John Wall, Coach Clifton, and Roy Williams

There have been some rumors circulating about John Wall (left), the top ranked point guard in the 2009 class. Supposedly, Roy called him last Thursday from the Final Four, but Wall later said Roy wasn't recruiting him and UNC was not on his list. One of the reasons for this may have been Wall's AAU coach, Brian Clifton. Clifton apparently is upset that a.) Roy didn't recruit Wall sooner, and b.) Roy wasn't interested in another one of Clifton's recruits that Clifton had brought to Carolina earlier. According to the News and Observer, Clifton said, "I have no desire to talk to, to be involved with, to visit, to contemplate in any shape, form or fashion John Wall going to play for Roy Williams. Zero." Tarheelfanblog says that when a talk radio personality asked Clifton what he didn't like about Roy, he said "I don’t have any respect for Roy Williams. I encourage [my players] to play for guys that will inspire them to be good people. If you’re not a good person, you can’t make someone a good person."
I've never heard of Roy inspiring so much hate in someone. Clifton sounds a bit like a spurned, vindictive ex-girlfriend. I mean, tell me if I'm wrong, but he said he wants a coach who's a good person, and then goes on to call Roy a bad person. Take your own advice there, buddy. Roy is one of the most well liked and respected coaches in college. He has never been anything but a class act. So my guess is that Clifton, like a middle school girl, is trying to stir up controversy to get some attention. He's an embarrassment, and its a shame that he's partially in control of so many young talents' futures. Not only that, but his arm- flailing attention-whoring comes at the expense of his recruits futures. He's burning bridges, and I have no doubt that his lofty ambition of cannibalizing his players' careers for his own amelioration will fail.
Furthermore, Clifton met with Coach K and said he was impressed with Duke, and Wall now has Duke on his shortlist. Clifton said, "The emergence of Duke as a viable option, that in and of itself has caused a change."
"We all left the meeting with the conclusion that it was worth exploring further," said Clifton. "I respect Coach K and the way that he goes about business. … He was enough of a professional to deal with people based on who they really are, not on what he’s heard they might be. I’d be comfortable with any of my guys learning from and being shaped and molded by a guy who’s got that in his character."
Based on his earlier allusions, that last bit again seems like a dig at Roy. Clifton has proven himself to be a sycophantic leech, a carpetbagging, opportunist parasite, drunk on the power he gets from his players' leverage. I certainly hope his outlandish attention mongering doesn't affect the players unlucky enough to be in his auspices.