RE: AK has recruited good players to UC?

[Dan Marshall]

i think if he had to PAY people, then his recruiting skills have to be
questioned.
 
and "excellent" recruiter wouldn't have to pay people to play would he?
 
By this standard, we're saying we would have been happier if Huggins payed
players that weren't second chance guys than having him recruit what he
could.

  _____  

From: jerry weinstein [mailto:address@hidden 
Sent: Wednesday, March 01, 2006 12:52 PM
To: address@hidden
Subject: [UC Basketball] AK has recruited good players to UC?


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.