LEXINGTON, Ky. — John Calipari agreed Tuesday to leave Memphis and the dominant program he built and take on the challenge — and riches — of returning Kentucky to college basketball glory.
Calipari will receive an eight-year, $31.65 million deal plus incentives, according to the university, making him the highest-paid coach in college basketball. The school also will pay Memphis a $200,000 buyout.
ESPN.com, citing an unidentified source, reported that the deal was worth $35 million, including a $2.5 million signing bonus.
The 50-year-old Calipari has a career record of 445-140 in 17 seasons. He chose to leave Memphis after nine seasons of success, including a record of 137-14 over the past four years.
He spent the day considering the Wildcats’ lucrative offer and calling former Kentucky coaches, including Joe B. Hall.
Hall said the informal chat centered on what it takes to survive one of college basketball’s most prestigious and most scrutinized jobs. Kentucky fired Billy Gillispie last Friday after two disappointing seasons.
The Commercial Appeal of Memphis, Tenn., first reported the hiring.
Tigers walk-on Preston Laird said Calipari met with the team Tuesday afternoon, first as a group and then with individual players. The freshman guard described the meeting as very quiet, “Nobody really said anything.”
“He started off by telling us it was the hardest day of his life,” Laird said.
Memphis has scheduled a news conference for noon to discuss the future of its basketball program.
Hoping to make a big splash after Gillispie’s tenure, Kentucky reportedly went deep into its pockets to land one of the nation’s most high-profile coaches.
Calipari’s deal would eclipse the $3.5 million average salary of Florida’s Billy Donovan and dwarf those of Calipari’s predecessors Rick Pitino, Tubby Smith and Gillispie.
Pitino, now the coach at rival Louisville, never made more than $2 million a season during his remarkably successful eight-year run at Kentucky. Smith’s compensation neared $2.1 million at the end of his decade with the program and Gillispie received a base salary of $2.3 million with another $750,000 available in incentives.
The salary nearly triples the $1.6 million salary of Kentucky football coach Rich Brooks, a rarity in a conference where football reigns.
Calipari already was one of the highest-paid coaches in the country, signing an extension with Memphis last year that paid him $2.35 million annually.
Memphis had promised to match whatever Kentucky offers, but the Wildcats have one thing Memphis doesn’t: the opportunity to coach in a top-flight conference at the home of college basketball’s winningest program.
It’ll be seen as money well spent if Calipari can duplicate the success that’s followed him throughout his collegiate coaching career.
He put together turnarounds at Massachusetts and Memphis, winning over 440 games in 17 seasons and leading both schools to a Final Four.
Putting the pieces together at Kentucky might not take long, though the program has plenty of question marks.
The Wildcats went 22-14 this year, missing the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1991 despite having two of the SEC’s best players in guard Jodie Meeks and forward Patrick Patterson.
Patterson said after the season he’d likely return for his junior year, while Meeks — a second-team All-American — was going to take his time on a decision.
Hiring Calipari might be all the incentive they need to return. He won over fans and made over the program at Memphis behind an electrifying style of play that has churned out a handful of NBA players, including Derrick Rose, Shawnae Williams, Dejuan Wagner and Joey Dorsey.
Calipari’s ability to lure some of the nation’s best high school players — regardless of how long they plan on sticking around — has made him an attractive candidate for years.
He’s been able to fight off temptation for nearly a decade, but the chance to makeover one of college basketball’s elite programs proved to be too much.
Athletic director Mitch Barnhart stressed the need to find a coach who can handle all that comes with coaching the Wildcats. Calipari has never met a camera he didn’t like and certainly doesn’t lack confidence — two things Gillispie struggled with during his tenure.
Kentucky received permission to speak to Calipari on Monday, less than 72 hours after Gillispie was fired. Sensing the need to make a home-run hire after the Gillispie debacle, Calipari certainly has the resume and the charm to sate a rabid fan base.
But he also has some baggage. He led Massachusetts to the Final Four in 1996 only to have the school vacate the honor when star Marcus Camby admitted to receiving gifts from a sports agent.
Though Calipari has never been sanctioned by the NCAA, he’s been unable to shed the Camby mess. His hiring could raise some eyebrows from fans still smarting from the recruiting violations during the Eddie Sutton era 20 years ago that nearly wrecked the program.
Pitino swooped in to save Kentucky after Sutton left, taking the Wildcats to three Final Fours and a national title in eight years.
Neither Gillispie nor Smith duplicated that success, but neither had the charisma nor swagger of Calipari, who now finds himself working an hour east of Pitino.
