On Campus
Teflon John
By Ray Mernagh

Nothing sticks to him.

Absolutely nothing sticks to John Calipari. Think about this for a minute: The man's had not one, but two Final Four teams officially erased from the record books by the NCAA.

And where is he? Coaching some D-League outfit in Austin? Nope, that would be disgraced Missouri coach and ex-Dukie Quinn Snyder.

Serving as an assistant for Scott Skiles in the NBA? Nope, Kelvin Sampson, the guy who couldn't stop dialing, is on the Bucks bench in Milwaukee.

John Calipari, unquestionably one of the best coaches in college basketball over the last decade, isn't off in some wasteland or serving the requisite rehab stint on an NBA bench. No, he's the coach of the most storied college basketball program this side of Westwood.

Despite having two programs that he oversaw have their greatest seasons wiped from the record books, Calipari is trying to coach his third program to the Final Four. Or is it BECAUSE he has those two Final Fours on his resume-vacated or not-that Cal is now sitting in the cat-bird's seat in Lexington? Maybe Kentucky, no virgin to NCAA investigations, figured if he can get UMass and Memphis there, imagine what he can do here in Camelot!

Cal is in Kentucky because the Cats thought they had the right guy last time, Billy Gillespie, but it turned out the job was too big for him. He didn't shake enough hands, schmooze enough politicians, or most importantly, win enough games. Twenty-one wins and the NIT aren't gonna get it done. Not at Kentucky. And Calipari has always felt like an outsider, having to sell, sell, sell, his teams at UMass and Memphis just to get them on TV. He wanted into the Big Boys club. Wanted, just once, to sit at the table with K, Roy, Self, Donovan and Izzo. Wanted it as bad as Plaxico Burress wants to go back and re-do that night out in Manhattan.

He tried to get in once before; tried to move mountains when the Pitt job came open after Ben Howland left. He had big money guys make calls on his behalf. The Big East, The Garden, ESPN every game, the money - he could taste it! Word is that Pitt's administration never even gave him a look.

But Kentucky? That's a different animal, and they needed success. Mitch Barnhart, the AD, needed a home run because he'd struck out on Gillespie. His job was on the line.

So now Cal is in Camelot, with the top recruiting class, plus Patrick Patterson returning, while Memphis' glorious run is, like UMass' before it, vacated. Sampson, Snyder and their ilk didn't win enough to survive their scandals. Calipari wins big, 137-14 his last four years at Memphis, and he recruits-with the help of a guy named 'Wes'-better than anybody. So he's at Kentucky.

The message to young coaches from the NCAA: Cheat, but keep plausible deniability, and win big. Derrick Rose (the NCAA doesn't name him but it's him) passed the SAT a month before enrolling at Memphis after not being able to qualify via the ACT. Seems to me I remember the ACT being the choice for kids like myself over the SAT, so that in itself is curious. The fact that Rose-or as the NCAA is alleging, his pinch-hitter-took the SAT in Detroit (home city of the aforementioned 'Wes') and not in his hometown of Chicago apparently is just a big coincidence. Cal didn't know anything. He's clean, baby.

But the record-setting 38-win season two years year earlier is now vacated. New coach Josh Pastner saw just about his whole recruiting class follow Cal to Kentucky. The program faces a three-year probation.

But across the way in Lexington, Teflon John's still untouchable… so far.