John Calipari

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. He is also currently acting as head coach of the Dominican Republic national basketball team

Calipari is the former head coach of the University of Memphis Tigers, the University of Massachusetts Minutemen, and the National Basketball Association's New Jersey Nets. He is the only coach to direct three different colleges to a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, although two of those appearances (1996 at UMass and 2008 at Memphis) have been officially vacated by the NCAA. Calipari is also one of only two coaches to direct three different schools to a Final Four (1996- UMass, 2008- Memphis, 2011, 2012- Kentucky), with the UMass and Memphis appearances later being vacated by the NCAA. As a result, he is the only head coach to have a Final Four appearance vacated at more than one school, although Calipari himself was not personally implicated by the NCAA in either case. As a college coach, Calipari has 19 20-win seasons (18 official), 8 30-win seasons (7 official), and has been named National Coach of the Year 3 times.

In the 2011–12 NCAA Division I men's basketball season, Calipari led Kentucky to its 8th NCAA Tournament Championship, and the first of his career.

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 to 1985, Calipari was an assistant at the University of Kansas under Ted Owens and Larry Brown. From 1985 to 1988, he was an assistant coach at the University of Pittsburgh under Paul Evans. From 1988 to 1996, he was head coach at the University of Massachusetts. From 1996 to 1999, 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 20 official seasons (21 seasons overall, with one entire season later being vacated) as a collegiate head coach, Calipari's record is 525–161 (.765). His record in the month of March is 96–33 (.744). His record in the NCAA tournament is 38–13 (.745), and in the NIT is 15–5 (.750). His teams have made 14 NCAA tournament appearances (12 official, due to 2 later being vacated), including reaching the Sweet Sixteen 10 times (8 official, due to 2 later being vacated), the Elite Eight 8 times (6 official, due to 2 later being vacated), the Final Four 4 times (2 official, due to 2 later being vacated), and the NCAA Championship Game twice (once officially), winning the NCAA Championship at Kentucky in 2012 (with the previous 2008 Championship Game appearance at Memphis later being vacated by the NCAA). As a college coach, Calipari has 19 20-win seasons (18 official) and 8 30-win seasons (7 official). 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 three different schools to a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament;

University of Massachusetts
From 1988 to 1996 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, 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 debut 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 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, Sam 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. He then joined Larry Brown as an assistant coach for the Philadelphia 76ers.

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

University of Memphis
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 third 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 now belongs to the 2011-2012 Kentucky Wildcats 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 for the second time. In 2009, he was named Sports Illustrated College Basketball Coach of the Year.

He 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).

While at Memphis, Calipari popularized the dribble drive motion offense that was invented by former Pepperdine basketball coach, Vance Walberg.

On January 21, 2008, Calipari led the Tigers to the No. 1 ranking in the AP Poll for only the second time in school history.

In 2006 and 2008, Memphis earned a No. 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 the NCAA invalidating Derrick Rose's SAT. Despite this, Rose still denies any wrongdoing. If not for the vacated wins, Calipari would be the winningest coach in Tigers history, as 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, after UK's head coach, Billy Gillispie, was fired after two unsuccessful seasons at the school. 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. The contract was worth $34.65 million over 8 years, plus incentives. On April 1, 2009, the University of Kentucky Director of Athletics, Mitch Barnhart, formally introduced John Calipari as the new coach of the University of Kentucky Wildcats. During the press conference, Calipari spoke at length about his relationships with former UK basketball players and coaches, and also in his difficulties in accepting the UK job, largely due to his deep emotional ties with both the city of Memphis and University of Memphis. Calipari stated, "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 coaching position as his "dream job". In the end, Calipari became the 22nd coach overall at Kentucky, and just the 7th coach in the last 79 years for the Wildcats.

2009-10
In his first year as head coach, Calipari had a highly touted recruiting class, including the No. 1 overall rated recruit, John Wall, plus fellow 5-star recruits, Demarcus Cousins, Eric Bledsoe, and Daniel Orton. Kentucky won its 44th SEC Regular Season Championship in 2009-10, with a 14-2 conference record. Calipari's team followed this up with the UK's 26th SEC Tournament Championship, with an overtime defeat of Mississippi State, 75-74, in the SEC Tournament title game. In the NCAA Tournament, however, No. 1 seed Kentucky (East Region) was upset by West Virginia in the Elite 8, to finish the season at 35-3.

