Basketball Hall of Fame and THAT coach...

[Bryan Medema 1,488]

The list for Naismith HOF nominees was recently released and, after looking over the 18 finalists, Calipari's name lingers like an albatross amongst doves. His numbers are unquestionably incredible:

 

-580-174

-5 final fours (2 vacated)

-1 NCAA Championship

-11/10 Conference Season/Tourney championships

 

...but, given that two of his more noted accomplishments have been vacated, should he be elected to join basketball's aristocracy? 

 

Curious to see what you all think. Please consider-

 

-He was never (technically) directly implicated in the two vacated final fours. We can all have our opinions but legally (does that apply here?) he's clean. (I feel dirty for saying that)

 

-His body of work and position within the sport; not your personal opinions about UK (please don't burn me in effigy)

 

Painful as it is to say, I think he deserves a spot (though I don't think he should be a priority candidate, yet). His numbers or remarkable and he's technically clean. There's far worse figures in the Hall and, barring some unknown revelation, he's definitely far from THE biggest scumbag (slimiest, maybe). Put him somewhere in line and make him wait for his name to be called, maybe while we're waiting we'll find out he's the monster we make him out to be. 

[Stuhoo 88,964]

No.

He is not a coach of college athletes.

He is a coach of pro athletes that play against college athletes.

[biteoftheapple 4,115]

I would hope the voters do consider the vacated final fours in the process.

[HoosierAloha 30,102]

Rather implicated or not, he was the CEO of two separate programs that were caught cheating.  He is ultimately responsible for lack of institutional (program) control. 

[Stuhoo 88,964]

Rather implicated or not, he was the CEO of two separate programs that were caught cheating.  He is ultimately responsible for lack of institutional (program) control.

And... On both occasions, the player that was at the center of the scandal (Derrick Rose, Marcus Camby), was the primary focal point of the team. If each of those players had been ineligible as they should have, those two Calipari teams might not have even made the tourney. The man parlayed those teams into his current "pro team playing against college players" situation.

[JSHoosier 22,204]

He'll make it in.  Don't like it, but he will.

 

Honestly, I doubt if he's ever directly implicated in anything.  The guy is slime, but he's too smart to be directly linked; he's mastered plausible deniability.

[KelleyHoosh 2,263]

Does winning one championship all of a sudden make you hall of fame worthy? Final fours are nice, but if you don't win them you get the same hardware as teams that lost in the first round. 

 

Win three+ and then we can talk....