The two have a long history dating back to when Pitino recommended Calipari for the head coaching job at UMass in 1988. Pitino’s Kentucky team beat Calipari’s UMass squad in the ’96 Final Four and the two have had a testy — at least on the floor — relationship ever since.
The rivalry really began when Pitino took over at Louisville in 2001 as the Cardinals and the Tigers fought with Cincinnati and Marquette for C-USA supremacy. Those three programs left for the Big East in 2005, and Memphis has since dominated the conference.
Memphis hasn’t lost a C-USA game since 2006, and the Tigers are the only program in the country to receive either a No. 1 or No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament in each of the last four years.
Tennessee's signing class for 2012
Tennessee defeats Georgia 3-2 in…
Scripps Interactive Newspapers Group
Comments » 88
Colliervol writes:
I'm still amazed. I never thought he'd have the cujones to step up into the big leagues. Thought he'd always want to be the big fish in the little pond and ride the scam that he had perpetrated on the NCAA. Kudos to Cal for stepping up to the plate.
Now the Memphis fans realize what I said for 9 years down here. He's a snake oil salesman, pure and simple. Watch when he takes a couple of their recruits and one or two players on the current roster. That's when the fit is really going to hit the shan.
thevoice writes:
I'm not sure there will be any welcoming involved, but they will be here nonetheless. Just wish UT fans on here would grow a set and ignore 'em.
SEAL_9821 writes:
Won't happen. I live in Lexington and some good sources up here are saying that his top 2 recruits he had may join him at UK. ESPN also reported that early this morning.
UKblue02 writes:
This has got to be the worst soap opera in College BB history.
SEAL_9821 writes:
Let em get who they want to turn that program around. I could care less about college basketball. TENNESSEE FOOTBALL is what matters
Colliervol writes:
The exodus has already begun from Memphis. Evans going pro. Cousins and Xavier Henry reopening their recruitment. John Wall will certainly be going elsewhere. Wesley Witherspoon has said he will transfer to KY. Robert Sallie more than likely not returning. Taggart says he won't be returning. Talk about a promising team being totally gutted. They are going to have to hire a magician to recover from this.
Even if it is Memphis, I sort of feel badly for them. For the good Memphis fans anyway. Not for those like overrated and itsme though. They deserve a big dose of the Calipari Cabernet. A whine made from sour grapes and it goes down easy when you have to eat a big dose of crow.
UKblue02 writes:
I think you answered you question, crying that is, but i for one have an uneasy feeling about this if indeed he is signed.
john#208876 writes:
Cal is a good coach and proven recruiter, it will be good for the SEC because he will raise the bar in the conference as will Grant at Bama, and Anderson if he leaves Mizzou for GA. It should make it easier for UT to achieve a strong RPI because I believe Bruce will rise to the competition. I just hope we seize the opportunity to further establish a recruiting foothold in Memphis. Anyway I hope Cal does great at KY and loses to UT annually.
Volumnus writes:
That giant sucking sound is Tiger nation drowning itself collectively in the big muddy. The gulf of mexico will flow into the river for the first time since the earthquake! Don't you just love it???? Oh, and Cal, he hasn't lived in Lexington yet.... he will rue the day he left rib town.... It is one of those moments, where you just go "Thank you God!!!" Cal and KY deserve eachother!!!!
TNisPeerless writes:
Time to man up BP
VolJunkie writes:
The word "elite" will now be stricken from their vernacular.
andy112382#209793 writes:
Well, stinks for the Tigers, but they are historically a solid basketball team, with the exception of the late 90's right before they got Coach Cal. They will be fine with the right coach selection.
By the way, I bleed orange and white, but I was born in Memphis and my dad has degrees from both Tennessee and Memphis and my bro went to Memphis, and lets face it, before Bruce Pearl, it made much more sense for me to follow Tigers basketball.
Go4Two writes:
Good coach but what championhips has he won to warant 5 mil.
VolHooch42 writes:
Wonder why 'bluetiger' hasn't shown up on our board since this announcement?
Usually we can't run his arse off.
VolHooch42 writes:
CSF,,,
Even as a VOL fan, I'm glad to see UK make this move. I agree with the guys on the radio today that said that when Kentucky plays better, it can only help the SEC, especially in the post season. Gillespie just wasn't cutting it. Congrats to you.
