari, the younger of the coach’s two daughters posted on Twitter Monday.

While Calipari is never mentioned in the story itself, he’s the most recognizable public figure in the photo at the top of the story, which is also the featured photo in social media posts by OregonLive.com and other outlets, including the Twitter accounts of ESPN’s Jay Bilas and Zagsblog’s Adam Zagoria. Bilas and Zagoria merely posted the story on their accounts with the photo coming along automatically.

The photo shows Gassnola in the central background as Calipari is talking to then-Massachusetts coach Derek Kellogg at the 2015 Spalding Hoophall Classic.

The caption for the photo on OregonLive.com doesn’t identify Calipari, saying instead, “T.J. Gassnola, center, mingles with basketball royalty.”

After Megan Calipari’s tweet and other responses to Bilas’ post, Bilas defended himself and the article in a reply.

“Read the article. Or, have someone read it to you. The Oregonian isn’t out to get you,” Bilas tweeted.

This provoked a response from Calipari’s oldest daughter, Erin.

“Hi Jay! We did read the article. It didn’t mention our family, yet, the cover photo is of our dad front and center,” Erin Calipari tweeted. “I would love for you to start putting random people as the cover photos for all of your articles. @MeganteCalipari and I have some great headshots we can provide.”

The Twitter discussion continued Tuesday morning with Bilas explaining his response about having “someone read it to you” was directed at another Twitter user, not Megan Calipari.

“I didn’t respond to anyone but @stbrock199. Just like I’m not responding to anyone but you.,” Bilas tweeted in a reply Tuesday.

Nevertheless, Ellen Calipari, John Calipari’s wife, also made note of the controversy on her Instagram account, relating it to her ongoing struggle to get her husband help bring back the garbage bins.

“Thought maybe J Bilas might come by and bring them up as an apology for insulting my girls. Nope,” Ellen Calipari posted Tuesday morning.

The story details Gassnola’s involvement with Adidas and recruiting circles. Calipari and his Kentucky team are affiliated with Nike. Nike has not been implicated in the 2017 FBI investigation, which has ongoing cases.

“Cal not even in the article,” tweeted former UK player Wenyen Gabriel.

“Why use a picture of @UKCoachCalipari when he is never mentioned in article? #DisappointedButNotSurprised,” tweeted former UK football player Jared Lorenzen from his @ThrowboyTees account.

“Why is a photo with Coach Cal (Nike) used for a story tying Adidas connected coaches to paying players? Smells like click-bait, and I fell for it. Very poor effort on everyone involved with this post. #fakenews,” tweeted an account named Christopher P Taylor.

“Some explanation is needed as to why Cal’s picture was used in a report on Adidas basketball? Intentional shot at assuming Cal is slimy so why not use his picture or a mistake. If a mistake then own it, if not you answered my question that it was intentional,” tweeted Kelly Baker in a reply to one of the authors.

Later Monday, acknowledging the Twitter controversy over the photo, Brad Schmidt, one of the story’s authors posted an explanation. Schmidt also noted Gassnola has claimed to have known Calipari for years. The photo remained with the story Tuesday morning.

“There are very few photos of T.J. Gassnola,” Schmidt tweeted. “The one we published is from 2015, making it fairly current. And the photo came from MassLive, one of our sister publications owned by Advance. “

This story was originally published February 4, 2019 at 3:44 PM.