Calipari not paying attention to win-total talk
RICHMOND, Ky. -- The ceremony said John Calipari surpassed 500 coaching victories this season. The NCAA begs to differ.
If the conflict is causing concern, Calipari has a funny way of showing it. The Kentucky basketball coach grinned Wednesday night when he was asked about the controversy surrounding his record (and the UK ceremony that celebrated it) prior to a fundraiser at the Telford YMCA.
Advertisement
"Let's just say my record is 0-0," Calipari said. "I'm fine with that. This is about those kids, and that's what I've always been about."
The Lexington Herald-Leader reported on Sunday that the NCAA has asked UK to admit it was wrong in recognizing Calipari's 500th win during the 2010-11 season because 42 of Calipari's wins at Massachusetts and Memphis were vacated after the NCAA detrained the schools used ineligible players.
Calipari was not found to have violated any NCAA rules, but the NCAA expects coaching statistics to reflect wins vacated by schools. In a letter to UK, the Herald-Leader reported, the NCAA asked for UK to publicly admit its error and to submit its admission for NCAA approval.
"I'm not even paying attention to it, because it really doesn't have anything to do with me," Calipari said. "Obviously they can kind of do what they want to do."
Calipari, meanwhile, said he's continuing to discuss a contract extension at Kentucky, a possibility that athletic director Mitch Barnhart referenced recently on Twitter.
"We're talking," Calipari said. "Hopefully there's more to talk about here in the coming days. They came at me, talked about it. Obviously I appreciate that they want to do some things, and that's fine, but it wasn't me. They came at me with it, and I think it's a good thing."