Louisville newspaper apologizes to John Calipari
The uproar over the ill-conceived illustration in the Louisville Courier-Journal last Friday ended in the most amiable way possible.
The newspaper printed a letter from executive editor Neil Budde on Monday apologizing for the illustration that featured Kentucky coach John Calipari's head on the body of a diaper-clad baby.
The illustration ran with an otherwise reasonable column by Tim Sullivan that focused on the perceived advantages of coaching USA Basketball and the tendency of coaches to complain when a competitor gains even the slightest edge. Budde's letter acknowledged the illustration didn't match the tone of the column and was needlessly disrespectful to Calipari.
Dear Coach Calipari,
Please accept our apology for the inappropriate illustration used with a column in last Friday’s Courier-Journal. The illustration reflected neither the tone of the column it accompanied nor our editorial standards.
This was a failure in our procedures. We have reiterated to those involved and our entire staff that any illustration of this nature must be approved by senior editors, which did not happen in this case.
We regret that this episode cast a bad light on you and the University of Kentucky basketball team.
Sincerely,
Neil Budde
Executive Editor
The sole connection between Calipari and the USA Basketball debate came via an accusation from Jim Boeheim, who said the Kentucky coach has complained about the access to recruits that USA Basketball coaches have.
Calipari has never publicly made such a complaint — and nor should he considering his stint as coach of the Dominican national team surely contributed to Kentucky landing elite big man Karl Towns. The Kentucky coach did not deny Boeheim's accusation when he addressed it via Twitter, but he was complimentary of the job Boeheim and Mike Krzyzewski have done with USA Basketball.
"The job that Coach K and Coach Boeheim have done to turn around USA Basketball, to make it what it is today is truly amazing," Calipari wrote. "If – and I emphasize if – they gained any advantage, because of that work, I don't begrudge them in the least."
Calipari had not commented on the Courier-Journal illustration until Monday when he accepted the newspaper's apology.
I appreciate the @courierjournal's apology. Although it was something they didn't need to do, it's something most papers wouldn't have done.
— John Calipari (@UKCoachCalipari) September 22, 2014
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Jeff Eisenberg is the editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at daggerblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
