Calipari gets a raise; passes Pitino, trails Coach K
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The University of Kentucky announced Thursday night that it has signed basketball coach John Calipari to a new seven-year contract that will make him the second-highest paid coach in college basketball.
If Calipari, 55, stays to the end of the deal, which runs out in March 2021, he would make $52.5 million in guaranteed compensation.
He made $5.2 million annually under the old deal and will average $7.5 million under the new one.
"Basketball has long been the marquee sport at the University of Kentucky," athletic director Mitch Barnhart said in a news release. "It is a sport that the traditions of this university and this state have been founded on. They were developed and sort of started from the get-go by Adolph Rupp and through many good people since. What Cal has done is returned us to those glory days of Final Fours and championship efforts, great players, and all along he's helped young people understand the responsibility of going to class, of the commitment to each other and to a program that has a rich tradition as this one does.
"It has long been our goal of the last three to five years that Cal enjoy this as his final stop in coaching and that he has the opportunity to finish his career at the University of Kentucky and hopefully set standards and win championships that will be remembered for many, many years to come."
Calipari's new contract includes no incentives for on-court performance — his old deal was loaded with them — but he'll be rewarded for every year he stays with annual retention bonuses that average $2.33 million. His only other annual incentive is $50,000 for academic achievement: an APR score of 950 or higher.
Calipari, who has led UK to three Final Fours, two national championship games and the 2012 title, will make $6.5 million this season, $7 million next season, $7.25 million in 2016-17, $7.75 million in 2017-18 and $8 million in each of the final three years of the deal.
According to USA Today's salary database, he passed Louisville's Rick Pitino ($5.76 million) and trails only Duke's Mike Krzyzewski ($9.68 million) on the highest-paid list.
"I'd like to thank Mitch and (UK President Eli) Capilouto for their commitment to me, my family and the basketball staff," Calipari said the news release. "I've said over and over that I have the best job in the country. With the continued support from our administration and the greatest, craziest fans in college basketball, we have accomplished a lot in our five quick years, but we still have lofty goals for the future.
"We want to continue to help young people and their families reach their dreams, while at the same time maintaining our success on the basketball court, in the classroom and in the community."
Calipari has been linked to many NBA coaching jobs this offseason — as almost every offseason — but this new deal should put those rumors to rest. He now makes more than nearly every coach in professional basketball. He also has seven of the top nine players from last season's NCAA runner-up squad returning, plus four more McDonald's All-America freshmen coming this summer.
"Under Coach Cal's leadership, the most storied program in NCAA basketball has reached new heights of success and excellence," Capilouto said in a release. "And the continued success, in which Coach Cal plays a critical leadership role, is a major reason why we have one of the handful of programs in the country that is financially self-sustaining and that has entered into an unprecedented partnership to fund nearly two-thirds of a more than $100 million science building dedicated to learning and research."
NCAA basketball
top salaries for men's coaches
1. Mike Krzyzewski, Duke — $9,682,032
2. John Calipari, Kentucky — $7,500,000*
3. Rick Pitino, Louisville — $5,758,338
4. Bill Self, Kansas — $4,960,763
* Average over seven-year deal