John Calipari Denies Phone Call Comment Applied to Coach K, Even Though it Does

Kentucky coach John Calipari made some comments on a Memphis radio show Thursday morning that seemed to be a shot at Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski. Appearing on Sportstime with George Lapides on Sports 56 WHBQ, Calipari was pontificating about the NCAA and the changes that need to be made. He then made a comment about certain coaches getting preferential treatment.

“You’ve got coaches being fired over phone calls and text messages. Some. Other guys can make phone calls and it’s not that big a deal.”

Eye on College Basketball has the audio if you want to listen to the context. Most people figured it was a veiled shot at Coach K who was hardly scrutinized for possibly committing a secondary recruiting violation.

After seeing that his comments were interpreted as a shot at Coach K, John Calipari issued a denial statement on twitter. “My comments on the radio this morning had nothing to do w/ Mike Krzyzewski. He has actually been very helpful to me in preparing my DR team.”

That’s called damage control by Cal who is trying to keep the peace. Truth is, whether he wants to admit it or not, the comments do apply to Mike Krzyzewski. As I wrote on twitter this week (follow me!), Kelvin Sampson violates the same rule and he gets called a sleaze. Coach K violates the same rule and people say the rule is wrong; actions are judged based on people’s reputation rather than their actions.

At LBS, we take each alleged violation on a case-by-case basis and are not afraid to point out when a rule is lame. In this case, the rule is probably lame. But if a less-respected coach had committed the violation, there would be much less finger pointing.