NORM STEWART, NORM SLOAN, EDDIE SUTTON, JIM VALVANO AND RICK PITINO
Do you really have to cheat to win?
Can you be clean, follow the rules and still win?
Maybe, but unclear.
Ethics…
Are ethics worth anything?
Were they ever?
Whom should we ask?
Rick Pitino?
Lefty Driesell?
Eddie Sutton? (deceased).
John Calipari?
Bob Huggins?
Bruce Pearl?
Larry Eustachy?
Pokey Chatman?
Kelvin Sampson?
Clem Haskins?
Dave Bliss?
People make mistakes, some more egregious than others.
That’s nothing other than being human.
But what about breaking the rules, wittingly?
Who’s zoomin’ who, exactly?
Jim Phelan, Lefty Driesell, Lute Olson, Jim Boeheim, Jim Calhoun, Dean Smith, Dave Gavitt, Adolph Rupp, Mike Krzyzewski, Bobby Knight, John Wooden…
Roy Williams, Larry Brown, Brad Stevens, Ralph Willard, Fred Schaus, Dave Odom, Hugh Durham, Pete Gillen, Terry Holland, Jay Wright, Ben Braun, Tex Winter, Phil Martelli, Ned Wulk, Jack Hartman, Mike Jarvis, P.J. Carlesimo, Mark Few…
Paul Westhead, Jamie Dixon, Jim O’Brien, Jan van Breda Kolff, Bobby Cremins, Thad Matta, Rick Barnes, Fran Dunphy, Ben Howland, Steve Fisher, Tom Davis, Bo Ryan, Doggie Julian, Jim Harrick, Ralph Miller, Joe B. Hall..
Todd Bozeman, Frank McGuire, Al McGuire, Tubby Smith, Rick Majerus, Pete Carril, Dale Brown, Bill Self, Lou Carnesecca, Joe Mullaney, Gene Keady, Digger Phelps, Jud Heathcote, Slats Gill, Rollie Massimino, John Calipari, Bruce Pearl, Tim Floyd, Nolan Richardson…
Billy Tubbs, Gary Williams, Pete Newell, Bob Huggins, John Chaney, Edgar Diddle, Ray Meyer, Phog Allen, Jack Gardner, Lou Henson, Fred Taylor, Jerry Tarkanian, Guy Lewis, Tom Izzo, Denny Crum, Branch McCracken, Don Haskins, Ed Jucker, Billy Donovan, Hank Iba, Clair Bee…
Phil Woolpert…
In no particular order.
Legends all to varying degrees, but legends just the same, in the pantheon of college basketball coaches.
And with different understandings of ethics, in many cases.
In the meantime, the 2022 Final Four is set with Coach K., Bill Self, Jay Wright, and rookie head coach Hubert Davis piloting their respective units and programs.
To the NCAA Tournament’s promised land.
A big business, surely.
Good, clean fun.
So far…
[Editor’s Note: This piece was written by Mr. Kaplan in March 2022.]