GO VOLS!
tnman1025 writes:
CatScratchFever, while I think Kentucky will be better in the future, it's still debateable whether or not they had better talent than Memphis had and he still couldn't get that championship. What's to say he will miracualously do that at Kentucky? I know he will get more attention at Kentucky, but he was still raking in the great recruits even with the lesser amount of spotlight.
Bottom line is, I think the Kentucky fans should be happy with this hire, but don't go over board.
utucla writes:
that's the question i've been asking for years....but for some reason when he starts talking his bullsh*t, a lot of people believe it....
utucla writes:
for almost 6 mil a year....he should have already won one for you....
john#208876 writes:
The blue kool-aid is flowing tonight in KY!
CoverOrange writes:
Now that Calipari is north of us, will he insist on a Tennessee game to be played in Jellico?
I'm surprised no one has jumped on the mention of Cal going to a donut shop and bumping into Phil there. Just a joke, friends.
memphis_vol_fan writes:
Calipari finally makes it official while I just happen to be watching "The Godfather" on tv. Coincidence???
mattucket#231689 writes:
Good news for us when it comes to recruiting Memphis, Bruce Pearl won't have near as much of an obstacle as he did with Calipari there...
BigT writes:
The coaching moves in the conference will only make Tennessee get better in the long run. We would never have won a National Championship in football if Steve Spurrier hadn't forced us to get better.
dvols writes:
demarcus cousins has not even taken the act yet, he will probably not qualify
xavier henry will go to kansas!
the other memphis players haven't decided yet, they will wait to see who the new memphis coach will be.....
mike anderson would be a great fit!!
andy112382#209793 writes:
Oh yea, college football rules over any other sport to me, pro or college, and when it come to that, I live and breathe the orange and white! Heck, until we started renting the house we are in now where we can't paint, my 'man cave' was oraneg and white.....now the new one is just white but plenty of orange in the room.
Orangeblood13 writes:
Tiger State is back down to reality
Time to see what exactly ol BP can do, little more comp in the conference only makes it better for the RPI
Bruce loves Calimari
mmmmm
john#208876 writes:
Probably because he wanted out of the series with vs UT in BB, and has had some noteable run-ins w/ Pearl in recruiting; not to mention having his enormous ego overrun his mouth on ocasion.
yabadabadoo1026 writes:
dont think thats a prerequisite to saying OK to a 5 mill/yr offer
walt23tn writes:
Well said.
Colliervol writes:
I agree Doc. What goes around comes around. Some of those goofs never should have been on this site spouting their junk. What does Earl call it: Karma?
Colliervol writes:
I was just waiting for somebody to bring up the donut shop.
Colliervol writes:
Oh I don't know Cap. It's probably when he kept referring to Ole Miss, Vandy and UT as "regional" schools and that his "elite" Tigers didn't want to play them. That might have had something to do with it.
volball7222 writes:
John Calaparanoid...welcome to real basketball.
pdhuff#552644 writes:
Listened to 104.5 the Zone this afternoon with George Plaister (sic). He had on the Memphus play-by-play man. His quip -
"Well, at least there's nothing else that can happen".
Said Fred Smith - Fedex and also biggest cotton man Donovan (?) in the world came down hard on the next Billy G-
to no avail.
It will be quiet from the West with only the real wind blowing for a while.
tennisvol writes:
The king of basketball coaches and the great Cal will be arriving in Lexington soon.
Inquisitor writes:
I think Calipari may regret going to Kentucky, but money talks, and at 5 mil a year, plus probably an astronomical buyout, how much regret can you have?
Can Calipari recruit as successfully at UK as he did at Memphis? Aren't SEC and UK entrance standards higher than Memphis' standards? Did the city and culture of Memphis make it easier to get the top recruits to Memphis than it will be to get them to Lexington? Can Cal run the table in the SEC like he's been doing in C-USA? Not anytime soon, I don't think.
Cal was a god in Memphis......basically no pressure and no expectations that he could not meet and exceed. At UK, the situation will be night and day different, especially with his salary. Expectations will be high, margin of error will be low, and the time frame may be short. I don't think Cal is a genius of a floor coach. He is a great recruiter, but that may be harder at Kentucky. If he doesn't produce big, and quick, the worm will turn, and Cal's suffering will begin.
