Despite 41 wins in his first 60 games as Tiger head coach, a 10-0 Conference USA record this season and Memphis’ first 20-win regular season since the 1995-96 season, John Calipari remains a coach hounded by criticism.
Calipari, along with fellow C-USA coaches Rick Pitino and Bob Huggins, are the focus of a three-page article in next month’s issue of Esquire magazine titled “Con Men.”
The article, written by Esquire writer Charles Pierce, discusses the alleged demise of college basketball as epitomized by C-USA and its three most recognizable coaches.
Pierce addresses the coaches’ recruiting practices, graduation rates and how each is a symbol of college basketball’s transformation into a professional sport.
“Clearly, in John Calipari, Memphis found a basketball coach in tune with its historic basketball zeitgeist,” writes Pierce, comparing Calipari’s alleged problems at Massachusetts to those of former Memphis head coach Dana Kirk.
Pierce also attacks C-USA, saying it was formed in 1995 for economic reasons rather than for more traditional reasons such as geographic similarities and demographic consistency.
“What is important to realize about Conference USA — other than the fact that its commissioner, Mike Slive, is a lawyer who once specialized in cutting deals on behalf of schools facing NCAA sanctions — is that the league makes no inherent sense at all,” Pierce writes.
“It exists, solely and forever, as a means by which its various members can more easily fit their heads under the NCAA’s money spigot for four weeks every March.”
Calipari, who Pierce refers to as a “sleek little hustler from Pennsylvania,” had no comment Tuesday about the article, other than to say he would talk with his lawyer before discussing it.
Students on campus Tuesday said Calipari is a good representative of the school and stood in support of Memphis’ second-year head coach.
“I think he is representing the school well,” said Nick Jones, a senior majoring in accounting. “He has a good reputation as a coach across the country.”
Senior MIS major Anthony Taylor agreed with Jones, saying Calipari has helped restore Memphis basketball to a national powerhouse.
“(Calipari) is the best coach we’ve had since Larry Finch,” Taylor said. “We are back on top now.
“We should always support the team, and since Calipari is part of the team, we should support him.”
