John Calipari

John Calipari
Calipari on the bench for the Kentucky Wildcats, 2009
Sport(s)	Basketball
Current position
Title	Head coach
Team	Kentucky
Annual salary	4.5625 million plus bonuses
Biographical details
Born	February 10, 1959 (1959-02-10)
Place of birth	Moon Township, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Playing career
1978–1980 1980–1982	UNC-Wilmington Clarion State
Position(s)	Point guard
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1982–1985 1985–1988 1988–1996 1996–1999 1999–2000 2000–2009 2009–present	Kansas (asst.) Pittsburgh (asst.) Massachusetts New Jersey Nets Philadelphia 76ers (asst.) Memphis Kentucky
Head coaching record
Overall	492–153 (.763)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
Regional Championships – Final Four (1996-vacated, 2008-vacated, 2011) C-USA Tournament Championship (2006, 2007, 2008-vacated, 2009) C-USA Regular Season Championship (2004, 2006, 2007, 2008-vacated, 2009) NIT Championship (2002) A-10 Tournament Championship (1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996-vacated) A-10 Regular Season Championship (1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996-vacated) SEC Regular Season Championship (2010) SEC Tournament Championship (2010 & 2011)
Awards
Naismith College Coach of the Year (1996, 2008) NABC Coach of the Year (1996, 2009) Basketball Times Coach of the Year (1996) Sports Illustrated Coach of the Year (2009) A-10 Coach of the Year (1993, 1994, 1996) C-USA Coach of the Year (2006, 2008, 2009) John Phelan National Coach of the Year (2009)

John Calipari (born February 10, 1959) is an American basketball coach. Since April 2009, he has been the men's head coach at the University of Kentucky.

Calipari is the former head coach of the University of Memphis, the University of Massachusetts and the NBA's New Jersey Nets. He is one of only two coaches to direct three different colleges to a number one seed in the NCAA Tournament, though two of those seasons have been officially vacated by the NCAA. Calipari is the only head coach to have a Final Four appearance vacated at more than one school, though Calipari himself was not personally indicted by the NCAA while coaching UMass or Memphis.Due to the vacated 1996 UMass NCAA Tournament appearance and the vacated 2008 Memphis NCAA Tournament appearance, Calipari has taken one school officially to the Final Four, that being Kentucky in 2011.

Biography

Calipari was born in Moon Township, a suburb of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Playing career

Calipari lettered two years at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington before transferring to Clarion University, where he graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Marketing. He played point guard at Clarion during the 1981 and 1982 seasons, leading the team in assists and free throw percentage.

Coaching career

From 1982–85, Calipari was an assistant at the University of Kansas under Ted Owens and Larry Brown. From 1985–88, he was an assistant coach at the University of Pittsburgh under Paul Evans. From 1988–96, he was head coach at the University of Massachusetts. From 1996–99, he was head coach and Executive VP of basketball operations for the NBA's New Jersey Nets. During the 1999–2000 season, he was an assistant coach for the Philadelphia 76ers under coach Larry Brown, before moving on to his next position at the University of Memphis. He was inducted into the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame in 2004.

Calipari is famous for popularizing the dribble drive motion offense, developed by Vance Walberg, which is sometimes known as the Memphis Attack. He wrote three different books about basketball, including "Refuse to Lose," "Basketball's Half-Court Offense," and "Bounce Back: Overcoming Setbacks to Succeed in Business and in Life".

In his 18 seasons as a collegiate head coach, Calipari's record is 492–153 (.763). His record in the month of March is 84–30 (.736). His record in the NCAA tournament is 28–12 (.700) and in the NIT is 15–5 (.750). His teams have made 12 NCAA tournament appearances (2 vacated), including reaching the Sweet Sixteen seven times (2 vacated), the Elite Eight five times (2 vacated), the Final Four three times (2 vacated), and the championship game once (vacated appearance at Memphis). He has coached five teams to the NIT, winning the NIT championship at Memphis in 2002. He is one of only four coaches in NCAA Division I history to direct two different schools to a number one seed in the NCAA Tournament; North Carolina coach Roy Williams, Kansas coach Bill Self, and Louisville coach Rick Pitino are the others. Through 17 collegiate seasons, only Williams has won more games than Calipari.

