NCAA upset with Kentucky over celebration of John Calipari's 500th win

On Feb. 26, just minutes after the Kentucky Wildcats defeated the Florida Gators, the school held a quick celebration to commemorate coach John Calipari's 500th career collegiate victory.

But according to the NCAA, that was a mistake.

According to Jerry Tipton of the Lexington Herald-Leader, the NCAA sent a letter to Kentucky that asked the school to publicly recognize that they were wrong by holding the celebration.

At issue is 42 victories that have been vacated from Calipari's record by the NCAA over his time at Massachusetts and Memphis. At Massachusetts, four of Calipari's victories were vacated due to improper benefits received by UMass star Marcus Camby. At Memphis, all 38 of the Tigers' wins in 2007-08 were vacated over the ineligibility of point guard Derrick Rose.

In a five-page letter to Kentucky sent earlier this month, Dennis E. Thomas, chairman of the NCAA's Committee on Infractions, asked school president Lee T. Todd to draft an apology over the issue. Thomas said that any apology the school puts together must first be approved by the Committee on Infractions.

The school and the NCAA apparently have gone back and forth over the issue since February, with the school at one point arguing that despite the fact the the wins were vacated, they did indeed happen and the school was simply attempting to honor their coach for reaching such a milestone.

Should Kentucky fail to respond to the NCAA's letter by the deadline (Friday), then Thomas said that the school would have to appear before the Committee on Infractions.

More from the Herald-Leader:

Bell wrote Todd on April 5 that the response from Gary Johnson, the person who heads men's basketball statistics for the NCAA, was: "You can say he has 1,000 wins if you want. But if you want to agree with what his official record is, then you have to account for those vacates."

Bell said UK interpreted that to mean it could recognize 500 or more victories as long as it "accounted" for the vacates.

Thomas disagreed. "Recognizing Mr. Calipari for a fictitious 500th win does not properly 'account' for the vacation of wins," he wrote Todd.

According to Thomas' letter, Peevy again checked with the NCAA about whether beating Florida marked Calipari's 500th victory at 5:52 p.m. the day of the game. Thomas wrote that the timing was "troubling" because it was "just minutes before the Florida game concluded. ...

"Clarification of Mr. Calipari's record should have been sought long before ... "

The NCAA first asked UK to explain its handling of Calipari's record in a letter dated March 15.

See photos of: NCAA, John Calipari, Kentucky Wildcats

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