Just In Case You Need Something To Induce Nausea...

We all know college sports is little more than a sham. The kids are routinely exploited and discarded when no longer useful. The schools make a sh*tload of money off them, yet don't give them a cut. This is wrong, but we keep on cheering anyway, especially at this time of year.

As you watch those kids slug it out this weekend for a shot at One Shining Moment, remember that this sorta nonsense is lurking just behind the scenes.

Memphis Coach John Calipari will become the new coach at the University of Kentucky, according to a longtime friend of Calipari’s. An announcement could come Wednesday.

Calipari planned to fly to Lexington on a private plane Tuesday night to complete the details of his contract. The Associated Press reported last night that Calipari agreed to an eight-year, $31.65 million deal, which would make him the highest-paid coach in college basketball.

Calipari will get a significant raise from his $2.3 million salary in Memphis. Florida’s Billy Donovan is the country’s highest-paid coach, at $3.5 million a year.

In a media spectacle that is become typical for coaching decisions at a high-profile university, a group of fans camped outside Calipari’s home pleading for him to stay at Memphis.

In nine seasons at Memphis, he has a 252-68 record. Last season, he led the Tigers to the national title game, which they lost to Kansas.

The biggest question Tuesday was how many of the blue-chip recruits who had committed to Memphis, and to Calipari, would follow him to Lexington. Two of them, Xavier Henry and DeMarcus Cousins, top 5 prospects who will play in the McDonald’s All-American game in Miami, told the local news media that they would reopen their recruitments.

So, Calipari can simply take his pick of best offers and uproot in the middle of the night, even though he hasn't technically won jack sh*t at any level of basketball. Again, gaudy record, but this dude has seen no parts of a championship. That didn't stop Kentucky from breaking him off with a monstrous $4M/year contract to coach a children's game. Even better, Calipari (who has virtually mastered the 1 & Done recruiting market) gets to bring along the bananas recruiting class he'd already gotten to commit to Memphis. They can simply step away from their letters of intent and follow him to the Bluegrass State, where he'll exploit them in a lousy cow town without good BBQ.

His "former" Memphis team? Well, those guys are ass out. They stay at Memphis, and they're subject to the playing time/rotation whims of a new coach they never promised to play for. They could conceivably transfer and follow Calipari, but they'd have to sit a year, and given the shaky commitment he's given them thus far, why would they?

If I sound somewhat bitter, it's because I simply don't like Calipari. He looks like a real slimeball, and I still can't shake that incident with the Hispanic beat reporter back when he coached the Nets. Of course there was that lopsided verbal sparring match with John "I'll Kill You! You're Dead!" Chaney, where Coach Cal successfully painted himself as a victim, rather than an instigator.



We already know about his shady dealings that involve hiring the AAU coaches of certain recruits to get them to commit to his school. This is perfectly legal, which shows that the NCAA is full of sh*t. Again, could you name another gig where they'd put your Mom on the payroll, just to hire you? That don't sound too "amateur" to me.

The coach is getting $4M a year. Pay the damn kids, already.

Question: Does paying $4M taxpayer dollars a year to a coach with no championships sicken you?

Kentucky Will Hire Calipari as Its Coach [NYTimes]