A look back at Coach Cal’s 15 seasons with Kentucky basketball

The John Calipari chapter as Kentucky basketball’s head coach has closed, with a surprising thud.

But the book that’s left behind, his 15 years of glory and crushing defeats, won’t soon be forgotten.

On Tuesday, Calipari’s decision to leave Lexington to become the new men’s basketball head coach at Arkansas was made official.

In an emotional video statement released Tuesday evening, Calipari said a new coach, “another voice” was needed in Lexington.

“This is a dream job. It was my dream job,” he said.

“Anybody in our profession looks at the University of Kentucky in basketball and says, ‘That is the bluest of blue.’ The last few weeks, we’ve come to realize that this program probably needs to hear another voice,” Calipari said in the video message posted to his social media accounts.

“And the fans need to hear another voice. We’ve loved it here, but we think it’s time for us to step away — and step away completely from the program.”

The 65-year-old Calipari put together an overall record of 410-123 in 15 seasons as UK’s coach. He was the longest-tenured Kentucky coach since Adolph Rupp, who led the program from 1930 to 1972.

Calipari has 813 career NCAA-approved wins, which is 63 wins away from Rupp’s career total.

From the highs of winning the 2012 national championship to the lows of early NCAA Tournament exits in 2022 and 2024, there were few dull moments during Calipari’s Kentucky coaching tenure.

Here are the highlights (good, bad and always memorable) from Calipari’s time in Lexington, listed in chronological order.

March 31, 2009

▪ Calipari becomes Kentucky men’s basketball coach.

Calipari leaves Memphis to replace Billy Gillispie as Kentucky’s head coach. Previously a college coach at UMass and Memphis, Calipari had recently guided the Tigers to the NCAA Tournament title game, although all 33 of Memphis’ regular-season wins and all six of its games from the 2008 NCAA Tournament were later vacated.

In an April 1, 2009, press conference featuring Kentucky athletics director Mitch Barnhart and Calipari, Barnhart praised Calipari as an experienced coach.

“He has a proven track record of building fan support. I think John will tell you that the Kentucky coaching job has been on his radar for a long time,” Barnhart said that day.

Oct. 16, 2009

▪ Calipari greets crowd at his first Big Blue Madness.

Calipari’s first Big Blue Madness was a big celebration. It featured a grand unveiling of UK’s first recruiting class under Calipari, headlined by guards John Wall and Eric Bledsoe and centers DeMarcus Cousins and Daniel Orton.

“If I have my choice between experience and talent, I’m taking talent every time!” Calipari yelled to a raucous Rupp Arena crowd.

Calipari’s address to fans that night also included a line that would be trumpeted time and time again: the gold standard.

“I look at this team behind me and the passion in front of me and I see the foundation for my vision for our program,” Calipari said. “It’s a vision where we are the gold standard, not just for college basketball, but for all college athletics.”

This was also the debut of the John Wall dance.

Jan. 17, 2010

▪ Calipari helps raise more than $1 million for Haiti earthquake relief with telethon.

Whatever your opinion might be of Calipari’s on-court activities, it can’t be denied that he leveraged his position as the Kentucky men’s basketball coach for several positive philanthropic endeavors.

The first of these came when Calipari and his team raised more than $1 million dollars for Haiti earthquake relief efforts via a four-hour telethon.

March 14, 2010.

▪ Calipari wins first SEC Tournament championship at Kentucky.

In addition to winning the SEC regular-season championship, Calipari’s first Kentucky team also took home the SEC Tournament title in Nashville.

UK topped Mississippi State 75-74 to win the conference tournament title and cap a 3-for-3 showing in the Music City. Eric Bledsoe, DeMarcus Cousins, Patrick Patterson and John Wall all scored in double figures in the win.

Calipari won six SEC Tournament titles with UK in 2010, 2011, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018.

March 18, 2010

▪ Calipari wins first NCAA Tournament game at Kentucky.

