Brian Houston wishes there were more people like Ken Caldwell.

Houston, an assistant coach at Chicago's Saint Patrick High School and a 20-year veteran of the Cook County Sheriff's Office, says he's seen Caldwell make nothing but a positive impact in the local basketball community for a span that dates back two decades.

"I think we need more guys like him," Houston said. "We need more guys like him especially in the inner city. He helps guys who might need a little help to stay focused and get the notoriety and exposure they need to go on and play college basketball."

Caldwell, a Chicago businessman and former AAU coach, surfaced in the news recently for his ties to several UCF basketball recruits. He is a longtime mentor of current UCF point guard A.J. Rompza and the legal guardian of walk-on Doukan Kuzucan, a Turkish national who lived with Caldwell's family after coming overseas to play high school basketball.

Houston, who played college basketball at Buffalo in the late 1980s, says Caldwell has mentored kids in Chicago for years. He distinctly remembers his impact on shooting guard Antwon Hall, who went on to play for Nolan Richardson at Arkansas in the mid-1990s after earning National Player of the Year honors at Barton (Kan.) Community College. Hall later had an extensive professional basketball career overseas.

"Antwon Hall is probably one of the most athletic guys to come out of Chicago that didn't make the NBA, but he did play in Europe," Houston said. "Ken was responsible for that. Focus was the big thing for Antwon. Ken let him know what it takes to get to that next level. He helped his training before people were doing the (NBA Trainer) Tim Grover thing. Ken was making sure he got up, trained and put the right food in his body. He made sure he was hanging with the right crowd.

"Antwon was from the suburbs and Ken said, 'If you're going to play in the pros you need to play against guys who will make you tougher. You're not going to get better jumping over and dunking over guys.' Ken took him over to LeClaire Courts, which is where Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Ron Harper, Juwan Howard, Tim Hardaway and Antoine Walker worked out at.

"Ken has a knack, recipe and formula for helping guys get to the next level."

Houston says Rico Hill is another example of a player Caldwell mentored. Hill played power forward at Illinois State where he led the Redbirds to back-to-back Missouri Valley Conference championships in 1997 and 1998 and earned MVC Player of the Year honors in 1998. He was drafted in the second round by the Los Angeles Clippers in 1999, though he never played a game in the NBA. He did play in the CBA and several years in Europe.

"People told Rico he couldn't play at this level because in between sizes," Houston said. "He went to a Catholic high school. He wasn't a public school guy. Ken gave Rico that edge and let him know he could compete at that level. Rico was a nice kid and Ken gave him a dog mentality on the court."

Houston says nearly everyone involved in Chicago basketball knows agents, but he dismissed reports Caldwell might be a "runner" for a sports agency.

"The guys he's helped, if he was waiting for a payday from them, he'd be a poor guy," Houston said. "He'd be starving."

He called the recent The New York Times and ESPN.com portrayals of Caldwell a "hit job."

"If I didn't know him personally and I didn't know any better, I would have been sucked into that saying we need to keep our kids away from him," Houston said. "But the fact I do know him, it didn't move me one bit. I knew it was false. I knew it was coming from somewhere else. Somebody is trying to make him take a hit for whatever reason."

Houston says any contact Caldwell has with high school basketball players comes with the best of intentions.

"A lot of kids don't have someone like Ken in their life to prep them for that next level," Houston said. "He tells them they're going to have to lift weights every day, go to study hall and practice. When you sign a scholarship to play college basketball it's like a full-time job. Ken helps prepares these guys for that."