Parrish: Keelon Lawson Wants Asst Job; Has 3 Sons That Are/Will Be McDonald's AAs

[jazyd]

Pass. Son #1 is #32 and you would have him for a year and dad would probably be shopping for a better job immediately because son #2 is highly ranked. Some HC would then hire him away to get son 2 and hopefully 3. I don't trust this dad at all. Whoever hired him first would get the worst of the 3 and probably never see the other 2.

[HerbTarlek]

I have confidence that cal can get players of equal or better ability without the potential p.r. Baggage or constant interference that would come with hiring the dad.

[Padukacat]

Regardless as to whether there is anything wrong with this, the dad is stupid to think the money he makes as an assistant even matters in the big picture if he has 3 future pros, especially if they get to come to UK which almost guarantees them of a slot in the league. What matters more, him getting a job or them getting to the league? It would seem that we have the leverage here honestly. maybe other schools don't, but we do.

[uk-4-the-win]

Who are we going to demote or get rid of to get this guy? Robic, Payne or Slice? or Cal? those are the only 4 positions you can hire someone and be able to recruit the players associated with that hire. Strickland's job was a made up job just for him and most likely will poof away now that he's at USF. Strickland wasn't allowed to recruit or even coach the team at all so I think most UK fans had some misconception as to Strickland's actual job on the staff.

[uk-4-the-win]

If this guy is good enough, move Robic down to a made up position like Strickland's was and keep his salary the same... and make Lawson a high paid assistant coach ... The recruiters will still be Cal, Slice and Payne since only 3 can recruit at a time... and Robic won't be allowed to coach but he can still help in other ways.

But seriously guys... the NCAA wouldn't even look into this because the dad is more than qualified. And people are going to claim we cheat even if we don't try to hire the father so who gives a darn what they think.

There are drawbacks. and I honestly don't know if its worth it. 1st of all, this could effect recruiting in a negative way like Saul Smith did. 2nd , would it cause a ton of turmoil ? The Lawson kids better earn their minutes and be good enough or the other players will get highly upset at the nepotism. and 3rd... what if a Lawson isn't good enough to get the minutes dad wants him to get? Player's parents can be pain in the butts to deal with.... but with papa Lawson, you can't just ignore him

[elicat]

Absolutely not. No way. Citizen is entirely right about the perception issue. And I couldn't blame the media or the NCAA, because it gives me exactly the same kind of perception.

[bigsky]

Sleazy

[uk-4-the-win]

Absolutely not. No way. Citizen is entirely right about the perception issue. And I couldn't blame the media or the NCAA, because it gives me exactly the same kind of perception.

We are UK, we have a bad perception issue NO MATTER WHAT. Because calling us cheaters is easier than coming to reality that Kentucky is great in basketball and better than most other schools.

It could be a bad idea for several legit reasons like possible turmoil etc.. but don't let perception get in the way. Perception was UK cheated and paid Anthony Davis 200K. aren't you glad we kept him anyways?

[badrose]

My gut says it's a bad idea.

[jazyd]

Are you serious about Robic? Bayou really think cal would demote the guy he trusts the most and puts in charge when he gets the boot ?


UOTE=uk-4-the-win;189209]If this guy is good enough, move Robic down to a made up position like Strickland's was and keep his salary the same... and make Lawson a high paid assistant coach ... The recruiters will still be Cal, Slice and Payne since only 3 can recruit at a time... and Robic won't be allowed to coach but he can still help in other ways.

But seriously guys... the NCAA wouldn't even look into this because the dad is more than qualified. And people are going to claim we cheat even if we don't try to hire the father so who gives a darn what they think.

There are drawbacks. and I honestly don't know if its worth it. 1st of all, this could effect recruiting in a negative way like Saul Smith did. 2nd , would it cause a ton of turmoil ? The Lawson kids better earn their minutes and be good enough or the other players will get highly upset at the nepotism. and 3rd... what if a Lawson isn't good enough to get the minutes dad wants him to get? Player's parents can be pain in the butts to deal with.... but with papa Lawson, you can't just ignore him[/QUOTE]

[CitizenBBN]

It could be a bad idea for several legit reasons like possible turmoil etc.. but don't let perception get in the way. Perception was UK cheated and paid Anthony Davis 200K. aren't you glad we kept him anyways?