University of Massachusetts

From 1988–96 at UMass, Calipari led the Minutemen program to five consecutive Atlantic 10 titles and NCAA Tournament appearances, including periods where the program was ranked first nationally. He finished with a 193–71 record overall, with a 91–41 record in Atlantic 10 conference games. Calipari was named Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year in 1992, 1993, and 1996. He was also named the Naismith, NABC, Basketball Times & Sporting News National Coach of the Year in 1996. He led UMass to its first-ever appearance in the Final Four with the play of the John R. Wooden Award winner and Naismith College Player of the Year Marcus Camby, although this appearance was later vacated by the NCAA because Camby had accepted about $28,000 from two sports agents.

Calipari helped accelerate the construction of the Mullins Center, UMass' basketball and hockey facility. He also reached out to eastern Massachusetts and Boston to enlarge the fan base. Before moving on to the New Jersey Nets, Calipari became the second winningest coach in UMass history behind Jack Leaman.

In February 2010, Pat Forde, at the time the writer of a regular college sports column called "Forde Minutes" for ESPN.com, vividly recalled the 1992 team:

“

Calipari's greatest strength as a coach is his ability to create teams that play together. His 1992 Massachusetts team remains one of the most overachieving units The Minutes has ever seen, featuring a shooting guard with range so limited he made one 3-pointer all season (Jim McCoy), a 6-foot-3 power forward (Will Herndon), and a left-handed center who stood all of 6-7 (Harper Williams). Somehow, that collection of marginal talent went 30-5 and advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16.

”

New Jersey Nets

In an effort to start anew for the 1996–97 season, John Calipari replaced Butch Beard as head coach of the New Jersey Nets. After a 26–56 win-loss season, the Nets made a major draft-day trade in June 1997, acquiring Keith Van Horn, Lucious Harris and two other players for Tim Thomas.

The 1997–98 season was a lone bright spot for the Nets in the late 1990s. The team played well under Calipari, winning 43 games and qualifying for the playoffs on the last day of the season. The Nets were seeded eighth in the Eastern Conference and lost to the Chicago Bulls in the 1998 playoffs in three straight games. The Nets played well and came close to taking the first two games.

The 1998–99 season was delayed for three months due to an owners' lockout of the players. When the abbreviated 50-game season began, the Nets were a fashionable choice by experts as a surprise team. However, Cassell was injured in the first game and the team started poorly. With the Nets underachieving at 3–15, the Nets traded Cassell to the Milwaukee Bucks, while the Nets acquired Stephon Marbury from the Minnesota Timberwolves. After two more losses, Calipari was fired as head coach with the team at 3–17.

While coaching the Nets, Calipari became a resident of Franklin Lakes, New Jersey.

University of Memphis

Calipari directing his players during an away game against Conference USA rival University of Houston in January 2007.

In Calipari's first nine years as head coach at Memphis, he won 214 games (38 wins were vacated), posted seven consecutive 20-win seasons, plus one more in his final season (including an NCAA record four consecutive 30-win seasons, though the 3rd season was vacated and this record no longer holds) and earned seven consecutive postseason bids (plus one in his final season). His 2007–2008 team's 38 victories set a new NCAA Division I Men's Basketball record for most victories in a season, a record that no longer stands due to NCAA violations that vacated all of Memphis' wins. The nine consecutive 20-win seasons and the nine consecutive postseason appearances would have been the most in school history, though that officially stands now at seven because of the vacated 2007-08 season. He was named Conference USA Coach of the Year in 2006, 2008, and 2009. In 2008, he was named Naismith College Coach of the Year, receiving the honor the second time. In 2009, he was named Sports Illustrated College Basketball Coach of the Year.

He has built a national program by recruiting blue chip players from the Eastern part of the country, such as Dajuan Wagner from Camden (NJ), Darius Washington Jr. from Orlando (FL), Rodney Carney from Indianapolis (IN), Shawne Williams from Memphis (TN), Joey Dorsey from Baltimore (MD), Chris Douglas-Roberts from Detroit (MI), Antonio Anderson from Lynn (MA), Robert Dozier from Lithonia (GA), Derrick Rose from Chicago (IL), and Tyreke Evans from Aston (PA).

At Memphis, Calipari has popularized the Memphis Attack offense that was invented by former Pepperdine basketball coach, Vance Walberg.

On January 21, 2008, Calipari led the Tigers to the #1 ranking in the AP Poll for the second time in school history. Unfortunately, that season was vacated due to violations within the program under Calipari's watch.