Just four days after completing the SEC championship double in that 2009-10 season, Calipari and the Cats began their first NCAA Tournament together in rousing fashion. UK, a 1 seed in the 2010 edition of March Madness, topped 16 seed East Tennessee State by a 100-71 score in New Orleans.

That UK squad eventually reached the Elite Eight, where it fell to 2 seed West Virginia.

Five UK players (John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, Patrick Patterson, Eric Bledsoe and Daniel Orton) were selected in the first round of the 2010 NBA draft.

“We’re a players-first program,’‘ Calipari told ESPN. “And we might have just had the biggest day in Kentucky basketball history with a No. 1 pick and five first-round picks.’‘

March 27, 2011

▪ Calipari leads Kentucky back to the Final Four.

For the first time since 1998, UK reaches the national semifinals after parlaying another SEC Tournament championship into a 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Kentucky tops Princeton, West Virginia, 1 seed Ohio State and North Carolina to reach the Final Four in Houston, where the Cats lost to UConn.

2011 offseason

▪ Calipari lands a loaded recruiting class.

Recruiting at a consistently high level was Calipari’s modus operandi at UK, and his 2011 recruiting class was one of his best.

Ahead of the 2011-12 season Calipari brought in the players ranked No. 1 (Anthony Davis), No. 3 (Michael Kidd-Gilchrist), No. 7 (Marquis Teague) and No. 21 (Kyle Wiltjer) in that year’s recruiting class, per the 247Sports Composite. All four players of those players played all 40 games for Kentucky during the 2011-12 season.

With Calipari as head coach, UK landed 47 McDonald’s All-Americans out of high school. This is the most of any school since 2009.

April 2, 2012

▪ Calipari wins the NCAA Tournament with Kentucky.

After an Elite Eight exit in 2010 and a Final Four trip in 2011, Calipari put it all together in 2012 to guide Kentucky to its eighth national championship.

A team led by freshmen stars Anthony Davis, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Marquis Teague, along with sophomores Doron Lamb and Terrence Jones, went 38-2 overall and a perfect 16-0 in regular-season SEC games.

After losing to Vanderbilt in the SEC Tournament championship game, the Wildcats rattled off wins over Western Kentucky, Iowa State, Indiana, Baylor, Louisville and Kansas to win the NCAA Tournament.

A total of six Wildcats were selected in the 2012 NBA draft, including Davis with the No. 1 overall pick and Kidd-Gilchrist with the No. 2 overall pick. This was the first time in NBA draft history the first two selections were from the same school.

May 4, 2012

▪ Calipari, Wildcats visit President Barack Obama at the White House.

As part of their celebrations for winning the NCAA Tournament, the Wildcats made a trip to Washington, D.C., to visit with then-President Barack Obama. The team presented Obama with a No. 1 jersey and a championship ring during a ceremony in the White House East Room.

Nov. 7, 2012

▪ Calipari and his team host telethon to raise money for storm victims.

Calipari and the Cats teamed up again to help people affected by another natural disaster in November 2012, when they hosted a telethon to raise nearly $1 million for the victims of Hurricane Sandy.

March 19, 2013

▪ Calipari goes back home, loses at Robert Morris in NIT first round.

The 2012-13 UK basketball season will always be marred by a massive what if: What if Nerlens Noel hadn’t suffered a torn ACL in his left knee that ended his season in February? The Cats went on the miss the NCAA Tournament that year as the defending national champions.

UK instead was a 1 seed in the NIT, but had to play on the road in the opening round at 8 seed Robert Morris because Rupp Arena was being used for NCAA Tournament games. UK lost 59-57.

April 5, 2014

▪ Aaron Harrison uses clutch shots to send Kentucky to the national championship.

After previously making clutch shots to defeat Louisville in the Sweet 16 and Michigan in the Elite Eight, freshman guard Aaron Harrison saved his most dramatic moment for last, rattling in a deep 3-pointer with just seconds to play to send Kentucky past Wisconsin and into the national title game.

