So Saul Smith is apprarently weighing in on Kentucky basketball. Well, weighing in before he had apparently deleted his comments on his Facebook page.
Here's UK blogger Jerry Tipton quoted at length.
On his Facebook page, former Kentucky point guard Saul Smith cautioned the basketball program about running afoul of NCAA rules.
“Bad bad day for my alma mater,” Smith wrote on Thursday. “The UK athletic program will never regain its true champion nature with Businessmen running it. Never, no matter how many so called blue chip players you bring in. You can’t sacrifice your integrity for success. You just can’t do it. I’m an alum and I deserve a clean-ran program, plain and simple. Period, and if anyone disagrees, you, my friend, shouldn’t support the program I played 4.”
Smith now works as an assistant coach for his father, former UK coach Tubby Smith, at Minnesota.
Later in a follow-up interview, Smith said he did not mean to suggest new UK Coach John Calipari used questionable methods.
“Coach Cal is my guy,” Smith said. “I’m close to him.”
Smith said he interviewed for a spot on Calipari’s Memphis staff in 2007.
Of the Memphis allegations, Smith said of Calipari, “I don’t think he knew about it, so he says.”
Smith also said his father refused to “pay” for players as Kentucky coach.
“He had the opportunity to get great players,” Saul Smith said. “But the integrity wouldn’t be there. . . .
“I’m not saying Cal has done that. I’m just saying (Kentucky) can’t afford it. We’ve been down that road.”
Smith has apparently now taken down his comment on Facebook
On the face of it, I'm always for people saying what's on their mind. But this strikes me as Saul perhaps sticking himself into a situation that doesn't benefit his current situation. While Saul is an alum of UK and has as much right to weigh in as someone like Rajon Rando, I'd hope Saul would take a page from his father's book and stay above the fray.
There's more to Tipton's piece and please read it for full context.
And here's more Kentucky reaction to Saul inserting himself into this issue.