Did John Calipari commit an NCAA violation at SEC spring meetings?
Kentucky basketball coach John Calipari may have committed an NCAA violation at SEC spring meetings when he discussed 5-star 2019 point guard Ashton Hagans with the media.
Calipari committed the violation when answering a question about the probability of Hagans choosing Georiga over Kentucky if Mark Fox was still in charge.
"He wanted us all along and we had waited, and Mark did a good job and jumped on it. I told him, 'You're smart,'" Calipari said, according to The Athletic. "But then the kid opens up when he figures out that stuff is happening. And we get a terrific player."
While Hagans, who is verbally committed to Kentucky, is expected to graduate high school early, sign with Kentucky and practice with the squad this summer, he has not yet signed his national letter of intent finalizing his commitment, resulting in a secondary violation by Calipari.
According to the NCAA rulebook, college coaches are not allowed to publicly discuss a recruit that has not signed the necessary paperwork to make their commitments official.
A Newton High School student from Covington, Ga., Hagans had been verbally committed to Georgia in December 2017 and rescinded his commitment in February before verbally committing to Kentucky on April 10. Between Hagans’ commitment to Georiga and decision to verbally commit to Kentucky, Georiga fired Mark Fox on March 10.
