NCAA Kentucky Basketball 2022-2023 | Page 57

Meet Coach Calipari

A “ players-first ” coach with a penchant for 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 56 players earn selection in the NBA Draft during his 30-year college coaching career .
Calipari guided Kentucky to its eighth national championship and his first national title in 2012 . In becoming only the second coach in NCAA history to lead three different schools to the Final Four , he has racked up more than 800 on-court victories , 21 NCAA Tournament on-court appearances , six Final Fours and numerous national coach of the year honors .
From UMass to Memphis and now Kentucky , Calipari ’ s career has been successful throughout , but his most recent run in Lexington has been the best stretch of his career . During Calipari ’ s first 13 seasons at UK , he has led all coaches in NCAA Tournament wins ( 31 ), Final Fours ( four ), Elite Eights ( seven ) and Sweet 16s ( eight ).
In 2015 , Coach Cal led college basketball ’ s first ever 38-0 team , and became one of just three coaches to make four Final Fours in a five-year span . At the end of the season , Calipari became the 96th coach to join the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame .
While building a program out of obscurity at UMass , laying the foundation at Memphis and restoring luster at the sport ’ s greatest program at Kentucky , he totaled the second-most wins in NCAA history in the first 20 years of a college coaching career .
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 more than 50 young men realize their dreams and reach the NBA level with 56 players earning NBA Draft selections , including a record five first-round draft picks in 2010 . Two years later , six Wildcats heard their names called at the 2012 draft , the most in the two-round draft era . UK , with Calipari ’ s help , would tie those six picks again in 2015 , including a record-tying four lottery selections . His four No . 1 overall picks are more than any other coach , and he has had 45 players drafted during his first 13 years at Kentucky , including 34 first-round picks .
Calipari ’ s players have entered the league NBA-ready . His players have garnered 28 All-Star selections -- all since 2010 -- with Anthony Davis winning the game ’ s MVP honor in 2017 . Derrick Rose was named NBA MVP in 2011 . Six of his players have been tabbed All-NBA ( 11 times ), three have been named NBA Rookie of the Year and 15 players from Calipari ’ s first 13 teams at Kentucky 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 and Sixth Man 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 23 players at UK who were
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