John Calipari - Biography - Coaching Career

Coaching Career

From 1982–85, Calipari was an assistant at the University of Kansas under Ted Owens and Larry Brown. From 1985–88, he was an assistant coach at the University of Pittsburgh under Paul Evans. From 1988–96, he was head coach at the University of Massachusetts. From 1996–99, he was head coach and Executive VP of basketball operations for the NBA's New Jersey Nets. During the 1999–2000 season, he was an assistant coach for the Philadelphia 76ers under coach Larry Brown, before moving on to his next position at the University of Memphis. He was inducted into the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame in 2004.

Calipari is famous for popularizing the dribble drive motion offense, developed by Vance Walberg, which is sometimes known as the Memphis Attack. He wrote three different books about basketball, including "Refuse to Lose," "Basketball's Half-Court Offense," and "Bounce Back: Overcoming Setbacks to Succeed in Business and in Life".

In his 19 official seasons (20 seasons overall, with one entire season later being vacated) as a collegiate head coach, Calipari's record is 510–154 (.768). His record in the month of March is 96–31 (.756). His record in the NCAA tournament is 38–13 (.745), and in the NIT is 15–5 (.750). His teams have made 14 NCAA tournament appearances (2 later being vacated), including reaching the Sweet Sixteen 10 times (2 later being vacated), the Elite Eight 8 times (2 later being vacated), the Final Four 4 times (2 later being vacated), and the NCAA Championship Game twice, winning the NCAA Championship at Kentucky in 2012 (with the previous 2008 Championship Game appearance at Memphis later being vacated by the NCAA). As a college coach, Calipari has 18 20-win seasons (17 official) and 8 30-win seasons (7 official). He has coached five teams to the NIT, winning the NIT Championship at Memphis in 2002. He is one of only four coaches in NCAA Division I history to direct three different schools to a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament;