John Calipari

John Vincent Calipari (born February 10, 1959) is an American basketball coach.

He played point guard at Clarion during the 1981 and 1982 seasons, leading the team in assists and free throw percentage.

From 1982 to 1985, Calipari was an assistant at the University of Kansas under Ted Owens and Larry Brown.

Calipari had several jobs as the lowest coach in the pecking order when Ted Owens hired him as a volunteer assistant for the Jayhawks' 1982–83 season, including serving food at the training table.

"I was blessed to have the chance. Can you imagine being 22, 23 and your first opportunity to be around the game is at a program like Kansas?"

From 1985 to 1988, he was an assistant coach at the University of Pittsburgh under Roy Chipman and Paul Evans.

He was previously the head coach at the University of Massachusetts from 1988 to 1996, the NBA's New Jersey Nets from 1996 to 1999 and the University of Memphis from 2000 to 2009, and was the head coach of the Dominican Republic national team in 2011 and 2012.

From 1988 to 1996, he was head coach at the 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 has been named Naismith College Coach of the Year three times (in 1996, 2008 and 2015), and was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2015.

He also led UMass and Memphis to the Final Four in 1996 and 2008 respectively; those appearances were later vacated, though Calipari was cleared of wrongdoing in both cases.

As a college coach, Calipari has twenty-nine 20-win seasons, eleven 30-win seasons, and five 35-win seasons.

As of February 17, 2024, with 808 official wins, Calipari ranks 12th on the NCAA Division I all-time winningest coaches list.

He has won one national championship.

Calipari lettered two years at UNC Wilmington before transferring to Clarion University of Pennsylvania, from which he graduated with a bachelor's degree in marketing.

From 1996 to 1999, he was head coach and Executive VP of basketball operations for the NBA's New Jersey Nets.

He was also named the Naismith, NABC, Basketball Times & Sporting News National Coach of the Year in 1996.

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.

Calipari is famous for popularizing the dribble drive motion offense, developed by Vance Walberg, which is sometimes known as the "Memphis Attack".

In his 22 official seasons (23 seasons overall) as a collegiate head coach, Calipari's record is 667–194 (.775).

His record in the month of March is 107–37 (.743).

His NCAA-adjusted (the records of two appearances being removed) official record in the NCAA tournament is 38–12 (.760), and in the NIT is 15–6 (.714).

He has also coached six 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.

One notable statistic is that, from 2002 to 2018, all 25 players coached by Calipari who chose to enter the NBA draft after their first season were drafted in the first round.

This streak started with Dajuan Wagner at the University of Memphis, and ended when Kentucky Wildcat Jarred Vanderbilt was not drafted until the second round.

His teams have made 15 NCAA tournament appearances (13 officially, due to two later being vacated), including reaching the Sweet Sixteen 12 times (10 officially, due to two later being vacated), the Elite Eight 10 times (eight officially, due to two later being vacated), the Final Four six times (four officially, due to two later being vacated), the NCAA Championship Game three times (twice officially, with the 2008 Championship Game appearance while at Memphis being vacated by the NCAA), winning the NCAA Championship at Kentucky in 2012, and finishing NCAA Runner-Up in 2014.

As a college coach, Calipari has 21 20-win seasons (20 officially) and nine 30-win seasons (eight officially).

Since 2009, he has been the head coach of the University of Kentucky men's team, with whom he won the NCAA Championship in 2012.

Since 2009, the Wildcats have been on the top of the high school basketball recruiting mountain.

Recruiting has always been paramount for John Calipari and the Kentucky Wildcats.

According to The Washington Post, Calipari's teams have been a defensive powerhouse, historically ranking in the top 50 in Ken Pomeroy's defensive debate.

Because of his successful recruiting John Calipari is able to bring in elite talent, and does not have to use a mundane 2–3 zone, or man to man defensive tactics to gain a defensive edge.

Due to the use of four seven foot front court players, Kentucky has had the ability to display their defensive shot blocking presence.

Calipari has coached Kentucky to four Final Fours, in 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2015.

The platoon system established under John Calipari not only provided life for the University of Kentucky's basketball team in 2014, but it also provided an important defensive weapon.

The platoon system was introduced in 2014, and consisted of playing 10 men in legions of five.

Each platoon includes three ball-handlers and two taller players.