John Calipari has signed a contract extension with the University of Kentucky that will keep him in the Blue Grass for the rest of his coaching career.
Calipari had been in touch with UCLA about the school’s head coaching job and had been offered $48 million over six years. ‘It has nothing to do with the other stuff—people every year call,’’ he said. ‘They presented it to me, and I appreciate it.’’
Calipari, whose current contract at Kentucky runs through 2024, is the highest paid college basketball coach in the country, with a total compensation of $9.2 million this year. He will receive a reported retention bonus of $2.6 million in each of the next three Julys.
UCLA has conducted a nation-wide search to find a coach to replace Steve Alford, who was fired Dec. 31. The Bruins have also spoken to Tony Bennett of Virginia. Good luck with that. the Bruins has set an arbitrary deadline of one week to come up with a coach and Bennett likely has no interest in negotiating with his team in the Final Four.The latest hot candidates are Jamie Dixon of TCU and Mick Cronin of Cincinnati. But Cronin’s defensive oriented 65 point style won’t work with fans who want UCLA to play Lakers’ Showtime basketball and Dixon would have to be pried away from his alma mater.
This job is just not as attractive as it used to be and it is hard to believe Calipari could have pulled the trigger and moved his family to the program the late John Wooden built in Westwood, where coaches are hired to be fired and he would have had to take a pay cut for the privilege of coaching a fading program that hasn’t won a national championship since 1995.
Calipari will never have it any better than he does in Lexington where the school built him a new Wildcat Lodge and a new $30 million practice facility and the luxury of recruiting the best NBA prospects in the country.
“Why would I want to coach anywhere else?” he said his listeners on his weekly radio show.
Kentucky wasn’t taking any chances.
Cal’s new deal is constructed as a contract extension until he retires and then a lifetime role as ambassador to the university. Kentucky went 30-7 this year and advanced to the NCAA Elite Eight before losing to Auburn, 77-71, Sunday in Kansas City. He has coached the Cats to four Final Fours in 2011, 2011, 2014 and 2015, winning a national title in 2012 in the last 10 years. He had been to seven Final Eights. But the Cats have has fallen short of the promised land the last four seasons, leaving impatient, die hard UK fans feeling unfulfilled after the Cats’ latest missed opportunity.
The 60-year old Calipari has a 305-71 record at Kentucky and a lifetime record of 709-209. He has coached teams at UMass, Memphis and Kentucky to the NCAA tournament 20 times in 27 seasons. He took teams at UMass and Memphis to the Final Four in 1996 and 2008, only to have the wins vacated by the NCAA. His 2008 Memphis, which lost to Kansas in the title game, was forced to vacate all 38 wins from the season because star guard Derrick Rose’s SAT scores were invalidated. His UMass’ Final Four appearance was invalidated after the NCAA determined star player Marcus Camby had accepted money from sports agents.
