John Calipari

John Vincent Calipari is the head basketball coach at the University of Kentucky. Calipari has previously served as the head coach at the University of Massachusetts and the University of Memphis, both of whom he led to Final Four appearances. He is one of only two coaches to take three different schools to the Final Four. Known for his "dribble drive motion offense" Calipari has twice been named the Naismith National Coach of the Year, and led Kentucky to a national championship in 2012.

Controversy has followed the coach throughout his career, as two of his Final Four appearances were vacated by the NCAA after the revelation of infractions, though Calipari himself was not implicated in either instance.

As a player, Calipari lettered for two seasons at UNC-Wilmington before transferring to Division II Clarion. Calipari was a point guard who led Clarion in both assists and free throw percentage. In both his seasons at Clarion (1981 and 1982) Calipari's team was ranked in the Division II Top 20.

Shortly thereafter, Calipari began his coaching career as a volunteer assistant at Kansas under Ted Owens. He briefly left to become a recruiting coordinator at the University of Vermont, but returned to Kansas when Larry Brown was hired as the head coach. In 1985, Calipari left to join Paul Evans' staff at Pittsburgh as an assistant coach.

University of Massachusetts (1988-1996)

In 1988, at the age of 29, Calipari was named head coach of the University of Massachusetts. Although he went only 10-18 in his first season, his second year saw the Minutemen compile a 17-14 record and a bid to the NIT. The following season saw even more improvement as the team won 20 games en route to an NIT Final Four appearance.

In 1992, the team finally broke through with a 13-3 record in Atlantic 10 play, good enough for their first ever league title. Their overall record of 30-5 earned them a berth in the NCAA Tournament, and after a thrilling 77-71 overtime victory over Syracuse, UMass made its first appearance in the Sweet 16.

That season kick-started a run of NCAA Tournament appearances that culminated in a 35-2 season in 1995-96 and a trip to the Final Four. Although the team lost to eventual champion Kentucky, 81-74, in the National Semi-final, Calipari's coaching efforts did not go unrecognized. He was named the Naismith National Coach of the Year.

During his eight years at UMass, Calipari posted a record of 193-71, including six straight 20-win seasons.

New Jersey Nets (1996-1999)

In June of 1996, after his most successful season, Calipari left U Mass to become Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations and Head Coach of the New Jersey Nets.

Success was far from immediate as the Nets went 26-56 in Calipari's debut season. However, in the 1997-98 season, New Jersey climbed above .500 -- albeit by a slim margin -- with a 43-49 record. Still, it was a good enough record for second place in the Atlantic Division, and earned the Nets their first playoff berth in five years.

Unfortunately, Calipari was unable to build on this success in the 1998-99 season. After a lockout delayed the start of the season by three months, the Nets got off to a slow 3-17 start, and Calipari was relieved of his position.

Calipari didn't stay out of work for too long, once again joining Larry Brown's staff -- this time in Philadelphia -- as an assistant coach for the 76ers for the 1999-2000 season.

University of Memphis (2000-2009)

In March of 2000, John Calipari returned to the college scene as he was named as the 16th men's basketball coach for the University of Memphis, taking over a 15-16 team from Tic Price, who had resigned mid-season.

Once again, postseason success was quick in coming, as Calipari took his new team to the Final Four of the NIT in his debut season. The following season, despite a 27-9 record, Memphis was denied an NCAA bid. Undaunted, the Tigers stayed focused and defeated South Carolina 72-62 to win the NIT.

In 2002-03 and 2003-04, Memphis finally was able to taste a bit of the March Madness, with two trips to the NCAA Tournament, however the team did not advance past the second round in either season. The following season was a considerable setback, as the Tigers finished only 22-16 and once again settled for a trip to the NIT Final Four.

The 2005-06 season saw the beginning of an incredibly impressive run for the Memphis Tigers. With win totals of 33, 33, 38 and 33, Calipari's charges never failed to make the Sweet 16, twice made the Elite 8 and in 2007-08, made it all the way to the NCAA Championship Game.

The Tigers finished 38-2 that season, making Calipari the winningest single-season coach in NCAA history. Memphis ended up losing the final in overtime, 75-68 to Kansas, in a game they led by nine points with 2:12 remaining in regulation thanks to which missed four of its final five free throws in regulation. Despite the heart-breaking defeat, Calipari was named as the Naismith National Coach of the Year for the second time in his career.

After having led the Tigers to nine-straight 20-win campaigns and nine-consecutive postseason appearances and a total of 252 wins (making him the winningest coach in school history) Calipari decided to leave the school and accepted the head coaching job at the University of Kentucky on April 1, 2009.

Just a few months later, the University of Memphis was forced to vacate all 38 wins from their 2007-08 season by the NCAA, as a result of infractions relating to the SAT scores of Derrick Rose. Calipari was not penalized, as he was not named in the original notice of allegations.

However, this was not the first time that Calipari had a Final Four trip overshadowed by controversy. His 1996 UMass team also had their post-season performance expunged from the record books as a result of Marcus Camby's acceptance of cash and gifts from an agent. Calipari was not implicated in that case, either.

University of Kentucky (2009-Pres)

In his first season at Kentucky, Calipari brought in a highly-touted recruiting class, some of whom he had previously attempted to bring to Memphis. Led by freshmen John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins, the Wildcats won 35 games, but were upset by West Virginia in the Elite 8.

Kentucky lost five players to the first round of the NBA Draft following the season, but Calipari reloaded, leading the team to a 21-8 regular season mark. The Wildcats hit their stride late in the season, wining the SEC Tournament, then racking up four consecutive wins in the NCAA Tournament to give Calipari his third career Final Four berth.

The next season, Kentucky's roster once again turned over significant portions of the roster, but expectations were high with three top-10 recruits -- Anthony Davis, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Marquis Teague -- joining the team. Kentucky opened 8-0 before falling on the road at Indiana. However, that'd be the last loss they suffered until the SEC Championship game. Calipari's squad entered the NCAA Tournament 32-2 and a No. 1 seed. Behind their star freshmen, the Wildcats won six straight, giving Calipari his first NCAA tournament title.