Rivera: This did not have to happen
TucsonCitizen.com blogger covered Olson for almost 20 years
ANOTHER OPINION: Fox college basketball analyst Jeff Goodman, a UA alum, believes the infractions are irrelevant for Arizona
By Steve Rivera,
TucsonCitizen.com
Let me first say it didn’t have to be like this. Never. Ever.
Steve RiveraAnd I say that because for 20-something years – as far as I know – former Arizona coach Lute Olson was one of the hardest-working, had-a-presence-about-him coaches I’ve known in two decades of covering college basketball. He was first at a recruiting venue and last to leave. It’s been well-documented. The last thing he needed was for players to be brought to him.
But that was the case with the Cactus Classic behind the ever-present Jim Storey, a shrewd businessman and networker. A guy doesn’t make $197,000 from camps because he’s a dummy.
Let me also make a caveat here: I’ve covered Olson for nearly two decades and had/have a relationship with him. Two books on the program and hundreds, if not thousands, of stories through the years how could one not? I think a lot of him. Grew close to his late wife, Bobbi. He and I have had a disagreement or two, but we’ve always been able to move on from them. I think he was an unbelievable coach. Touch cookie? Sure. Ego? He was a Hall of Famer, of course. But I like the guy. And he returned calls – most of the time.
As for Storey, I’ve spoken maybe two minutes – total – to him through the years. Those two minutes were during an interview for the 2006 or 2007 Cactus Classic. I don’t really remember. I have no relationship with Storey.
READ THE REST OF RIVERA’S OPINION PIECE AT TUCSONCITIZEN.COM
Tags: Jim Storey, Lute Olson, NCAA investigation, Steve Rivera
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July 30th, 2010 at 12:15 AM
Spot-on Steve as usual (although I still have a bit of a bone to pick with you over at TC.com regarding Wise’s prospects for the future, but that’ll have to wait a little while as this matter of the NCAA and ‘Cat b-ball beckons). Someone in the press commented last week, I believe, that the UA has the best coverage of its sports programs in the blogosphere than any other D-1, high major level institution around. Is it any wonder? ‘Cat fans, and sports fans in general, we’re really treated to some top-notch coverage by what WILDABOUTAZCATS.COM, TUCSONCITIZEN.COM, WILDCATSPORTSREPORT.COM, AZSTARNET.COM and POINTGUARDU.COM put out there daily, hourly, to the minute. Just amazing!
I’m going to go a step or two further by taking a step back and say that before these ‘Cats are in college they have to be in high school doing their thing. And man, to get the latest, greatest reports in high school sports happenings – locally, statewide, regionally, nationally and worldwide – are there any better offerings, at little or no cost to us in the grand scheme of things, than the sites just mentioned? I don’t think so. And I think you’ll agree.
Steve, Javier, Tony, Brad, Gary, Andy, anyone: I’m going to plead ignorance here for a moment and ask that someone, you, anyone in the know out there please explain to me and the rest of us, ’cause I’m sure there’s gotta be at least one more of us out there with the same question, how what the Desert Classic and Coach Olson did is any different, or worse, than this:
Many others have followed their lead, the most notable being Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski. The Murphy family met with Krzyzewski in his office for almost two hours after Alex played in the Tournament of Champions there during Memorial Day weekend.
“The main thing was how much they wanted me to come to Duke but also that I should want Duke badly, too,” Alex Murphy told the Providence Journal afteward.
“(Krzyzewski) said that there was no better place than Duke for a person and a player like me.”
Murphy hears similar recruiting pitches in the limited amount of contact with coaches that he is allowed by the NCAA right now. Coaches can talk to him only once a month over the phone until Aug. 1 before his senior year. At that point, they can call him twice a month.
– As reported by Javier on July 25, 2010
Now here are my questions, aside from the obvious ones that must arise from reading the above account:
1) Where does Duke get such money to run such a camp on its campus?
2) How is it that at this camp on the Duke campus Murphy and his family can have this personal, private, 2 hour meeting with Coach K, especially since Memorial Day is well before August 1? And in his office?
It’ll be interesting to see how things play out over at Kansas, where it’s been proven that a KU Athletic Director, a father of a former Jayhawk, the Pump brothers of Pump ‘N Run Basketball and some underworld figures were directly involved in selling and prospering in the thousands if not millions of dollars from stolen KU tickets over a rather lengthy period of time. It would be equally interesting to know how many Pump players have landed on the rosters of Roy Williams and Bill Self’s teams there in Lawrence.
