WWW, CAA and the NCAA

Who is this guy, Worldwide Wes, anyway? Why would William Wesley be better known for his nickname than his real name? Who else so closely related to college basketball over the last ten years has had no discernible job, no visible source of income, and no limits on his interaction with coaches, recruits, and NBA players?

More importantly for those of us who follow SEC basketball, what is the relationship between Worldwide Wes and John Calipari? And now that former Calipari assistant coach Tony Barbee is now head coach over at Auburn, what will be the impact of the ongoing ties between Wesley and Barbee?

In other words, since Coach Barbee is apparently represented by Creative Artists Agency (CAA), and Worldwide Wes is apparently a new employee of CAA, would there be any likelihood that Worldwide Wes will now steer the basketball recruits he knows to Auburn? In the words of Barbee, "There are probably some misconceptions out there about the guy, that he is involved with prospects and he funnels players to different schools."

Exactly. Why else would a current head coach at Rutgers be in regular contact with a guy who has no other job?

Come to think of it, why was Mark Fox quoted in the article? I'm pretty sure that Fox doesn't have any relationship with Worldwide Wes, nor with CAA, but I'm not sure. We haven't been in the running for any of the top recruits in the country, that is, other than Kentavious Caldwell. And I doubt that WwW's reaches extend into rural Georgia.

The thought from the article is that now that Wesley has an employment relationship with a sports agency firm, his impact on college basketball recruiting will go down.

I wonder. Will the NCAA really watch what Worldwide Wes is doing, or will he somehow, mysteriously, continue to flit in and out of clinics and coaching circles, based on some NCAA loop-hole?

John Calipari, for one, isn't expecting much of a change. "Who he knows, and the relationships he has, they'll be the same they've been for twenty years."

ha-ha. He really isn't an agent, you know-- he's my uncle.