He had it made-in-the-shade at Memphis. He could have smiled all the way to retirement, when ever he chose, and stayed there as a living legend forever. He'll be in the bright lights at Kentucky. There could be more crying than smiling. Can he match Rupp and Pitino? I doubt it. Will he be expected to, with his salary? Probably. How's that old song go?......you might as well be walking on the sun....
watchdog writes:
Hah, calling SEC schools regional is just typical talking out of his posterior to try to make Memphis look like it belonged at the big boys' table. If I was trying to recruit for Memphis I'd say whatever it took, too. Expect plenty more of it soon, he'll be talking about how Kentucky is the real, historic 800-lb gorilla of the SEC, not Tennessee or Florida or LSU or whoever's up this year or next.
Anyway, will the last relevant thing in C-USA basketball turn out the light on the way out please? Like, on your way to Lexington maybe? Sure there'll still be an automatic bid to be had every year, it's just going to wind up with a two-digit seed now.
ArealVolFan writes:
He runs his mouth alot, and shows a lack of respect for other schools, UT included. He wanted to move the Memphis, UT game to Nashville so Pearl could use it to help recruiting and keep them out out Memphis. Calipari has also had questionable recruiting tactics and though nothing has ever been called on him he will be under a microscope like he never has been before, especially with UK's shady past in recruiting. I liken this to the Kiffin fog machine scenario. USC and Kiffin did it there and were never called on it, but when he gets to TN and does the same thing he gets called on it fast. Why? Because in the SEC every program is under a huge microscope and there are going to be a good amount of the schools in the SEC that will turn him in the second they find him doing something wrong. That wouldn't happen at Memphis or Umass. Calipari will help bring talent, to UK thats for sure, but if I were a UK fan I would just hope he doesn't give in to the crazy fan base pressure and does things right and win a championship in the correct manner, otherwise this could be an expensive ticket back on probation. I don't think things will go down that road I just think its possible. I for one am excited now even more about the UT/UK rivalry. Pearl/ Calipari adds a new and interesting element to it.
CoachFulmer writes:
Memphis is back to stage 1. Lets see how many conference games they drop this coming up year. Have fun in the Busch League fudgepirates.
GO VOLS!
Colliervol writes:
Oh no, I think he actually is needed in the conference. UK needs to be good for the SEC to be considered "good" in the national press. (Note what has happened to the conference's reputation the last two year when UK and Florida have been a bit down.) Calipari will definitely improve your talent level. His coaching acumen is the big question.
He definitely didn't like losing to UT or taking the chance to lose to Ole Miss nor did he like to give them in-roads into Memphis recruiting. Those are the real reasons he was always bad mouthing the local SEC teams.
dvols writes:
like i said: did kentucky go undefeated already?
outlastme writes:
The only bright side for Memphis fans is that Bruce Pearl will never win another SEC championship....
windy writes:
I totally agree with you that Cal will regret going to Ky. Just ask Brett Favre how things worked out for him when he left Green Bay. He could have stayed in Green Bay and lived as a ledgend forever. But now he has the baggage of not preforming after he left. Cal will end up just like Favre, wished he had stayed in Memphis.
Huttdawg100 writes:
I must admit, I am really dissappointed in Cal... I'm not sad for The University of Memphis; I'm sad for the city of Memphis. With all the crime, a ridiculously high murder rate, the teenage pregnancies, the STD's, corrupt politicians, and everything wrong with the city, it was nice to hear good news coming from somewhere. Calipari and that Basketball team gave a hateful, racially divided, ultra-negative city a beacon of hope.... It's like UT's Creed of the Torchbearer: "He who beareth the torch, shadows himself to give light to others." Cal was Memphis' torch bearer (until now).
Once I graduated high school, I raced to Knoxville for something better; there was nothing for me in Memphis, but my grandfather was a huge Memphis fan, and only became a Tennessee fan when I decided to attend UT. I know he'd be livid if he could see this.
doh writes:
the same caliber of players he got at memphis will be coming to kentucky. so what, they still cant shoot freethrows, no matter what color of blue they will wear.
txvolsfan writes:
show me, don't tell me
Colliervol writes:
The East Carolina boards are waiting for you. That's the relevancy you have now. Have fun.
windy writes:
I remember 2 years ago a lot of Ky fans were really high on Billy G. What happened? Didn't win enough, same old story just a new version. Ky is a really great basketball state, but the "sun don't shine on the same dogs arse all the time" Good luck Cal, you will need it.
BigOrangeVol writes:
SEAL_9821... Team Member?
UTVOLS4Life writes:
I can't wait to see what the sleezebag will do without his cupcake schedule? It's one thing to play a few tough games at the beginning of the season, then coast until the tournament. What's he going to do when he has to play tough games in January, February, and March? Not to mention he want be playing his conference tournament on his own home court.
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