‘Money Conference’ Investigations

How Are The Blue Bloods Handling Scandal?

(Kansas City, MO) – As we head into the second weekend of March Madness, the reality of scandal in college basketball is palpable at Sprint Center. All four teams participating in this region have been tarnished with some form of infraction or investigation. The four coaches were asked about how the NCAA is handling scandal.

Handling Scandal

Auburn coach Bruce Pearl is no newcomer to the scandal scenario, Houston’s Kelvin Sampson has had his run-ins with the NCAA, Kentucky’s John Calipari has had to vacate championships and even North Carolina’s Roy Williams had to deal with the allegations of fake classes.

Court cases are pending, but there are games to win and a championship earn, but the questions don’t go away.

Pearl says there is so much good that goes on at NCAA institutions that observers ought to put the negatives into perspective.

“99 percent of what we got going is still really, really good and we should continue to focus on that,” said Pearl. “At the same time there have been some things that are taking place that distract a little bit from the game and from what we’re trying to do. We should try to keep those things in perspective.”

Pearl, who was fired from Tennessee for unethical conduct by the NCAA for misleading investigators while the NCAA charged both the football and basketball programs at Tennessee with a dozen violations.

Athletic Director (at that time) Mike Hamilton said. “The cumulative effect of the evolution of the investigation combined with a number of more recent non-NCAA-related incidents have led to a belief that this staff cannot be viable at Tennessee in the future.”  

Pearl admits there are problems, but insists college basketball is fine.

“No, it’s not a cesspool,” states Pearl. “There are some things that are wrong with it, things that take place that are inappropriate. That’s the business of college basketball. It’s their (NCAA) job to not allow some of the other things to seep into the business because of the business and the money and the pressures.”

UNC Fraudulent Classes

North Carolina was found guilty of offering fraudulent classes, but since those same ‘paper classes’ were offered to non-athletes too, the NCAA did not penalize the Tar Heel program. The New York Times called it the ‘worst academic fraud scheme in college sports history,’ but there were no penalties.

When asked about current college athletics problems, Williams said he is far removed from the current scandals.

“I’ve been a head coach for 31 years. I’ve never had a parent ask me for anything,” said Williams. “I don’t deal with agents, but there’s no question it’s a black eye right now.”

Third Chance for Sampson

Kelvin Sampson is leading his third program into the NCAA Tournament. But it is his third team because he’s been released due to NCAA violations. He left Oklahoma over multiple violations and was fired at Indiana for knowingly committing the same kind of infractions.

The Houston coach says you’d have to be naïve to think that underhanded things weren’t going on.

“Whether it was going on or not, we’d all be naïve to think it was not,” shared Sampson. “The difference is wiretaps. What if they didn’t have the wiretaps now? Woud we know? I’m assuming that stuff has been going on – you hear about it. The game will survive obviously in time, but it certainly puts a tarnish on it.”

Vacated Titles & Calling Others Stupid

Kentucky’s Calipari has vacated two Final Fours. He says in the current climate, if you wanted to cheat or seek to receive or give a bribe you wouldn’t be very smart. Calipari believes the NCAA has a fresh opportunity on handling scandals.

“Some of the stuff that is out there, you’re surprised by some of it,” shared Calipari. “But I think it’s a cleansing. If you’re going to do something now, you’re going to get on the phone or you’re going to go meet with somebody and try to do something, you either have some chutzpah or you’re really stupid. So I think it should be a cleansing. I think the NCAA now gets a chance. They can clean the slate and start over.”

All of these Sweet Sixteen coaches seem to think the NCAA is doing a good job handling scandal. None of them seem to remember they have been and in Pearl’s case still are a part of the latest issues.

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