How Long Will John Calipari Be the Kentucky Basketball Coach
By Drew Koch
John Calipari has been at UK since 2009. How much longer will Coach Cal roam the sideline in Rupp Arena?
John Calipari addressed a question in the latest segment of Coach Cal’s Mailbag on CoachCal.com. The question was in regards to Calipari’s future with the Wildcats. “Is there a certain age you feel you will not work past? Previously, I believe you said 60. But I believe it will be longer now. What say you coach?”
Calipari responded, “As long as I’m healthy…,and we’re doing good for players I’ll feel good about what I do.” The Kentucky coach went on to say, “I never thought I’d coach past 60. Probably now that it took me like 20 years to get a job like Kentucky…I may stay a little longer.” Calipari’s future at Kentucky is always up for debate. Cal has continually said that he has the best job in basketball and that he loves coaching at Kentucky.
Calipari made it clear that the money was not a detirmining factor in his decsion to stay at UK. “I’m fine financially,” Calpari said. “I could stop today and be fine.” The coach just signed an extension with Kentucky this past year. The deal keeps Cal in Lexington through 2024. His salary for this season is $7.75 million and it will increase to $8 million per year through the remainder of the contract. Those figures do not include bonuses.
Coaching his son, Kentucky guard Brad Calipari, is another reason to think that John isn’t going to stop anytime soon. “I got Brad here,” John Calipari said. “I may want to coach him…no one works harder than him.” Brad is a sophomore and is averaging just under 4 minutes a game so far this season. Cal raves about his son’s shooting ability, and with a roster is desperate need of outside shooting it may not be surprising to see Brad’s playing time increase as the Wildcats enter SEC play.
"“I will never sit in this seat and cheat the position,” Calipari said. “There’s some factors that may keep me in this longer. It ain’t number of wins, it isn’t the legacy…it’s am I helping? Can I help? Am I making a difference? If that doesn’t happen no one will have to tell me, I’ll know myself.”"
Calipari has stressed since his arrival that Kentucky will be a ‘Players First’ program. The Kentucky basketball program’s success is seen the lives Calipari’s changed. There are currently 26 Kentucky players in the NBA. Calipari coached 24 of those players and 19 of those former Wildcats were first-round selections.