John Calipari Goes to Memphis for Top Coach Salary

John Calipari is expected to leave his coaching job at Memphis for another vacant position at Kentucky. Calipari, who has been highly successful with the Memphis Tigers (going to the national championship game last year and the sweet sixteen this year, plus other tournament appearances in his nine-year stay in Memphis), has decided to up his pay grade and his coaching pedigree. Allegedly, the offer from Kentucky will be the highest salary for any NCAA basketball coach, eclipsing other high-yield coaches like Billy Donovan of Florida. He’s expected to make roughly $35 million (with bonuses) over the next eight years.

Do you think Calipari should have stayed, or do you think that he did the right thing by going to Kentucky?  Clearly Kentucky has a couple of things going for it- the winning tradition, the more powerful conference, and of course, the money. However, if he stayed at Memphis  he could have led the team to even more success and gone on to have his name become synonymous with the program, like Coach K at Duke or John Wooden at UCLA.

To get NCAA basketball tickets, go to StubHub.com.

Permalink - Posted in General on April 1, 2009 - Post a comment