Soundoff/Vic Reato

Maybe nice guys finished last in Leo Durocher's time, but a sour reputation can be detrimental in today's image-conscious sports world. You might not have batted an eye when Conference USA announced its coach of the year March 12. For the record, Marquette's Tom Crean won the Ray Meyer Trophy awarded during the CUSA Tournament in Louisville. It marked the second straight Meyer Trophy for Crean, a likable sort who got the nod over Memphis' John Calipari in a vote of league coaches.

Crean's ascendancy in a league dominated by strong coaching personalities illustrates the value of positive PR. Calipari and Crean are at opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to public persona.

It's tough to find fault with Crean, 36, who is listed among the brightest minds in the college game. He has won 66 percent of his starts since landing at Marquette in March of 1999. His team meets Missouri today in the second round of the NCAA Midwest Regional.

The father of two, Crean first gained national prominence during four seasons with Michigan State's Tom Izzo. The Spartans won 88 games during Crean's stay in East Lansing, where he supervised the recruitment of prized talent, including All-Americans Mateen Cleaves and Mo Peterson.

Calipari is equally sharp on the bench. He was named Naismith and Sporting News National Coach of the Year in 1996, after taking Massachusetts to the Final Four behind Marcus Camby.

Calipari worked wonders in Amhurst, where he inherited a program which had endured 10 straight losing seasons before his arrival in 1988. He won 193 games at UMass, posting six straight 20-win seasons, five successive NCAA appearances and three Sweet 16 berths before jumping to the NBA.

Calipari is more than a match for Crean with a clipboard, but his penchant for controversy spawns ill will.

Massachusetts was stripped of its Final Four status thanks to multiple irregularities involving Camby. Calipari denied complicity, then immediately bolted for the NBA.

Rival coaches make no bones of their dislike for Calipari's methods. Temple's John Chaney once threatened to kill him on camera, then tried to choke the fiery Pennsylvanian at a press conference. Calipari weathered that storm, but problems would continue to dog him.

A lucrative coaching deal with the New Jersey Nets didn't silence the demons. Net players railed at Calipari's confrontational style and actually threatened a work stoppage. He was fired early in his third Nets season, shortly after the NBA fined him $25 thousand for calling a Newark Star-Leger reporter "a Mexican idiot."

After a year as an NBA assistant, Calipari resurfaced in Memphis. The Tigers won an NIT championship in his second year but his stay has produced predictable turmoil.

Questionable recruiting practices have generated numerous PR flaps. Problems began when Calipari induced commitments from DeJuan Wagner and Amare Stoudemire, gifted high school talents with sordid pasts.

Wagner jumped to the NBA after a season in Memphis, where Calipari gave his father a coaching job to keep junior happy. Stoudemire never played in Memphis, opting for the pros after a high school career that featured six schools in two states over three years.

CUSA coaches undoubtedly weighed these circumstances when choosing coach of the year. None of them relished providing Calipari with a recruiting edge in the South, particularly when Crean was a viable alternative in Milwaukee.

Crean has been great at Marquette, but this season's run wasn't unexpected. Most weapons returned from last season's 26-7 team, including All-American and league MVP Dwyane Wade.

Meanwhile, Calipari had to replace 56 percent of the Memphis scoring and 44 percent of its 2001-2002 rebounding. Despite those handicaps, Memphis won 23 regular-season games, though it lost to Arizona State 84-71 in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.

Injuries and suspensions further complicated the job. Memphis used nearly 20 starting lineups this season and 14 different players started at least once. Nevertheless, Calipari still was 4-0 against Louisville's Rick Pitino, Illinois' Bill Self, Cincinnati's Bob Huggins and Syracuse's Jim Boeheim.

Calipari hasn't thrown any chairs, but his irascibility and questionable recruiting probably cost him this year's Meyer Trophy. Meanwhile, Crean quietly benefits from Calipari's misdeeds.