AK has recruited good players to UC?

[jerry weinstein]

Tom, yes, Catlett was an excellent recruiter and yes, there was money involved with many of his recruits.  
   
  Catlett's tenure here will always bear the mark of scandal because we were caught giving players money.  But in reality he was only doing the same thing as his competitors.  Anyone who would take away from Catlett's recruiting by saying he cheated, would have to do the same thing in assessing Adolf Rupp, Joe Hall, Denny Crum, Dean Smith and other coaching legends of this era.  I know, because I met and recruited against these coaches.  I know what they were saying to the players in question.
   
  Kentucky and Louisville in particular were far more blatant than UC was. UC never got a player away from Louisville with money.  That would be like me outbidding Bill Gates for an oil painting. Robert Miller chose UC over Louisville  because he liked our coaches more.  He particularly hit it off with Alan Hmiel.
   
  But that was 30 years ago.  Many things are different now, including the fact that most schools don't cheat anymore, for which we can all be thankful.  It is true that cheating is most prevalent among SEC programs in the deep South, which is one reason why you have to be careful about who you recruit there.
   
  You have read my comments about Vincent Banks in previous posts, making it unnecessary for me to expound on the difference I see between him and players like Collier and Cummings.
   
  Huggins maintained his winning ways till the end at UC.  It was the trend that concerned me, as reflected by the rate of attrition, which made it an open question in my mind whether he would succeed in the Big East.  It was a question I wanted answered by having him continue to coach, for at least the next two years.