And where ASU’s concerned, why do you suppose there’s now a NCAA rule that disallows a high school player and his coach, HS or AAU, from being signed by a college in the same year? Players and coaches must now wait two years before being reunited on the same team in college as player and coach. Do the names Harden and Pera mean anything to you?
Please. Who does the NCAA think it’s kidding?
July 30th, 2010 at 12:25 AM
Sorry, that should be Cactus Classic, not Desert Classic. Either way, a prickly affair. And story.
July 30th, 2010 at 12:36 AM
Carlos: The only thing I can explain is Murphy’s visit with Krzyzewski. That amounted to an unofficial visit. Players can take these at any time, obviously, although there are dates coaches can not interact with recruits if they visit the campus unofficially. The once-a-month contact over the phone is the restriction the NCAA places on coaches with athletes before their senior season. Coaches get around this by e-mailing recruits. Kelvin Sampson had a complete disregard for this phone-call rule and the NCAA banned him from visiting and communicating recruits for one year before he started at Indiana. Of course, he broke this rule, was fired and Indiana is still picking up the pieces. But the Krzyzewski visit was legit. Murphy’s appearance at the North Carolina tournaments would come into question if he received benefits from the schools (Duke, UNC or N.C. State) or the tournament’s organizers for competing in that tournament, something as little as a free soda, for example.
July 30th, 2010 at 2:00 AM
Thanks Javier. That’s fine. Makes sense. And I do appreciate your response.
Still, this begs the question: Where does the money come from to run such a camp – and on the Duke campus? I would also presume that the players at this camp need to eat, a bed to sleep on, a place to shower, a car to get up and down Tobacco Road in. Where’s all this coming from?
Why is Arizona going entirely away from similar camp ideas for its campus if this method of camping, Cameron Indoor Stadium style, is on the up and up? What would be wrong if an AAU-sanctioned body, or some private entity even, raised money from a third party without the help of UA or Miller to stage such an event? I don’t know but it’s very hard for me to believe that this camp at Duke just sort of happened out of the blue and Duke or Coach K, or the prospects of high school players being in the company of both, had nothing to do with money raised, players attending or players being treated like Dookie V idols in the making in little ‘ol Durham. To borrow a line from my favorite Bristolite Stuey: That dog don’t bark.
It’s like politics and policymaking and lobbying. What one pays for is access, right? Right. Give Duke and Coach K credit for somehow being able to get around just simply coming out and sending a letter to boosters asking them to help pay for a little access to some future blue and white ballers, to help fund a local attraction like the North Carolina Tournament. That would be too tacky, after all. Or is it cheesy? Interesting. And to think there once was a time when we prided ourselves on being the Duke of the west, at least until that certain Fiesta Bowl Classic way back when…
July 30th, 2010 at 7:18 AM
CJM, I completely agree. I think Javier wrote about it once. Those AAU tourneys are paid for by some prominent booster in North Carolina. We didn’t get busted for having boosters pay for stuff. We got busted for asking them to pay. Absolutely ridiculous.
July 30th, 2010 at 2:36 PM
Well said STR. Something as small as a free soda constitutes special treatment is rediculous. If it is on the Duke campus who is paying for the lights to be turned on and the stadium to be air conditioned? That all seems like money that the school payed. Arizona is getting punished for something everyone does. Seems like North Carolina, Duke , and NC State all do the same maybe minus asking people to pay for it in a formal letter. Any tournament that has been held on a campus should be investigated to make sure that these kids didnt get so much as piece of gum. If Arizona has to face the music so should every other school.
July 30th, 2010 at 3:45 PM
Brandon great points. That’s what made me write today’s blog (re: Krzyzewski, Duke, Tournament of Champions, etc.). Nothing has been reported of any wrongdoing by Duke, NC State and UNC in that tournament, but has everything been done above board? That’s debatable. That’s the problem you run into with having these traveling-team tournaments on college campuses. The best way to address this is to eliminate them from taking place. Let these kids play at a Durham, N.C., high school instead. That would mean Coach K can’t watch them play because it’s off campus. But that would be fair to the 300-plus other Division I coaches.