1. John Vincent Calipari is an American basketball coach who is the head coach at the University of Arkansas.
34 Facts About John Calipari
1. 2.
John Calipari has been named Naismith College Coach of the Year three times, and was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2015.
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John Calipari 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.
4.
John 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.
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John Calipari played point guard at Clarion during the 1981 and 1982 seasons, leading the team in assists and free throw percentage.
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From 1982 to 1985, John Calipari was an assistant at the University of Kansas under Ted Owens and Larry Brown.
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John Calipari is famous for popularizing the dribble drive motion offense, developed by Vance Walberg, which is sometimes known as the "Memphis Attack".
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John Calipari has coached six teams to the NIT, winning the NIT Championship at Memphis in 2002.
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From 1988 to 1996 at UMass, John Calipari led the Minutemen program to five consecutive Atlantic 10 titles and NCAA Tournament appearances, including periods where the program was ranked first nationally.
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John Calipari was named Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year in 1992,1993, and 1996.
11.
John Calipari 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 worth of gifts, in particular a gold chain, from two sports agents who were luring him to enter the NBA draft after his Sophomore season.
12.
John Calipari helped accelerate the construction of the Mullins Center, UMass' basketball and hockey facility.
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John Calipari reached out to eastern Massachusetts and Boston to enlarge the fan base.
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In 1997, while coaching the New Jersey Nets, John Calipari directed profanities at Star-Ledger sports reporter Dan Garcia and referred to him as a "Mexican idiot".
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John Calipari then joined Larry Brown as an assistant coach for the Philadelphia 76ers.
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John Calipari became head coach at the University of Memphis in 2000.
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John Calipari earned seven consecutive postseason bids.
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John Calipari was named Conference USA Coach of the Year in 2006,2008, and 2009.
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John Calipari built a national program by recruiting blue chip players from the Eastern part of the country, such as Dajuan Wagner from Camden, Darius Washington Jr.
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On January 21,2008, John Calipari led the Tigers to the No 1 ranking in the AP Poll for only the second time in school history.
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Also as part of the settlement, John Calipari donated his near-$232,000 bonus to the Memphis scholarship fund.
22.
On March 30,2009, four days after Memphis' season ending loss to Missouri in the NCAA tournament, multiple sources reported that John 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.
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John Calipari rejected a counter offer by Memphis for Kentucky's 8 year, $31.65 million contract.
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John Calipari became the 22nd coach overall at Kentucky, and just the 7th coach in the last 79 years for the Wildcats.
25.
On December 21,2009, John Calipari led the Cats to their 12th victory of the season and the program's 2,000th victory ever.
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Under the new contract, John Calipari would make up to $8 million annually, which further cemented his status as one of the most highly compensated college basketball coaches in the country.
27.
On February 26,2011, after Kentucky beat the Florida Gators in Rupp Arena, John Calipari was recognized for his 500th career victory as a Division I men's basketball coach.
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John Calipari was inducted into the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame in 2004.
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John Calipari has written several books, including Bounce Back: Overcoming Setbacks to Succeed in Business and in Life and Players First: Coaching from the Inside Out.
30.
Additionally, John Calipari starred in the 30 for 30 documentary from ESPN "One and Not Done" which details his professional career.
31.
John Calipari, who has dual citizenship in the US and Italy, has been married to his wife since 1986.
32.
John Calipari appeared at Governor Andy Beshear's July 9,2020, press briefing to publicly state his support of the Kentucky statewide mask mandate due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Kentucky stating: "We in our state have done an unbelievable job," John Calipari said.
33.
On February 13,1994, Temple University basketball coach John Chaney threatened to kill Calipari at a post-game news conference, while Calipari was speaking at a podium.
34.
Chaney entered the conference mid-speech, called him an "Italian son of a bitch," accusing John Calipari of manipulating the referees.