Coach Calipari? Leave the Kids, Take the Cannolis.

So, apparently John Calipari is about to leave the University of Memphis to take the head coaching job at the University of Kentucky (UK, not to be confused by the infinitely better KU), one of college basketball's blueblood programs (along with, in my opinion, Kansas, North Carolina, Duke, UCLA and maybe a couple of current lesser lights like Indiana and St. Johns that could one day be monsters yet again). I say that's great for Calipari and great for UK, even though I pretty much hate UK (lots of reasons from an ex-girlfriend who graduated there to the tremendous arrogance of their fan base). There is no question Coach Cal is a very good coach who might be great, if a little greasy and there is no question that UK can select from a pool of super highly regarded coaches and I think they'll get a good one in Cal.

I do, however, have one problem with the situation. There are some rumblings that Calipari might take the better part of his amazing recruiting class that has signed at Memphis and take them with him to Kentucky. That is just flat-out wrong. In my opinion there is no way or reason Cal should be allowed to take those kids, whom he recruited on Memphis' dime and with Memphis' resources, with him to an entirely different school.

Of course, the problem is that the reason a kid signs a binding letter of intent has largely to do with the coach and not necessarily so much the institution to which the coach recruits him. I get it and it sucks for those kids. Still, it seems spectacularly unfair to me that Memphis, who had Calipari and supported him and PAID him to coach at Memphis should now lose the benefit of the labor they paid for by having all those kids go with him to UK.

So, what to do? If i were King of the NCAA I would make it so the kids could honor their LOI (letter of intent) to go to Memphis or, if they choose, get out of that LOI and go to any school in the country besides Memphis. Extend their time to sign an LOI and allow them to reopen their recruiting for 2-3 more weeks and let the kids make an informed choice.

I suppose it is unfair to the kids who signed with Memphis and now only want to follow Coach Cal but it's equally unfair to have Memphis subsidize the recruitment of kids to Kentucky.

I know that the LOI specifically says that the kids is signing with the school and not the coach, but the entire LOI program is so one-sided it is unfair and I suspect that if it were ever litigated it would be found to be a contract of adhesion and thrown out anyway. My solution seems, to me at least to be the most fair to all the parties involved. And if Coach Cal can't go to UK with his shiny new class, maybe he will end up thinking twice before hitting the eject button on his contract with Memphis. Wouldn't that be something? A coach and a school each honoring their commitment to one another?