Kentucky, an 8 seed, picked off 9 seed Kansas State, 1 seed Wichita State, 4 seed Louisville, 2 seed Michigan and another 2 seed in Wisconsin on its way to a 12th appearance in a national championship game where UK lost to 7 seed UConn.

This was the last time Kentucky played for a national championship.

April 4, 2015

▪ Calipari loses a perfect season in the Final Four.

Calipari brought a 38-0 team to Indianapolis for the Final Four in search of the first perfect college basketball season since the 1975-76 Indiana Hoosiers.

A UK squad led by sophomores Aaron Harrison and Andrew Harrison, along with freshmen Karl-Anthony Towns and Devin Booker, was upset in the national semifinals, 71-64, by Wisconsin, a measure of revenge for the season prior.

This was UK’s most recent trip to a Final Four, and the last time UK was a 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. UK’s nine-year drought without a Final Four appearance is the second-longest in program history.

This also ended a remarkable stretch of four Final Fours in five years for Kentucky.

April 6, 2015

▪ Calipari is elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Just a few days after that Final Four defeat, Calipari reached a milestone moment in his career when he was elected, along with 10 others, into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

“If I’m not at Kentucky, I’m not sure this (Hall of Fame induction) happens,” Calipari said at the time.

Oct. 13, 2017

▪ Calipari’s discussion with former Herald-Leader reporter Jerry Tipton during Media Day.

In a moment that revealed his relationship with some media members, Calipari initially refuses to answer a question from former Herald-Leader reporter Jerry Tipton related to the FBI investigation into college basketball corruption ahead of the 2017-18 season.

Tipton tells Calipari that “it’s Media Day, not Coach Day” and Calipari eventually answers the question.

March 31, 2019

▪ Calipari loses to Auburn in overtime in the Elite Eight.

The last good NCAA Tournament run for Kentucky under Calipari’s leadership came in 2019, when UK, a 2 seed, lost to Auburn, a 5 seed, 77-71, in overtime in the Elite Eight.

Under Calipari, Kentucky’s statistics in March Madness following this defeat were dire: The Wildcats have gone 1-3 in the NCAA Tournament since. The 2020 edition of March Madness was canceled due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, and UK didn’t qualify for the 2021 NCAA Tournament.

This was the last time Kentucky reached the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament.

June 13, 2019

▪ Calipari signs new $86 million contract with Kentucky.

Calipari agreed to a 10-year contract extension with UK worth a total of $86 million following the 2018-19 season.

This deal is one of several contract extensions dished out in recent years by Barnhart, Kentucky’s athletics director, that haven’t aged well.

March 7, 2020

▪ Calipari and Kentucky win their last SEC regular-season championship.

Calipari led the Wildcats to six SEC regular-season championships in 2010, 2012, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2020.

The most recent of these came in 2020, when the Cats finished the SEC regular season with a 15-3 record and won the league crown. UK’s one-point win at Florida in the regular-season finale was UK’s final game before the global COVID-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of the SEC and NCAA tournaments.

March 11, 2021

▪ Calipari and Kentucky miss the 2021 NCAA Tournament.

The 2020-21 season will go down as one of the worst, if not the worst, in UK men’s basketball history.

The Wildcats went 9-16 overall, 8-9 in SEC games and one-and-done in the SEC Tournament. This was UK’s first losing season since the 1988-89 campaign and its worst winning percentage for a season since the 1926-27 campaign.

Dec. 14, 2021

▪ Calipari and UK raise millions for tornado relief efforts with telethon.

Calipari and Kentucky were again at the heart of an important fundraising effort in December 2021. The team used a four-hour telethon to raise more than $3.3 million to help victims of tornadoes that devastated Western Kentucky.

March 17, 2022

▪ Kentucky loses to Saint Peter’s in a stunning NCAA Tournament upset.

As a 2 seed in the opening round of the 2022 NCAA Tournament, Kentucky — led by national player of the year Oscar Tshiebwe — lost 85-79 in overtime to 15 seed Saint Peter’s of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference in Indianapolis.

