What’s going on with Paxton and UK
December 4th, 2009 | 
Author: By LARRY VAUGHT
I have to admit I don’t pretend to understand all that might be going on with the NCAA wanting to talk to UK senior pitcher Jamex Paxton.
I do wonder how the New York Times broke the story about him filing suit against UK for trying to pressure him to talk to the NCAA. I was intrigued to read some of the details in the Lexington Herald-Leader today and especially the reference to a basketball player that “cooperated with the NCAA” and got only a six-game suspension in a link provided on the Herald website to the suit.
Who could that basketball player be? Maybe DeAndre Liggins. Who knows.
Here is what UK released today while I was driving back from covering the Class AAAA state football championship in Bowling Green:
“As of 4:18 p.m. ET today, the University of Kentucky has filed its response to the motion for temporary injunction, a copy of which can be found on UKathletics.com.
“Contrary to several media reports, James Paxton’s scholarship money and status on the team has never been in jeopardy. At no time has a change been made in James’ status on the team or his receipt of services available to student-athletes. He was, is and will continue to be a member of the University of Kentucky baseball team.”
And he should be.
Hopefully some of you are legal experts and can help explain all this to me. But I don’t like what I have read about UK pressuring him to cooperate with the NCAA and not telling him what the NCAA even wants to talk about. I don’t know about you, but I sure wouldn’t trust the NCAA to be fair. Just ask Jeremy Jarmon.
Posted in Uncategorized
14 Responses to “What’s going on with Paxton and UK”
Leave a Reply
UKAthletics.com
Larry… I couldn’t agree with you more on this.
The reference to a basketball player is very curious. Back at the beginning of Liggins not playing, someone on KSR posted that it involved Liggins recruitment by Gillispie and that he would sit for 6 games. When he didn’t play against Ashville, I discounted that account, so who knows. The local media should be all over this, so I suspect you are efforting to get some response from Barnhart and/or Sandy Bell. I get the feeling from the Herald story and the account of Mitch showing up in Louisville at Paxton’s attorney’s office unannounced that he and Sandy Bell are frantic about the consequences of all this………not good. Read between the lines and I see dark clouds.
Larry, the more I think about this, the more disconcerting this is.
If Liggins is the basketball player that is referenced, you can infer that he was instructed by Sandy Bell and/or Mitch Barnhart to submit to an interview with the NCAA, that he did so, and that, as a result, he was given “only” a 6 game suspension. I think that would explain the curious way Calipari has deflected questions about Liggins not playing.
You can also infer that Liggins was instructed to not tell his parents or any attorney of the interview. This is a kid with a learning disability. I think Mitch and Sandy Bell need to be asked some hard questions.
So Liggins is in trouble for what? Talking to the NCAA ? Im confused as ever. I think the NCAA sucks. Eventually whatever is keeping Liggins out of games needs to come out cause this is crazy
I think we all are confused. HOping someone can clear the picture some for us, but have found no answers yet
Sources close to the investigation, speaking on condition of anonyminity, confirm that anonymous sources have speculated that Liggins is possibly a person of interest who spoke with the NCAA, which can neither confirm nor deny the report because of confidentiality laws, which are secret.
That pretty much sums it up.
Doug, you must work for the NCAA. Thanks for clearing that up. Seriously, I know what you mean. That’s the way it seems
I am confused as to how a member of the basketball team could have anything to do with possible NCAA issues on the baseball team. Can someone please explain? It would seem that if there was anything of substance going on that was related to the basketball team that the media would be all over it.
The explanation given to the baseball player was that a basketball player cooperated with the NCAA and only got a six-game suspension as a result. That is why the speculation is that must have been Liggins. Only correlation is UK official mentioning the basketball to the baseball player.
It is not surprising that information on a student’s dealing with the NCAA is kept confidential. Any student’s information is confidential, athletic or non-athletic. Now if this was national news TMZ would be all over it and we would know everything. Ask Tiger.
Hi Larry; I just looked this over very quickly. You (we all) are right to be troubled. What the NCAA is asking (or demanding) seems to run afoul of basic due process rights. The problem I see is that under existing NCAA bylaws (to which the member institutions and student-athletes appear to have signed an agreement agreeing to be bound), this organization can do exactly what they are demanding. The kid does not have to comply, of course, but the consequences could (and likely would) negatively affect that particular student-athlete and maybe even the school. The NCAA, much like our tax code, has become a much more complicated body than was ever intended. It is no longer an effective or worthwhile organization in my estimation. These folks, by and large, are a bunch of self-serving, self-proliferating bureaucrats who are seemingly in constant pursuit of relevance. How do they prove themselves to be relevant? By doing stuff like this. Sure, someone could probably cite some examples of good things they do and have done, but I’m not sure the collateral damage is acceptable.
Your Jeremy Jarmon example is a perfect one. A good kid; an honest kid; an honest school that self reports; a banned substance that is available at GNC in the mall; a banned substance that is taken for less than 2 weeks, during the off-season whereupon it can and did not have any effect on Jeremy’s performance in any practice, much less game; a school that gained no competitive advantage of any kind from Jeremy’s innocent mistake. And what was the result? We all know; the death penalty on his senior year. And all this after he had elected to stay for his senior year. He wanted to stay in school and play for UK. Isn’t this what the NCAA should be applauding and looking to reward? What a joke. What an absolute joke.
Larry, please keep us all posted on the many different facets of this story as you learn more. Thanks for all the angles on all the stories you provide. Very good stuff.
Trying to check on this as much as I can. Just hard to get info and hard to find time with basketball. But I will try to stay on it
You all are looking to in depth in this. Put two things together. Liggins has an attitude and Cal doesn’t take anything from anybody. Liggins said something… Cal doesnt play him. Clearly Cal is establishing himself as being the dominant guy and everyone knows liggins has an attitude that doesnt match that. Put two and two together.
Don’t disagree Joe. But still wondering then who the basketball player is who got the six-game suspension or do UK officials just make that up and tell the baseball kid something that was not true