In 2006 and 2008, Memphis earned a #1 seed in the NCAA men's basketball tournament. In 2008, Calipari's Tigers advanced to the national championship game, their first under his leadership. They also won 38 games, the most regular-season wins in NCAA history. His team, however, would lose to the Kansas Jayhawks 75–68 in overtime. This team would later have its entire season record vacated by the NCAA due to allegations regarding Derrick Rose's SAT; Rose still denies any wrongdoing. If not for the vacated wins, Calipari would be the winningest coach in Tigers history; he would have 252 wins to Larry Finch's 220.

University of Kentucky

On March 30, 2009, four days after Memphis' season ending loss to Missouri in the NCAA Tournament, multiple sources reported that Calipari would agree to be the head coach at the University of Kentucky. Calipari rejected a counter offer by Memphis for Kentucky's 8 year, $31.65 million contract.

According to University officials, John Calipari signed a written contract on March 31, 2009 worth an estimated $34.65 million over 8 years with incentives. At 9:45 a.m. on April 1, 2009 the University of Kentucky athletics director Mitch Barnhart formally introduced John Calipari as the new coach of the University of Kentucky Wildcats mens basketball team. During the press conference, Coach Calipari spoke at length about his relationships with former UK basketball players and coaches, as well as his difficulties in accepting the job due to his deep emotional ties with the city of Memphis as well as the University, stating "coming to UK was the easy part, it was leaving the city of Memphis that was the hard part." He went on to refer to the University of Kentucky job as his "dream job". Calipari became the 22nd coach overall and just the 7th coach in the last 79 years at the program.

2009-10

In his first year as head coach, Calipari had a highly touted recruiting class. Kentucky won its 44th SEC regular season championship with a 14-2 record. He followed it up with his first SEC Tournament Championship. Calipari also landed his fifth-straight 30-win season with a 32-2 record). In the NCAA Tournament, East #1 seed Kentucky made it to the Elite 8 but was upset by West Virginia to finish the season 35-3.

2010-11

In his second season, Calipari coached his team to a 22-8 regular season. Kentucky would go on to win its second consecutive SEC tournament championship. During the NCAA Tournament, Kentucky would defeat the #1 overall seed Ohio State 62-60 in the Sweet Sixteen. In the Elite Eight, Calipari's team avenged an early season loss to North Carolina by defeating them 76-69 to advance to its first Final Four since 1998. They would eventually fall to National Champion UConn 55-56 to finish at 29-9.

Controversies

Marcus Camby

UMass had its 4-1 1996 NCAA Tournament record vacated when the NCAA discovered that UMass player Marcus Camby had accepted money and gifts from an agent. According to the article, Camby accepted around $40,000 while a player for Calipari at UMass. ""Marcus was good," says [John] Lounsbury, 42, who estimates that he gave Camby more than $40,000 in cash and gifts between December 1994 and March 1996."

"In addition to lavishing money and gifts on Camby, Lounsbury tried to ingratiate himself with the player's mother. Meanwhile, he says, Spears sought to use Camby's friends to get an inside track. "He went for the 'boys in the hood' approach," Lounsbury says. "Another agent I heard of tied himself to Jackie Bethea, Marcus's 'second mom.' [Bethea coached Camby on youth league teams and has a child with Camby's father, Ames Manderville.] Another guy went for the [then Minutemen] coach [John Calipari]. Another guy worked on the people handling the agent-screening process at UMass. We were all looking for an angle."

Racist insult directed at journalist

While coaching the New Jersey Nets, Calipari referred to Newark Star-Ledger sports reporter Dan Garcia as a "fucking Mexican Idiot." Garcia sued for $5,000,000 for emotional distress. Though the case was dismissed Calipari was still fined $25,000 by the NBA. Calipari apologized for his remarks:

"I would like to apologize to Dan Garcia for my ill-advised attempt at humor and insensitivity for the remark," Calipari said before the Nets lost to the Lakers, 109-84, tonight at the Meadowlands. "In retrospect, I can understand how the remark could have been misinterpreted. I have apologized to him personally and in writing. In no way was my intent to be derogatory in a racial context, and I am sorry for any pain my remarks have caused."

Dajuan Wagner

In 2001, Calipari successfully recruited Dajuan Wagner, the Naismith Prep Player of the Year, to the University of Memphis. Soon after, Dajuan's father Milt Wagner was hired as Coordinator of Basketball Operations. Dajuan declared for the NBA draft after his freshman year; his father remained in his position for six years before joining former Memphis assistant Tony Barbee at UTEP.

Tyreke Evans

Calipari also hired McDonalds' All-American game MVP and Memphis recruit Tyreke Evans' personal strength coach as his administrative assistant.

