ON-COURT SUCCESS

A “players-first” coach whose biggest goal is helping people reach their dreams, John Calipari, a Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer, has guided six teams to the Final Four, led one to a national championship and helped 61 players to date earn selection in the NBA Draft during his 33-year college coaching career.

Calipari took UMass to the Final Four in 1996, guided Memphis to the National Championship game in 2008 and led Kentucky to four Final Fours – including the 2012 National Championship, to become only the second coach in NCAA history to lead three different schools to the Final Four. He has racked 877 on-court victories, 24 NCAA Tournament appearances, six Final Fours and numerous National Coach of the Year honors.

In his first year at Arkansas, Calipari led the Razorbacks to a Sweet 16 appearance, his 16th as a head coach, and became just the third coach in NCAA history to take four programs to the Sweet 16. Also, after beating Kansas and St. John’s to reach the 2025 Sweet 16, Calipari pushed his NCAA Tournament wins total to 59, tying for sixth all-time.

At every collegiate stop, Calipari’s career has been successful throughout, but his 10-year stretch at Kentucky (2009-19) was among the best decades in NCAA history, reaching four Final Fours (with a 2012 championship and 2014 national runner-up), seven Elite 8 berths and nine trips to the Sweet 16.

The 2015 campaign was highlighted by Coach Cal directing the first ever college basketball team to own a 38-0 record (before falling in the Final Four) and became one of just three coaches to make four Final Fours in a five-year span. At the end of that 2015 season, Calipari became the 96th coach to join the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Coach Cal has led three teams to an NCAA-record 38 wins on the court in a season (once at Memphis and twice at Kentucky), led the NCAA in wins six times (at least once at UMass, Memphis and Kentucky) and tallied 30, 20-win seasons (including 11 30-win campaigns). With his sustained success, Coach Cal received the John R. Wooden Award Legends of Coaching honor in 2024.

While building a program out of obscurity at UMass and returning Memphis and Kentucky to national contenders, he has totaled the second-most wins in NCAA history in the first 20 years of a college coaching career.

PLAYER SUCCESS

Quite honestly, though, Calipari’s on-court success overshadows a much more significant picture.

In his goal to lead a players-first program, he has helped 61 young men realize their dreams by earning NBA Draft selections. He has had four No. 1 overall picks, which are more than any other coach, and a total of 43 first-round picks. In 2010, he had a record five first-round draft picks. Two years later, six of his players heard their names called at the 2012 draft, the most in the two-round draft era. Them in 2015, Cal would have six picks again, including a record-tying four lottery selections. 

Calipari’s players have entered the league NBA-ready. His players have garnered 43 All-Star selections, including a record-breaking seven in 2024, with Anthony Davis winning the game’s MVP honor in 2017. Derrick Rose was named NBA MVP in 2011 and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was voted NBA MVP in 2025 to make Cal just the third person to coach two NBA MVPs in college (with John Wooden and Dean Smith). Nine of his players have been tabbed All-NBA (21 times), three have been named NBA Rookie of the Year and 18 players have made the NBA All-Rookie teams. He is the only coach in history to have a player win each of the NBA’s major honors: MVP, Rookie of the Year, Most Improved Player, Sixth Man of the Year and Clutch Player of the Year.

Much like he did at UMass, where his players graduated at nearly 80%, Calipari has stressed academics. Seventeen of his last 20 seniors at Memphis earned their bachelor’s degrees, and all 31 players at UK who were eligible to graduate by the end of their senior years walked away with a diploma in hand, including five players who earned their degree in just three years. Calipari’s teams routinely have posted a combined team grade-point average of 3.0 or better.

COMMUNITY SUCCESS

Calipari has raised millions of dollars to help the lives of those in need. He has had a particular passion to assist those impacted by natural disasters. For instance, in 2010, he used a telethon to raise more than $1 million for victims of the devastating earthquake in Haiti. He followed that up with telethons in 2012, raising $1 million for victims of Superstorm Sandy, in 2017 for victims of Hurricane Harvey, played a leading role in the “Kentucky United” efforts that generated more than $5 million for victims of devastating tornadoes in Western Kentucky in 2021, and raised nearly $4 million with the Kentucky Flood Relief Telethon and open practice at Rupp Arena in 2022. In his second month on the job at Arkansas, Cal helped with cleanup efforts after tornadoes hit the state. He has continued the Suits & Sneakers Gala in NW Arkansas and continued his tradition of helping families at Christmas with food, presents and paying for rent.

Calipari launched his The Calipari Foundation in 2012 and has worked with several key partners to donate more than $1.5 million, a figure that does not include matching funds that have been contributed from individuals and corporations. In 2013, Calipari initiated hosting an annual alumni weekend around his basketball fantasy experience with the intent to raise money for charity. After generating $350,000 for selected organizations and charities during the inaugural game, the weekend has generated millions of dollars for charity since its inception.

In 2019, when federal workers were without pay due to a government shutdown, he, his wife and his foundation assisted workers with financial help and grocery gift cards. He and his wife, Ellen, teamed up with Fayette County Public Schools to help families in need during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Additional efforts include spearheading the creation of the John McLendon Minority Leadership Initiative, a nationwide coach-driven initiative to provide minorities a jump-start to their careers through practical experiences, opportunities to build their network and instilling the values of John McLendon: integrity, education, leadership and mentorship. Participants in the initiative will be known as MLI Future Leaders.

He was awarded the Jefferson Award for Outstanding Public Service in Sports by Multiplying Good in 2022. For more than 50 years, Multiplying Good has honored those who put others first. Those receiving the Jefferson Award are empowered to do more, while their stories of extraordinary public service inspire others to action. It is an award that underscores impact. He earned the Race Amity Medal of Honor in 2023.

OTHER SUCCESS

In 2017, Coach Cal was named the head coach of the 2017 USA Basketball Men’s U19 World Cup Team, which finished third at the 2017 FIBA U19 World Cup in Cairo. Also, he won gold as head coach of the 2012Dominican Republic team at the Centrobasket Championship.

Author of five books, including the New York Times Best Seller “Players First: Coaching from the Inside Out,” Calipari is a master of communication and maximizing talent. He lives by the motto that “it’s never a matter of how far you have fallen, but instead it’s about how high you bounce back.”