2010-11
In his second season at Kentucky, Calipari recruited the No. 1 rated point guard in the 2010 class, Brandon Knight. In addition to Knight, Calipari also signed two other 5-star recruits, Terrence Jones and Doron Lamb. In 2010-11, Kentucky finished the regular season with a record of 22-8, with a 10-6 record in SEC regular season play. UK would go on to win its second consecutive SEC Tournament Championship, defeating Florida, 70-54, in the SEC Tournament title game. As a result, Kentucky received a No. 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament (East Regional). During the NCAA Tournament, Kentucky would go on to defeat No. 1 overall seed Ohio State, 62-60, in the Sweet-16. In the Elite Eight, Calipari's team would avenge an early season loss to North Carolina, by defeating the Tar Heels, 76-69, securing Kentucky's first Final Four appearance since 1998. In the Final Four, UK fell to the eventual NCAA Champions, UConn, by one point, 56-55, finishing with a final record of 29-9.

2011-12
In this third season, Kentucky landed another No. 1 recruiting class with four consensus five star players: Anthony Davis, Marquis Teague, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Kyle Wiltjer. Kentucky came into the season ranked #2 in the country. They finished the regular season with a 30-1 record, their only loss to Indiana by a buzzer-beater and went 16-0 in conference play. In the SEC tournament, Kentucky lost in the championship game to Vanderbilt 71-64. In the NCAA Tournament, Calipari's team was selected as the overall #1 seed in the tournament, representing as the South Region #1 seed. Kentucky avenged the early season loss to Indiana beating them in the Sweet Sixteen 102-90, and knocked off Baylor in the Elite Eight 82-70, to advance to their second consecutive Final Four. In the Final Four in New Orleans, Kentucky first faced their in-state rival, the Louisville Cardinals and Rick Pitino, winning 69-61. Two days later, in the National Championship game, Kentucky played in another early season rematch against the Kansas Jayhawks, winning a hard fought contest 67-59. The win secured Calipari his first NCAA Championship, a NCAA record 38-win season, and the 8th overall NCAA Championship for Kentucky. By doing so, John Calipari became the 5th head coach to win a NCAA Championship at Kentucky (a NCAA record), and the first coach to do so at the school since 1998.

Following the 2012 championship, UK Athletics Director Mitch Barnhart announced on May 4 that Calipari's contract had been renegotiated. Under the new contract, Calipari will make $5.2M annually (not including bonuses), which further cements his status as the most highly compensated college basketball coach in the country. Calipari will earn almost $2M more per year than the second-most compensated coach in the country, Tom Izzo of Michigan State ($3.5M annually).

Former Calipari Assistants as Collegiate Head Coaches

 * Tony Barbee - UTEP (2006–2010), Auburn (2010-current)
 * Bruiser Flint - UMass (1996–2001), Drexel (2001-current)
 * Derek Kellogg - UMass (2008-current)
 * Chuck Martin - Marist (2008-current)
 * Josh Pastner - Memphis (2009-current)
 * Steve Roccaforte - Lamar (2006–2011)

Marcus Camby
UMass had its 4-1 1996 NCAA Tournament record vacated when the NCAA discovered that UMass player Marcus Camby had accepted a reported $40,000 in cash and gifts from an agent. It was later reported that Camby's brother needed the money for groceries. Calipari was not implicated by the NCAA in this incident.

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. "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."

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 7, 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."

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 whether Calipari had indeed reached the 500-win milestone. Due to games vacated by the NCAA in two different seasons (the 1996 season at UMass and the 2008 season at Memphis), the NCAA only officially recognized Calipari's 500th all time coaching victory on March 15, 2012. On June 13, 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.

UMass

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

Memphis

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

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)
 * Anthony Davis (1st 2012 NBA Draft)
 * Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (2nd, 2012 NBA Draft)
 * Terrence Jones (18th, 2012 NBA Draft)
 * Marquis Teague (29th, 2012 NBA Draft)
 * Doron Lamb (42nd, 2012 NBA Draft)
 * Darius Miller (46th, 2012 NBA Draft)

College
* 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. ** Memphis had its entire 38-2 2007-08 season vacated by the NCAA due to academic fraud not directly related to the university.

*** Under current NCAA official records, Calipari's record is 525-161 (.765), which accounts for the 4 vacated wins (and one vacated loss) in the 1995-96 NCAA Tournament at UMass, and the 38 vacated wins (and 2 vacated losses) at Memphis in the entire 2007-08 season.