Rumors and reports swirled throughout Monday that University of Memphis men’s basketball head coach John Calipari was close to accepting an offer to become head coach at UK. If the rumors hold true, Calipari will become the seventh head coach at UK since Adolph Rupp was hired in 1931. UK would be Calipari’s fourth stop as a head coach. He has never before been head coach at a school in a major conference.
Calipari, 50, began his collegiate playing career in 1978 as a point guard at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington before transferring after his sophomore year to Clarion State, where he played out his remaining eligibility and graduated with a degree in marketing in 1982.
Calipari joined the Kansas basketball program as a volunteer assistant in 1982. He remained an assistant at Kansas through 1985, studying under then-head coach Larry Brown. Calipari left Kansas to be an assistant at Pittsburgh in 1985, where he remained for three years.
Memphis head coach John Calipari screams at his team during first half action against Missouri in their NCAA Sweet Sixteen game in Glendale, Az. Photo by Mark Weber | Memphis Commercial Appeal
He landed his first head coaching job at Massachusetts on April 25, 1988, at the age of 29. In eight years at the helm of the Musketeers’ program, Calipari compiled a 193-71 record. He took the team to the NCAA Tournament in each of his last five years there, and advanced to the Final Four in 1996 — when UK defeated UMass — with major help from NCAA Player of the Year Marcus Camby. Calipari also won the Naismith National Coach of the Year award in 1996.
However, Calipari’s tenure at UMass was tarnished. The NCAA forced the school to vacate its Final Four appearance after finding Camby had accepted $28,000 from two sports agents. Sandy Bell, an NCAA investigator at the time who worked on the case, is now the Senior Associate Athletics Director working for UK’s NCAA Compliance Office.
Calipari bolted UMass on June 6, 1996 to coach the NBA’s New Jersey Nets. After a disappointing first season, Calipari led the Nets to a 43-39 record and a playoff berth in 1998. But the Nets stumbled out of the gates in the strike-shortened 1998-99 season, and Calipari was fired on March 15, 1999 after starting the season 3-17.
Memphis hired Calipari in 2000 to take over a program with a proud history that had fallen on difficult times. Calipari immediately turned the program around and has won at least 20 games in each of his nine years at the helm for the Tigers.
In the last three years, Memphis has won 104 games — including a perfect 48-0 in Conference USA play — and lost just 10. Memphis’ current stretch ties the NCAA record for most wins in a three-season stretch, sharing the record with UK’s 1996-98 teams.
Calipari’s teams are known for their intense dribble drive offenses that feature a host of athletic wing players. Calipari is also known as a tenacious recruiter. His 2009 recruiting class currently lined up at Memphis is widely considered as one of the nation’s best.
But Calipari’s recruiting methods have been questioned in the past. After successfully signing top recruit Dajuan Wagner to play for Memphis in 2001, Calipari hired Milt Wagner, Dajuan’s father, as Memphis Coordinator of Basketball Operations. The hire irked some coaches and raised eyebrows in the media, but Calipari has never been found guilty of any recruiting violations. Dajuan left Memphis for the NBA after his freshman year, but the elder Wagner remained at his position for six years.
ESPN.com reported Monday that Calipari agreed to an eight-year, $35 million deal to become head coach of the Cats. The deal would make him the highest-paid coach in college basketball.
I think CAL would be great move for UK. UK has a great history. In recent years, UK has been a top 20 program. Now UK has a chance to get the players needed to be competive. UK simply has not had top 10 talent nor coaching under Tubby Smith or the Texas A&M wonder boy. UK will get a coach of a team that has been 6, 4,2, and 2 ranked over the last 4 years. That is a top 5 program. I know that UK seems to think that it has a great program, but facts do not bear this out. The kid sbeing recruiter were 8 years old the last time UK was in the final 4. The only reason CAL will not be a success is cause of the disfunctional nature of UK basketball. Its fan are know as being very loyal and also some of the meanest fans at the same time. Like one fan said, “we don’t want any players that have tatoos.” Good luck UK. Some of the top 10 may have tatoos. Get your forsale signs out.
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From all indications it appears UK will get Calipari to lead it’s men’s basketball program. What Calipari has done at Memphis is astounding. He has done what other wish they could do. He understands that it takes great players to win big. He has not been found guilty of doing anything wrong at Memphis, but he left UMASS in shambles. The NCAA stripped them of all the success they had. That is the one red flad I would look at seriously. Kentucky can get someone to lead their program without this kind of baggage. But in today’s win at all cost it appears UK is going down this road. I mean the nation is in a serious economic depression and we are talking about paying $5m a year to a man to coach D-1 basketball. What about the educators and administrators who have been laid off or taken paycuts? Kentucky can get someone a lot less and surely they will get just as good results. Ladies and gentlemen I present to you Travis Ford. This guy could lead UK with class and dignity. You do not need the baggage Calapari brings with him. Sooner or later if UK hires this man they will be on serious probation.
taking another coach that has ever been associated with the most storied basketball program (KU) should serve you well especially if you’re into thugs and sanctions.