You think that headline is skewing things? Unh-uh. No way. Not after Knight all but threw Calipari under the bus in his return to Indiana last night. Knight was speaking at a fundraiser and lobbed this grenade out of nowhere.
“We’ve gotten into this situation where integrity is really lacking and that’s why I’m glad I’m not coaching,” he said. “You see we’ve got a coach at Kentucky who put two schools on probation and he’s still coaching. I really don’t understand that.”
Now let’s see ESPN show some of those “onions!” Bill Raftery so frequently talks about and have Knight call a Kentucky game some time this season.
Knight was known well for his insistence on players’ education and a very healthy graduation rate. He was also known for being one of the biggest bullies among any public authority figure in the history of this country. If shooting from the lip about integrity, what are his thoughts on abusing players — something that Calipari hasn’t been accused of.
But what is Knight doing here? Speaking his mind, of course. He’s been rather tame on ESPN’s broadcasts the past two years (and fairly solid, though I’ve been a bit of a harsher critic than most), so we get our first tasty soundbite out of the ol’ angry coach in some time and we’ll run with it.
Oh, you bet we will.
Some think Dick Vitale, who would gladly get Calipari his daily coffee, should have an on-air debate with Knight over this. That’d be TERRIFIC.
But it won’t happen. And Kentucky fans are going to have to deal with this stench drifting in Calipari’s wake for the next few years. Maybe forever, because there is no denying his shaky past will always remain an elephant in the room.
I guess I’d like to thank Knight to pointing and yelling at that elephant and giving us a bit more drama amid December basketball.
Bob Knight calls out John Calipari over integrity {USA Today}