Derrick Rose

The NCAA investigated allegations that a player on the 2007-08 team committed "knowing fraudulence or misconduct in connection with his entrance examination" and had an unknown individual complete his SAT examination. The NCAA informed Calipari in a letter that he was not considered "at risk" in this investigation.

The player was subsequently identified as Derrick Rose. Subsequently, allegations surfaced that Rose's brother, Reggie, had been allowed to travel to Tiger road games for free.

On August 20, 2009, the NCAA ruled that Rose was ineligible and forced Memphis to vacate the entire 2007-08 season, including the NCAA Tournament and its standing as runner-up. It took the line that even though Rose's score had not been thrown out by the Educational Testing Service, which administers the SAT, until after the season, strict liability required that Rose be ruled ineligible. The committee also determined that even without the questions about his SAT score, he would have lost his eligibility in December 2007 due to his brother being allowed to travel with the team for free.

On October 7th, 2011, the Associated Press published a story about John Calipari and Derrick Rose settling a lawsuit with Memphis fans over the vacated 2008 season. According to the article, "Former Memphis coach John Calipari and ex-Tigers guard Derrick Rose agreed last year to pay $100,000 to avoid a lawsuit over the Tigers' season that ended in the 2008 Final Four with the wins later vacated by the NCAA. According to a settlement signed May 28, 2010, with attorneys representing some Memphis season ticket holders, not only did Calipari and Rose agree to pay $100,000, but Calipari and Memphis athletic director R.C. Johnson committed to repaying Final Four bonuses."

Robert Dozier

Robert Dozier, a member of the 2007-2008 Memphis Tigers, also had questions arise over the legitimacy of his SAT score. According to the article, "Former University of Memphis forward Robert Dozier's initial SAT score was invalidated by the company that scores the exam, and when he took the test a second time, he scored 540 fewer points, ESPN.com has learned through an open records request. In addition, a person claiming to be a faculty member at his high school in suburban Atlanta wrote an anonymous letter to the NCAA Initial-Eligibility Clearinghouse questioning his score on the admissions test, records obtained from the University of Georgia show.

Laurinburg Institute

"Laurinburg Institute became a pipeline for Memphis during Calipari's nine-year tenure. Former Memphis player Joey Dorsey also attended the school, which is located about 90 miles southeast of Charlotte. While at Laurinburg Institute, Dozier met the NCAA's initial eligibility requirements. He signed to play for the Tigers in November 2004 and enrolled the next year. In 2007, the NCAA launched a three-year investigation of Laurinburg Institute during its review of college prep schools around the country. In May, the NCAA announced it would no longer accept courses, grades and diplomas from Laurinburg Institute because of concerns about its academic programs and oversight."

Enes Kanter

Calipari recruited and signed a player from Turkey. According to an Associated Press article, "The NCAA ruled Kanter received over $33,000 above his necessary expenses for the 2008-09 season while playing for a club team. "Enes took advantage of an opportunity to play at the highest level available to him, but the consequences of receiving payments above his actual expenses is not compatible with the collegiate model of sports that our members have developed," said Kevin Lennon, NCAA vice president of academic and membership affairs. Kentucky coach John Calipari had no immediate comment, but has stated repeatedly he believed Kanter maintained his amateur status."

Overall wins

On February 26, 2011, after Kentucky beat the Florida Gators in Rupp Arena, Calipari was recognized for his 500th career victory as a Division I Men's Basketball Coach. Over the course of the next few months, the NCAA's Committee on Infractions (COI) and the University of Kentucky exchanged letters debating the fact in Calipari has indeed reached the 500 win milestone. Due to the two vacated seasons (One at UMass and one at Memphis), the NCAA recognizes only 492 wins (as of February 11th, 2012). On June 13th, 2011, Eamonn Brennan, of espn.com, broke the story on a college basketball blog, revealing that Calipari and other Kentucky officials may have to appear before the COI for the celebration previously mentioned and for lack of compliance.

William Wesley

Calipari has a long-standing relationship with William Wesley, currently a consultant for Creative Artists Agency. Some sources have credited Wesley with steering players such as Derrick Rose, Tyreke Evans, and Dajuan Wagner to Calipari, and the nature of Calipari and Wesley's relationship has been widely scrutinized.

