The “does USA Basketball give the college coaches involved an unfair advantage” debate reached a point few expected it to Friday, with the Louisville Courier-Journal accompanying a column on the matter with an illustration of head coach John Calipari that was anything but complimentary. As expected an uproar ensued, with fans and even other media members criticizing the newspaper for the image.
Monday morning, a letter of apology written to the coach by executive editor Neil Budde was printed in the paper.Dear Coach Calipari,
Please accept our apology for the inappropriate illustration used with a column in last Friday’s Courier-Journal. The illustration reflected neither the tone of the column it accompanied nor our editorial standards.
This was a failure in our procedures. We have reiterated to those involved and our entire staff that any illustration of this nature must be approved by senior editors, which did not happen in this case.
We regret that this episode cast a bad light on you and the University of Kentucky basketball team.
Sincerely,
Neil Budde
Executive Editor
Hopefully the letter of apology means that this portion of the conversation is finished.