A look at Calipari APR scores

APR scores are out. Instead of regurgitating the same stuff at first, I wanted to make a breakdown of the three different coaches who have been at UK since the inception of the APR system. I also wanted to look year-by-year, rather than by the standard four-year rolling number given. While the four-year has value, it can fluctuate based off what the number dropped in any given year is. In the following chart, I listed the individual scores of John Calipari, Billy Gillispie and Tubby Smith for each year at their respective schools. If their score counted toward UK’s score, I highlighted it in blue. (So Calipari’s 04-08 scores come from Memphis). All information from the

*Denotes a year in which UK’s APR score was attributed to two coaches. This occurred during the two coaching switches. In 06-07, Tubby Smith coached, but because Gillispie arrived before April 1 (prior to the semester’s conclusion), it counts toward both coach’s profile. Similarly, in 08-09, Gillispie’s last year, the UK score of 922 is attached to both Gillispie and Calipari (Calipari also receives the 980 from his last year in Memphis).

Next, I wanted to focus a little more on Calipari and his team’s improvement over the years. I calculated the percent differential from the national average (using 100 percent, which would be exactly at the average score, as a baseline). Note that in 2008-09 I used only his Memphis score, because that’s the one I felt he influenced and was in control of the most.

Year Calipari D-I avg. % difference
04-05 913 926 -1.4 %
05-06 922 928 -0.6 %
06-07 960 927 +3.6 %
07-08 1000 933 +7.2 %
08-09 980 (Memphis score) 940 +4.3 %
09-10 979 945 +3.6 %

As evident, Calipari had below-average years in 04-05 and 05-06, but his teams have steadily improved.

Now, for some more general information:

  • UK’s multi-year score, which is what the NCAA bases potential penalties off, was 974. Previously, counting backwards: 954, 979, 941, 916, 922.
  • The complete list of UK’s APR scores, in which 16 of 22 exceeded the national average and none fell short of the cutoff for penalties. No UK team has incurred penalties since the APR began:

    Men’s sports

    Baseball: 968

    Football: 944

    Basketball: 978

    Cross country: 978

    Golf: 1000

    Soccer: 941

    Swimming/diving: 980

    Tennis: 1000

    Track, indoor: 939

    Track, outdoor: 939 

    Co-ed

    Men’s/women’s rifle 1000

    Women’s sports

    Softball: 1000

    Basketball: 955

    Cross country: 1000

    Golf: 1000

    Gymnastics: 935

    Soccer: 978

    Swimming/diving: 1000

    Tennis: 969

    Track, indoor: 983

    Track, outdoor 983

    Volleyball: 980