The Daily Campus

Issue date: 3/30/09 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Dan Gindraux Jim Calhoun tells UConn players to not foul in the closing moments of the Huskies' seven-point Elite Eight win over Missouri Saturday.

Amidst all the Final Four hype surrounding this 2009 UConn men's basketball squad, there's still a dark cloud hovering over it. As excited as coach Jim Calhoun was after the 84-76 victory over Missouri - and trust me, he couldn't wipe that smile off his face no matter what - there's still a dark cloud surrounding his legacy at UConn as well.

No one at UConn wants to talk about it, but the reality of the situation is that after Yahoo Sports leaked an extensive report detailing possible NCAA violations in the recruitment of Nate Miles, Jim Calhoun was booed. That's right, the man with the second-most wins among active coaches, the man who built UConn basketball from practically scratch, was booed.

On Wednesday, just after the news hit, Calhoun was noticeably rattled. On Friday, he admitted he "could have made a mistake," citing the 508-page manual that details what is and is not legal in the field of recruiting.

Yahoo's accusations, which totaled a whopping 3,343 words, can be summed up in a few sentences: Miles was provided with lodging, transportation, food and representation by Josh Nochimson - a professional sports agent and former UConn student manager (an NCAA violation). At least one coach - former UConn assistant and current Quinnipiac head coach Tom Moore - admitted to knowing about the relationship (another violation). Five different UConn coaches traded 1,565 phone and text messages with Nochimson, including 16 from coach Jim Calhoun.

First things first, I am in no position to say what exactly happened. I have no idea if these allegations are true. I have no idea what Calhoun's 16 text messages to Nochimson said, or if he was trying to "recruit" Nochimson to recruit Miles.

I am in position, however, to comment on a few things: 1. The way Yahoo went about handling this and 2: The legitimacy of the rules that were violated.

Dan Wetzel and Adrien Wojnarowski, the two Yahoo reporters who broke the story, have had successful careers in sports journalism. I'm a college kid, so take what I'm going to say with a grain of salt. I have nothing wrong with the fact that Wetzel and Wojnarowski spent six months tracking down the free hamburgers that Miles ate, but the timing of the story was a bit fishy.

Continued...

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