Anthony Davis never went on record saying he wanted to get paid $200K either. Big difference.

[ShoesSwayedBlue]

Regardless as to whether there is anything wrong with this, the dad is stupid to think the money he makes as an assistant even matters in the big picture if he has 3 future pros, especially if they get to come to UK which almost guarantees them of a slot in the league. What matters more, him getting a job or them getting to the league? It would seem that we have the leverage here honestly. maybe other schools don't, but we do.

I'll find it interesting to see if Cal goes after these kids and refuses to even consider the Dad as a coaching candidate for that very reason.

[Darrell KSR]

There's a thread on the Front Porch that reminds me of this thread a lot. It asks if circumstances personally for you allowed it, would you date Amanda Knox.

I think most of us have good enough opinions of ourselves that we believe we can attract an attractive mate, and that was sort of my answer on that thread. There are issues surrounding Amanda Knox (even if you assume she is innocent, which she may be) that some of us don't think warrant dating her, and we think we do just fine by ourselves.

Same here. This isn't your grandfather's recruiting at UK. We're landing the top classes in the nation. If we get 0 of those kids, I think we'll do just fine with the other McDonald's All-Americans and the "Succeeders and Proceeders" (I'm trying) John Calipari will land.

Now, if John Calipari takes a job coaching south Florida high school basketball or whatever, and coach Joe Schmoe comes in, and needs to fill a staff--different question, and maybe/maybe not a different answer.

[uk-4-the-win]

[QUOTE=jazyd;189228]Are you serious about Robic? Bayou really think cal would demote the guy he trusts the most and puts in charge when he gets the boot ?

I was just saying its the only way to hire the Lawson guy. I mean we could hire him at a lower position but we wouldn't be allowed to bring his kids on to the team per NCAA rules. And you sure as hell aren't demoting your recruiters in Slice and Payne because then they wouldn't be able to recruit

I don't think its worth it personally. but like I said , I was only stating the only way this would be possible... well other than Payne or Robic leaving for another coaching Job.

[uk-4-the-win]

Anthony Davis never went on record saying he wanted to get paid $200K either. Big difference.

You are right the big difference is that Davis' father had really asked for 200K then he's ineligible ........... Lawson can ask for whatever he wants in the way of a salary and its 100% completely in the rules.

I promise you. Hell Citizen I'll paypal you 200$ if the school who hires Lawson gets in trouble. I promise you its within the rules and the NCAA wouldn't even check into it.

[Darrell KSR]

I promise you. Hell Citizen I'll paypal you 200$ if the school who hires Lawson gets in trouble. I promise you its within the rules and the NCAA wouldn't even check into it.

I believe you're right, too.

[GhettoBird]

Who do you suppose he interviewed with, us or Memphis? I read elsewhere that rumors in the AAU circuit are that pastner is getting some pressure to hire this guy, from who I do not know.

This guy also stAted that the dad is more interested in UK than anywhere else. Tifwiw.

[uk-4-the-win]

Had to of been Memphis. If you read the quotes from Mr. Lawson... the entire thing reads like ..... You better reconsider hiring me memphis or I'm heading elsewhere and my oldest son will de-commit

[UKFlounder]

Celebrating a 500th win is also legal, yet that did not stop the NCAA from sending UK a letter.

Besides any questions such as that, however, this would set a horrible precedent for future recruiting when a player's coach or father wants a job

[UKHistory]

Rod took that spot as DOB as part of a demotion due to his DUI. Theoretically that is not a spot our staff has to have. Now with that said, it is also not a coaching spot either.

Rod could not recruit in his former capacity; he could also not coach/teach the players either. I am not sure that Keelon would be happy with that job. It is at a college but it is not a true coaching position.

Dedric has stated he is down to us and Memphis. In all seriousness could this bee why Strickland's positions has not been filled.

[UKHistory]

I know that the NCAA does not allow a school to hire a coach of a recruit now but unsure about family. Seems to me the intent of the rule is to prohibit using such contacts to help with recruiting.

[elicat]

We are UK, we have a bad perception issue NO MATTER WHAT. Because calling us cheaters is easier than coming to reality that Kentucky is great in basketball and better than most other schools.

