When he coached at Massachusetts, Calipari's Minutemen had their Final Four appearance and 4-1 NCAA tournament record in 1996 vacated after it was found center Marcus Camby (now a Clipper) had accepted benefits, including $1,800 for clothing at a Hartford, Conn., store.
"I even got a letter from the NCAA saying I was an innocent victim of this -- this was nothing I could ever have known about, $1,800 in Hartford," Calipari said.
Mayo, as one of the top 40 U.S. recruits, was subjected to the interview in the NCAA's top-prospect program. Like all athletes, he also had to take an online survey in the year-old amateurism certification program. He would have had to deny receiving improper benefits then to be cleared to play.
Asked to describe the program, NCAA spokeswoman Stacey Osburn said in an e-mail to The Times: "I'm not sure 'scrutiny' is an accurate depiction of the elite-athlete program. The purpose . . . is to gain a better understanding of the amateur status of elite athletes in select sports and to help educate these elite athletes on the NCAA amateurism rules. . . . "
UCLA Coach Ben Howland said the NCAA screening is "good, they're trying to do the best job they can do." Howland said the NCAA interviewed former star Bruins Kevin Love and Jordan Farmar in recent years. "When people see the money these guys will be making as projected first-rounders . . . it's hard for us," he said. "You don't have a lockdown on kids."
But as one former NCAA enforcement agent cautioned, "If athletes want to cheat, if they're trying to violate rules, they're not going to give you an admission of wrongdoing."
Beyond that, eligibility rules in NCAA bylaws place a "higher standard on the institution," to explore day-to-day concerns about a player that may emerge, such as the athlete's driving a new car, or -- like Mayo -- having an expensive television in his room and accepting free tickets to a Lakers game at Staples Center.
The NCAA will ask a university what questions it asked when new information came forward, the former agent said.
"You can't just say, 'The NCAA already checked him and moved on.' You're seeing the kid every day, you haven't moved on," said the former agent, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation is continuing.
An area of concern might be Guillory's prior connections to former USC player Jeff Trepagnier and ex-Fresno State star Tito Maddox, who were disciplined for accepting benefits from aspiring Las Vegas agents. It is not known if the NCAA asked Guillory about those ties.
