All Entries in the "Downtown Arena" Category

The Ralph Willard Choice At Louisville

Probably the best thing about Rick Pitino’s decision to hire Ralph Willard of Holy Cross as his new assistant at the University of Louisville is that Pitino did not stoop to hiring a friend of William Wesley’s (a.k.a. World Wide Wes) in an effort to plug in to that pipeline of controversial connections to high school basketball talent. That was believed to be an option.

The regrettable part is that Wiley Brown, an integral part of U of L’s 1980 championship team, was not the choice. Brown’s credentials have never been questioned and he has paid his dues, serving as strength coach for Pitino and getting successful coaching experience under his belt at Indiana-Southeast with a 24-6 won-lost record last season.

Like many of his decisions, Pitino makes the least predictable one, this time choosing a head coach to become his assistant, a post usually reserved for up and coming coaches. Twenty-one of Pitino’s former assistants or players have become college head coaches. So what do we know about Ralph Willard:

• The 63-year-old is Pitino’s best friend. Pitino actually presented a surprised Kevin Willard, Ralph’s son, with a Rolex watch when his Iona team played U of L two years ago.
• The elder Willard, an assistant to Pitino at the New York Knicks and the University of Kentucky, hired Tom Crean (Indiana coach) as an assistant at Western Kentucky University.His coaching record is 303-213.
• While Willard has had health issues — prostate cancer in 2002 and a heart condition in 2008 — he says the fire still burns within him.  “To me, it’s all about teaching and winning and relationships. To me, that’s what coaching is all about.”
• Obviously, Willard is not pursuing an easier lifestyle by choosing to work with Pitino, as anyone who has worked closely with Pitino will attest. Pitino has plenty of challenges at present and has always expected people he works with to keep up with his frantic pace.

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Ironically, a blogger for the Albany (NY) Times-Union predicted that Willard’s son, Kevin, would get the recently-vacated University of Southern California job, and would hire his father as his top assistant.

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Sean Moth: Clear And Concise

By Paul Sykes

It is late in the game against Cal State Fullerton and Sean Moth is recapping the action for fans that might have just tuned in. Not a pleasurable or easy thing to do, since the Cards are down 11-2 and on the verge of elimination of the NCAA Tournament. Still, Moth gives a dutiful and accurate review of the previous action, keeping to the statistics and avoiding any personal commentary.

Sean Moth from his perch at Jim Patterson Stadium.

Not that many fans are listening, since the game is on national television and the Cards are way down early. Also, the low watt radio station isn’t easy to pick up in most areas of the Louisville area. Despite the blowout and hopelessness of the situation, Moth handles the duties with skill and professionalism.

This is Sean Moth. Talk about a multitude of hats to wear! Not only is he the public address announcer for football, men and women’s basketball, he does the announcing for soccer, volleyball and is sports information director for baseball and soccer. All this from a guy who was doing Colorado Avalanche hockey and Denver Nuggets basketball eight years ago. What prompted the move from the mile high city to Derby town?

Simple. We all know that Tom Jurich gets who and what he wants. Having met when both were at Colorado State, Jurich was well familiar with the professional delivery and photographic knowledge Moth possessed when it came to sports. With the death of long time Cardinal public address announcer John Tong, and a request from backup P.A. man, the late Jack Tennant, for less responsibility, Jurich knew he needed someone that could evoke a little emotion from the fans while giving a clear and concise account of the action on the turf and hardwood.

Moth was the clear choice, and his trademark lines of “that’s good for another CARDS-FIRST-DOWN” chant and the long extended “threeeeeeee” after a long-range shot hitting the mark have become Cardinal favorites over the years.

Now that baseball has ended, Moth gets a brief announcing break for the summer. A chance to do a little fly-fishing and maybe a trip or two to Churchill to watch some racing. A rest well deserved for the University of Louisville’s most audible guy. The tag, “Voice of the Cards” will always belong to Paul Rogers…but for Sean the title “Man on the Mike” seems to fit just fine.

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Expansion Update: Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium

Gonna be two things to watch during the University of Louisville football games this fall, the action on the field and the construction taking place on the east side of Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium. The massive support structure is being added for the 15,000 additional seats, which will take stadium capacity up to 55,000 in time for the 2010 season.

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Recruit Back On The Market

The Indianapolis Star is reporting that Justin Martin, a highly touted basketball prospect from Lawrence North High, has backed out of his commitment to the University of Louisville.

“I thought that I made my decision too early,” said the 6-foot-7 Martin, who committed before his junior year. “It’s nothing bad, I just talked it over with my mom and dad and wanted to do this. Coach Pitino asked if I still wanted them to recruit me and I told him I did.”

Two other Lawrence North players, rising juniors Ryan Taylor and Michael Chandler, have made oral commitments to Louisville. Stephan Van Treese will be a freshman at Louisville this year. Martin joked earlier this season that Lawrence North had taken to calling itself “Louisville North.”  Link.

Martin is just a kid but it’s a reminder:  A man’s word these days is not necessarily the last word.

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Surprise! NCAA Knocking On Memphis Door

It happened later rather than sooner … at least for Memphis. As for that much ballyhooed honeymoon in the Bluegrass, well, a wakeup call was way overdue.

The NCAA is reportedly setting up camp in Memphis to investigate allegations charging the University of Memphis with major recruiting violations during the 2007-08 basketball season under a former coach, according to reports from the Memphis Commercial-Appeal.

The investigation focuses on an incident of “knowing fraudulence or misconduct” by a player on an SAT exam by a player.  While no names have been mentioned, the report indicates that the player competed that one season, which would appear to point to Derrick Rose, who would become the NBA’s No. 1 draft pick last June.

If proven to be true, the Tigers could be forced to forfeit their NCAA-record 38 victories and Final Four appearance.

The report does not include allegations of lack of institutional control, meaning Memphis would likely avoid serious penalties that would have an impact on the program going forward. The report includes no allegations that would have occurred during the tenure of Josh Pastner, either as an assistant or head coach.

Memphis, which received the notice of allegations Jan. 16, is scheduled to appear before the NCAA Committee on Infractions June 6.

The presence of former Memphis coach John Calipari at the hearing has been requested by the NCAA, which is also investigating reports that Memphis provided $2,260 in free travel to road games for an associate of a player. The NCAA is charging Memphis with a failure to monitor in that instance. Those names also were redacted in the report due to privacy laws.

The “associate” of a player? Probably just someone with a lot of interest in seeing Calipari succeed.

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Geoff Calkins, a Memphis columnist, points out that Calipari is one of a handful of coaches to take two different schools to the final four. In the next sentence, he says the same coach may become the only one to have both of those appearances vacated from the NCAA record books.

Calipari must be one unlucky guy, plagued by happenstance and circumstance. One has to wonder what he has done to deserve these misfortunes.

Calipari is not personally implicated in any of the allegations. Of course he’s not.

He wasn’t implicated in the UMass fiasco, either.

He just happened to be in charge when the bad stuff happened at UMass. He just happened to be in charge when the bad stuff may have happened at Memphis. The man is to NCAA investigations as Joey Dorsey was to bar fights. He’s just unlucky, darn it!

At least the NCAA requested that Calipari appear at the hearing. Wonder if he’ll be tweeting about that to the Kentucky fans?

Such an upstanding man, too. University of Kentucky fans can continue to rest easy, knowing their new coach would never be involved in wrong doing. Never.

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While writing this post, someone from Paintsville, Ky., arrived on Card Game doing a Google search for “Rick Pitino recruiting violations.” Careful what you wish for, Paintsville.

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