Jeff Goodman couldn’t help but bring up John Calipari and Kentucky when talking about schools getting help landing top recruits in college basketball.
One school that hasn’t been mentioned in recruiting scandals is Kentucky, but Goodman had to throw his usual disliking of Kentucky out there. It’s no secret that Goodman hasn’t had the best relationship with Calipari.
Goodman said the following about Nike helping Kentucky during an interview with Nick Coffey on “The Red Zone.”
“It’s a completely different world if that happens,” Goodman said about the NCAA possibly labeling shoe companies as boosters. “Obviously, the difference here is you’ve got actual proof of money going from shoe companies to parents of recruits, whether it’s Brian Bowen’s father in one case or Billy Preston’s mother at Kansas and thus deeming them boosters. That’s kind of the way the NCAA is trying to operate here to try to get them.
“If they do that, I just don’t understand how that’s going to go going forward because let’s face it, Nike is helping Kentucky. We know that. Nike is helping Oregon. We know that. Now, I don’t know if we can prove the money going, again, from a Nike individual to the parent of a recruit going to whether it’s Oregon or Kentucky or Under Armour, Maryland, again, other Adidas schools. There’s so much that goes on. So, I don’t know if they really want to open that can of worms, but it looks like that’s what they’re doing here.”
Even though Kentucky hasn’t been mentioned or found guilty of any wrongdoing in the pay for play scandal, national media wants to see Calipari involved.
If Calipari and Kentucky were getting help from Nike, why did every big man the last four to five recruiting cycles go elsewhere?