Professional players coached

Kentucky

• John Wall (1st, 2010 NBA Draft)
• DeMarcus Cousins (5th, 2010 NBA Draft)
• Patrick Patterson (14th, 2010 NBA Draft)
• Eric Bledsoe (18th, 2010 NBA Draft)
• Daniel Orton (29th, 2010 NBA Draft)
• Enes Kanter (3rd, 2011 NBA Draft)
• Brandon Knight (8th, 2011 NBA Draft)
• Josh Harrellson (45th, 2011 NBA Draft)
• DeAndre Liggins (53rd, 2011 NBA Draft)

Memphis

• Tyreke Evans (4th, 2009 NBA Draft)
• Robert Dozier (60th, 2009 NBA Draft)
• Derrick Rose (1st, 2008 NBA Draft)
• Joey Dorsey (33rd, 2008 NBA Draft)
• Chris Douglas-Roberts (40th, 2008 NBA Draft)
• Darius Washington, Jr. (Undrafted, 2006)
• Rodney Carney (16th, 2006 NBA Draft)
• Shawne Williams (17th, 2006 NBA Draft)
• Antonio Burks (36th, 2004 NBA Draft)
• Earl Barron (Undrafted, 2003 NBA Draft)
• Dajuan Wagner (6th, 2002 NBA Draft)

UMass

• Marcus Camby (2nd, 1996 NBA Draft)
• Lou Roe (30th, 1995 NBA Draft)

Head coaching record

College

Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
Massachusetts Minutemen (Atlantic 10 Conference) (1988–1996)
1988–89	Massachusetts	10–18	5–13	8th
1989–90	Massachusetts	17–14	10–8	6th	NIT 1st Round
1990–91	Massachusetts	20–13	10–8	T–3rd	NIT Semifinals
1991–92	Massachusetts	30–5	13–3	1st	NCAA Sweet Sixteen
1992–93	Massachusetts	24–7	11–3	1st	NCAA 2nd Round
1993–94	Massachusetts	28–7	14–2	1st	NCAA 2nd Round
1994–95	Massachusetts	29–5	13–3	1st	NCAA Elite Eight
1995–96	Massachusetts	35–2*	15–1	1st	NCAA Final Four*
Massachusetts:		189–71*	87–40
Memphis Tigers (Conference USA) (2000–2009)
2000–01	Memphis	21–15	10–6	2nd (National)	NIT Semifinals
2001–02	Memphis	27–9	12–4	1st (National)	NIT Champions
2002–03	Memphis	23–7	13–3	1st (National)	NCAA 1st Round
2003–04	Memphis	22–8	12–4	T–1st	NCAA 2nd Round
2004–05	Memphis	22–16	9–7	T–6th	NIT Semifinals
2005–06	Memphis	33–4	13–1	1st	NCAA Elite Eight
2006–07	Memphis	33–4	16–0	1st	NCAA Elite Eight
2007–08	Memphis	38–2**	16–0**	1st**	NCAA Runner-up**
2008–09	Memphis	33–4	16–0	1st	NCAA Sweet Sixteen
Memphis:		214–71**	99–43**
Kentucky Wildcats (Southeastern Conference) (2009–present)
2009–10	Kentucky	35–3	14–2	1st (East and Overall)	NCAA Elite Eight
2010–11	Kentucky	29–9	10–6	2nd (East)	NCAA Final Four
2011–12	Kentucky	25–1	11–0
Kentucky:		89–13	35–8
Total:		492–153 (.763)
National champion         Conference regular season champion         Conference tournament champion       Conference regular season & conference tournament champion       Conference division champion

* UMass had its 4-1 record in the 1996 NCAA tournament and Final Four standing vacated after Marcus Camby was ruled ineligible due to his contact with a sports agent, a contact which was unknown to the University.
**Memphis had its entire 2007-08 season vacated by the NCAA due to academic fraud not related to the University.

***Under current NCAA official records, John Calipari's record is 492-153 (.763) which does not account for the 4 vacated wins in the post-season at UMass, and 38 vacated wins at Memphis.

NBA

Legend
Regular season	G	Games coached	W	Games won	L	Games lost	W–L %	Win-loss  %
Post season	PG	Playoff Games	PW	Playoff Wins	PL	Playoff Losses	PW–L %	Playoff Win-loss  %

Team	Year	G	W	L	W–L%	Finish	PG	PW	PL	PW–L%	Result
NJ	1996–97	82	26	56	.317	5th in Atlantic	—	—	—	—	Missed Playoffs
NJ	1997–98	82	43	39	.524	3rd in Atlantic	3	0	3	.000	Lost in First Round
NJ	1998–99	20	3	17	.150	7th in Atlantic	—	—	—	—	Fired
Career		184	72	112	.391		3	0	3	.000

External links

• Official Website
• Bio at UK Athletics Site
• News Website