John Calipari cuts interview with Boston radio station short
This week, John Calipari and the 1995-96 UMass team will be honored on campus at the Mullins Center. That team reached the program's only Final Four, a milestone which was later vacated by the NCAA after allegations emerged that Marcus Camby had received impermissible benefits.
Still, Calipari's tenure (1988-96) took the UMass program to unprecedented heights, something fans and alumni do not, and will not, forget. However, Calipari isn't beloved by all in the Commonwealth. Boston Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy has called for UMass to "vacate" the ceremony, just like Memphis did back in September, when president Dr. M. David Rudd reversed his decision to honor the school's former coach after receiving backlash from the fan base.
On Tuesday, Calipari appeared on Dennis & Callahan on WEEI in Boston to talk about his UMass days. Although, the Kentucky coach excused himself from the interview less than five minutes in (citing his team's practice was starting) after the conversation continued to return to Camby and whether or not Calipari knew of any wrongdoing.
Calipari has continued to have a good relationship with the UMass community since leaving the program in 1996 (his former player and assistant coach, Derek Kellogg, is in his eighth season as head coach). When Coach Cal was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame this summer, the university hosted him on campus. Calipari ended his visit by providing a recruiting pitch on behalf of his old school.
“No. We didn’t know anything and what we did is everything ahead of schedule and we were on top of everything we did,” Calipari said. “Again, they said we didn’t know nor should we have known. We didn’t know or should have known what he did back in high school. Here is what I will say to you, again, that kid, you know what he ends up doing in the end? He ends up paying the money back that the school lost. It was about $150,000 and he paid the money back. It has never been done before. We were the ones that got Marcus Camby to talk — he was in the NBA, he didn’t need to talk to the NCAA..
“There were other players at other schools involved. They wouldn’t talk to the NCAA. We got our guy to talk to the NCAA. And he paid the money back. I am not embarrassed about anything we’ve done. I am proud of what we’ve done. Proud of our kids and what they’ve become and what they are becoming.”Calipari said he looks at the two events honoring he and the UMass teams as a way to celebrate they accomplished and not let anything that happened off the court get in the way.
Calipari the the 1995-96 Minutemen will be honored on Wednesday night in Amherst during UMass' game against New Orleans. An honorary jersey will be retired for Calipari.
(h/t WEEI)
