Late Wednesday, Dan Wolken of The Commercial Appeal reported the University of Memphis was in the process of responding to an NCAA notice of allegations against the men’s basketball program and the women’s golf program.
The allegations against the men’s basketball program include a major violation of “knowing fraudulence or misconduct in connection with his (a former player) entrance examination.”
The letter outlines an allegation suggesting someone completed an SAT for a former Memphis player with that player’s knowledge and “was used to gain admission into the institution” for the 2007-08 season.
The only player on Memphis’ roster during the 2007-08 season who only played for that season was Derrick Rose, who left the university after one season and was the No. 1 draft pick of the Chicago Bulls.
The player, allegedly Rose, has subsequently denied the charge, according to Wolken’s report.
The 2007-08 Memphis basketball team won an NCAA record 38 games under then head coach John Calipari, now the coach at the University of Kentucky.
Memphis made it all the way to the NCAA tournament national championship game, losing to Kansas in overtime.
The NCAA letter of allegations (PDF) was received by Memphis on January 16 and the university is scheduled to appear before the NCAA Committee on Infractions June 6.
Calipari is not named in the report, but the NCAA has requested his presence at the hearing.
Also late Wednesday, ESPN.com reported that Memphis Athletic Director R.C. Johnson indicated the university has been investigating the test score and women’s golf infractions for months.
Johnson said the university is “still working” on its response to the NCAA notice of allegations and “we still have to determine if the test score was fraudulent.”
University of Kentucky representative DeWayne Peevy said Calipari was up front with the university prior to his hiring. He said Kentucky was made aware of the allegation.
“It’s important to note that there are no allegations against John Calipari in the report,” Peevy said.
The ESPN.com report went on to say the University of Kentucky issued a statement saying: “It is normal procedure for the NCAA to ask a former coach to participate in a hearing. Therefore, Coach Calipari will participate as requested.
“Coach John Calipari has received a letter from the NCAA stating that he is not at risk of being charged with any NCAA violations in this case.
“This is a University of Memphis issue and the University of Kentucky will not comment any further.”
ESPN.com later received a brief statement from Calipari saying, “even though I’m not at risk, I will fully cooperate with the NCAA hearing… [I] will have no further comment.”
However, it’s strangely ironic that the person Kentucky Athletic Director Mitch Barnhart noted during an April 1 press conference introducing Calipari as the Wildcats new coach was the same person who sent the letter of allegations to Memphis.
During that press conference, Barnhart, in discussing the background investigation conducted by the university prior to hiring Calipari said, “David Price, other people at the high level with the NCAA, assured us how much they enjoyed working with John in that process.”
Price, the NCAA Vice President of Enforcement, sent the letter detailing the infractions to Memphis.
How is it that Price – or anyone else representing the NCAA – determined Calipari wasn’t involved in any of the alleged infractions?
Moreover, the Kentucky statement suggesting “this is a University of Memphis issue” is woefully misguided.
Based on the wording of the NCAA letter, it would appear Price and others investigating the potential infractions had already deemed Calipari knew nothing of Rose’s alleged misconduct.
For anyone to suggest Calipari didn’t know anything regarding all of the outlined allegations is kidding themselves.
In addition, since Kentucky claims Calipari informed them of the allegations, why did they hire him knowing this would eventually come to the forefront?
If Barnhart really wanted to maintain a squeaky clean program, why hire a coach whose former school was being investigated for violations pertaining to the men’s basketball team?
That is of course, unless Price informed Barnhart of something the rest of us don’t know.
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