John Calipari during the second round of the 2016 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at Wells Fargo Arena on March 19, 2016 in Des Moines, Iowa.

University of Kentucky head coach John Calipari is not exactly afraid to speak his mind on issues inside or outside the world of college basketball. So, it should come as no surprise that he has an opinion on a bevy of issues related to player conduct on campus.

In an interview on Tuesday’s Mike Lupica Show, Calipari made it clear that he believes coaches know perfectly well what is happening on campus and should be held accountable for player actions on campus.

He also made it clear that it is next to impossible to know what is happening when a player heads home or an assistant is dealing with family members of a player back home as well.

“All I can tell you is this: If it happens on your campus and it happens with your assistants and those people, you probably have a good idea of what’s going on,” Calipari said. “It happens back in their hometown, it happens back with their family … there’s no way you can know. You just can’t know. All I can say is most coaches have an idea if it happened on their campus. You might not be the first to know about it but you eventually hear about it.”

It all added up to a thinly-veiled shot at the troubles plaguing arch-rival Louisville, which imposed its own postseason ban last season after a pay-for-sex scandal with players, recruits, and an assistant coach broke out.

Calipari didn’t directly mention the Cardinals, nor head coach Rick Pitino, by name, but it is hard not to take notice of the wording of his statement. It’s also hard not to note the irony of Calipari’s own scandals while coaching at UMass in the 1990s and at Memphis prior to becoming Kentucky’s head coach.

He also went on to rant against the NCAA and it’s “selective nature” in dealing with investigations and punishment of programs.

“It’s unfortunate. You wish there was more consistency about how they do things in the NCAA. There’s a belief out there of selective enforcements and some people will call right to [Mark Emmert] and say, ‘Get these people off me,’ and it changes. It’s selective. If it isn’t, it appears to you and me and everybody else [that it is].”

For his part, the Kentucky program has not come under any NCAA scrutiny despite his program rolling in top recruiting class after top recruiting class and plenty of one-and-done talent.

That was again the case for the upcoming season, as Kentucky has the No. 2-ranked class in the country according to the 247Sports team recruiting rankings.

Love him, hate him or believe he is a hypocrite…just don’t expect Calipari to care what perception is of him. He just seems to be more focused on getting the NCAA back on track, along with himself from what he sees as a wrong path in previous years.

“We have lost our way,” he said. “They have lost their way. That’s all I’ve been saying. And everybody’s mad at me and I’m the worst guy in the world and I’m fine with that. I’m at that age where I really don’t care what you think.”

[ESPN]

About Andrew Coppens

Andy is a contributor to The Comeback as well as Publisher of Big Ten site talking10. He also is a member of the FWAA and has been covering college sports since 2011. Andy is an avid soccer fan and runs the Celtic FC site The Celtic Bhoys. If he's not writing about sports, you can find him enjoying them in front of the TV with a good beer!