This was the first opening-round exit for the Wildcats since Calipari took over the program in 2009. This is one of only 11 total 15-over-2-seed upsets in NCAA tournament history.

Aug. 2, 2022

▪ Calipari and UK hold open practice, host telethon for Kentucky flood relief.

Another close-to-home example of Calipari’s charitable endeavors came when the UK basketball program held an open practice inside Rupp Arena, along with a three-hour telethon, to raise money for those affected by floods in Eastern Kentucky.

The “Kentucky Flood Relief Telethon” raised more than $2.4 million. During the event, UK and Gonzaga announced a home-and-home series between the schools. Gonzaga won both games played over the last two seasons.

August 2022

▪ ‘Basketball school’ feud ensues between Calipari and Mark Stoops.

While Kentucky played a series of exhibition games in The Bahamas, Calipari told reporters Kentucky was a basketball school as part of his push to get a new practice facility for his program.

“The reason is, this is a basketball school,” Calipari told reporters. “It’s always been that. Alabama is a football school. So is Georgia. I mean, they are. No disrespect to our football team. I hope they win 10 games and go to bowls.”

That drew the ire of UK football head coach Mark Stoops, and a war of words ensued in the press and on social media. A few days later, Calipari said he “said the wrong thing,” and that his relationship with Stoops would be fine.

March 17, 2023

▪ Calipari wins final NCAA Tournament game at Kentucky.

The final postseason win of Calipari’s Kentucky tenure came in the opening round of the 2023 NCAA Tournament, as 6 seed Kentucky topped 11 seed Providence 61-53 at the Greensboro Coliseum.

It was also the only postseason win of the 2022-23 season for UK: The Cats lost to Vanderbilt in their only SEC Tournament game and then lost in the NCAA Tournament round of 32 to 3 seed Kansas State.

This made for another disappointing season, especially since reigning national player of the year Oscar Tshiebwe had returned for his fourth college basketball season.

March 21, 2024

▪ Calipari coaches final Kentucky basketball game.

Calipari’s final game as UK basketball’s coach was a first-round NCAA Tournament loss to Oakland.

The 3 seed Wildcats lost to the 14 seed Golden Grizzlies despite harboring legit hops of a Final Four run.

Last season, Kentucky reverted back to Calipari’s traditional style of roster building: Kentucky had the top-ranked freshman recruiting class (which included in-state UK legacy Reed Sheppard) as well as experienced fifth-year players in Tre Mitchell and Antonio Reeves.

The end result wasn’t different, though: The Wildcats lost each of their games in the SEC and NCAA tournaments, despite Calipari pushing a “built for March” slogan.

March 26, 2024

▪ Calipari is announced as UK’s head coach for 2024-25 season by AD Mitch Barnhart.

Fan unrest with Calipari peaked following the NCAA Tournament loss to Oakland, but Calipari spoke following the defeat like a man who planned on remaining Kentucky’s head coach.

UK athletics director Mitch Barnhart confirmed this with a social media post. “I can confirm that (Calipari) will return for his 16th season as our head coach,” part of the post read.

April 7, 2024

▪ Calipari is connected to the Arkansas men’s basketball coaching job.

Late Sunday night, reports surfaced that Calipari was connected to the head coaching vacancy at Arkansas, which opened after Eric Musselman left to take the head coaching job at Southern California.

Those reports quickly developed into the news that a five-year contract between Calipari and Arkansas was on the horizon. A driving force behind Arkansas’ push for Calipari was major Arkansas booster John Tyson, the CEO of Tyson Foods and a longtime friend of Calipari.

April 9, 2024

▪ Calipari is officially announced as the new Arkansas head coach.

The news is official: John Calipari left Kentucky to become the head coach at Arkansas.

The 2024-25 SEC basketball schedule hasn’t been announced, so it’s not yet clear when or where Calipari will face Kentucky for the first time since leaving the school.

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