Right now the perception is based on envy and I can present facts to counter the nonsense. If something like this happened it would be based on a reality that I would see the same way they do. Don't want any part of that scenario.

[KSRBEvans]

My WAG is even if Mr. Lawson would have been in the running at UK, his public campaign kills it. Neither Cal nor UK take to that approach.

[HerbTarlek]

I'm in the camp with "stay away" this sounds like a trap to me, and I'm not sure Sandy Bell would sign off on it. I think CBBN nailed it with UNC, dook, and anybody else in the free world could make the deal (and there it is it's a deal) and it wouldn't be a problem, Cal+KY=Death Penalty

Didn't Emmert & Co make some rule about hiring relatives, I seem to remember something coming up about a potential hire/scholarship deal at UL that brought this practice to the forefront...IIRC Ricky hired the guy and then didn't get the player, but there was some focus on the situation.

They hired Shabaka lands to help with Teague. He was vaguely associated with tea guess high school coaching staff and was given some low level , entry position at deminimus salary. When Teague didn't go to uofl, his position was liquidated post haste.

[CitizenBBN]

You are right the big difference is that Davis' father had really asked for 200K then he's ineligible ........... Lawson can ask for whatever he wants in the way of a salary and its 100% completely in the rules.

I promise you. Hell Citizen I'll paypal you 200$ if the school who hires Lawson gets in trouble. I promise you its within the rules and the NCAA wouldn't even check into it.

What the rules say and what is done are two very different things with the NCAA.

the HEAD of the committee that was threatening Uk with "violations" for acknowledging Cal's 500th win in the media guide was AD at a school that acknowledged vacated football wins in their media guide WHEN he was AD.

Rules schmules, I know how this game is played, and it isn't played fair. At UNC, Duke it's a total pass and maybe at UK too, but I know how the NCAA does business.

Besides, UK has been the source of more than one "emergency rule change" over the decades. I'm not saying it would happen, I'm saying it was dumb beyond belief to even raise the possibility and give it any entre into the discussion and I don't like the idea of hiring dumb people who can't keep their mouths shut.

want to threaten Memphis? Fine, there are other ways to do it.

[JPScott]

"If [a college] hires a second or third assistant, what can they bring to the table?" Lawson said. "If you hire me, I'm automatically bringing you top-20 players in the country. Automatically. There are coaches sitting on benches right now who can't do that."

"With loyalty to Josh, I would ask K.J., 'Would you want to stay [with Memphis] or would you want to go with me and Dedric?'" Keelon Lawson said. "But with us being a close-knit family, you know what the answer would be. He would say, 'Dad, I'm going with you.' So, of course, K.J. would go with me, and then Dedric, and then Chandler."



This is all I need to see to lead me to say no, quite emphatically. If he is this determined to use his sons to get an NCAA job, who know how he might act if one of his sons is not getting the PT he thinks they should or being developed the way he thinks they should. Some were critical of Harrison Sr's role in his son's decision - imagine if he was sitting on the bench? UK should work to be above this sort of stuff. We can't keep worrying about our ranking as a dynasty program but at the same time behave like a program desperate to break into the top echelon.

I agree. The other thing to keep in mind is that Strickland's position wasn't strictly a recognized assistant coach position. So whoever (if anyone) takes this 'position' would not be allowed to coach the players. I'm not sure that wouldn't be worse having a parent around the program and sitting on the bench and not technically being able to work with the team as a coach.

I realize that for most any program having the opportunity for someone on the staff to bring in a number of top players is a great advantage. But Kentucky (at least as long as Cal is head coach) is one of the few (maybe only) places where they really don't need any help in this regard.

I frankly see more potential downsides than upsides to this.

[CitizenBBN]

My WAG is even if Mr. Lawson would have been in the running at UK, his public campaign kills it. Neither Cal nor UK take to that approach.

Exactly what he did. Made it far harder for UK or Cal to be involved at all. This was about saber rattling at Memphis, and it was poorly executed and done clumsily.

[Philly Cat]

I can't see Cal willingly choosing to have this guy's chatter in his or his players' ears. Even if not outright illegal to hire a player's father, it was poor judgment to go to the press like this, as others have noted, and I have to think that we'll be in a position where we already have so many good players that we don't need to take on this sort of baggage.