John Calipari to Everywhere

From Jerry Tipton comes this nice list of the annual John Calipari to Somewhere talk.

After becoming Memphis coach in March 2000, Calipari became the subject of such speculation in:

■ March 2001. Linked to South Carolina job. Receives 82-percent pay raise from Memphis.

■ April 2003. Linked to Pittsburgh, plus the Los Angeles Clippers and Philadelphia 76ers of the NBA. Calipari says he’s removing himself from consideration for the 76ers job, although the Commercial Appeal in Memphis notes that no one from the 76ers ever said the team was interested in Calipari.

■ December 2003. Linked to St. John’s after the school fires Mike Jarvis. Receives contract extension and pay raise from Memphis.

■ May 2005. New Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert speaks to Jerry West and Calipari about leading and coaching the team. Calipari says he’s not a candidate.

■ March 2006. Linked to jobs at Indiana and then N.C. State. Receives pay raise and permission to be sole beneficiary of shoe deal he can negotiate on behalf of the Memphis program.

■ March 2007. The Kentucky job opens. Calipari acknowledges there might be better jobs than Memphis, but he notes the loaded roster he’s got at Memphis. “There may not be a better team than the one I’m going to have for the next couple years, and you don’t leave that unless the commitment changes, unless it’s not there,” he says. (Something to think about as UK appears to have a star-studded roster for next season.) Receives contract extension and pay raise from Memphis.

That doesn’t even include last year when there were the Calipari-LeBron package rumors.


It's Pure Genius!  It's almost like Calipari himself puts these rumors out there to get pay raises, contract extensions, shoe deals, etc!!