John Calipari gets contract extension
Kentucky has announced a two-year contract extension for men's basketball coach John Calipari.
Calipari's previous contract was $31.65
million for eight years. The new deal is worth $36.5 million with the
opportunity to earn performance-based incentives.
This latest contract improvement is another indicator that Calipari will
stay with Kentucky instead of going to the NBA as he has been
speculated to do so since arriving in Lexington. NBA teams aren't paying
salaries in this range anymore, meaning Calipari has somewhat priced
himself out of the NBA market.
Calipari is coming off a Final
Four appearance in his second year at Kentucky. He coached the Wildcats
to the Elite Eight in his first season.
Calipari was in Newark, N.J., on Thursday night to watch two of his recruits go in the top 10 in the NBA draft.
Enes
Kanter of Turkey, who was ruled permanently ineligible and never played
for the Wildcats, yet practiced with the team in the early fall, went
No. 3 to Utah.
Freshman point guard Brandon Knight was drafted eighth by Detroit.
In the second round, senior Josh Harrellson went No. 45 to New Orleans and was then traded to New York, while junior DeAndre Liggins was drafted by Orlando with the 53rd overall pick.
Kentucky
has the top incoming recruiting class, led by Anthony Davis, Michael
Gilchrist and Marquis Teague and is projected to be one of the top two
teams in 2011-12.
Those incoming freshman will join returning star Terrence Jones and Darius Miller as Kentucky will be projected to win the SEC, ahead of Vanderbilt.