Calipari, Boeheim, Self on cheating in NCAA
by Eric Prisbell, USA TODAY Sports
The 12 active national title-winning coaches in men’s college basketball have seen seismic changes in the game over the past few decades.
Against the background of the 75th NCAA tournament, USA TODAY Sports offers lengthy interviews with these dozen active title-winning coaches, all of whom still are head coaches at the Division I or II level. They provided a window into their ever-changing world, offering perspective on several big-picture issues that affect modern-day college basketball.
Wednesday, March 20 Question: Have you ever lost a recruit because you would not cheat?
John Calipari:
“Well, I don’t believe so. Here’s what I would tell you: The way we present it, they know we are not doing something. It’s presented in a way where they would not come back at us and say, ‘If you are willing to do this, we will come.’ They know it is not an option, so they don’t present it that way, you know what I’m saying. Have players been influenced by (others)? I don’t know, maybe so. Have we backed off because of academic concerns and then they get in other schools? Oh, yeah. That happened. I don’t get into all of that. The ones we are supposed to get, we get. The ones that aren’t supposed to come here, don’t come here.”
Roy Williams:
“I have made a lot of decisions in my life to not get involved in scenarios that I thought were going to get ugly at the end. There is no question that some decisions that have been made surprised me, and I guess that is a better way that I would like to answer that.”
Bill Self:
“I really think that it is pretty sorry for anybody to say — how’s the right way to put this? — in recruiting what frustrates me a lot of the time is when you don’t get a kid, the feeling is either he was not good enough or somebody cheated to get him. And I think that is a terrible attitude to have as a coach. Sometimes you just get beat. I don’t know that I ever have, to be quite … [For more on Championship coaches round table: Calipari, Boeheim, Self on cheating in NCAA, click here.]
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