Kentucky’s John Calipari has signed a new 10-year contract with some special bonuses in it. Back in April, it was reported that John Calipari and the University of Kentucky had agreed to a “lifetime contract,” that included making Calipari an ambassador for the program after retiring from the sidelines. Now the details to that contract have been released by the university. John Calipari is now on a contract until the 2028-2029 season, worth $86 million. After six years Calipari can retire and assume a new position with the university as, “special assistant to the athletics director/university representative.” The new position would pay $950,000 a year.
.@UKCoachCalipari wants to coach here until he retires. We want him to be our coach for as long as he wants to do this. We made it official today.
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— Kentucky Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) June 13, 2019
Mitch Barnhart as athletic director brought Calipari on after the disastrous tenure of Billy Gillispie. Barnhart had this to say about John Calipari’s new contract:
“One of the truly unique things about Kentucky men’s basketball is its legacy of head coaches who have made their own lasting mark on this program. John is a perfect illustration of that.”
Coach Calipari will make $8 million total the next two seasons with increases beginning in 2021-2022, he will make $8.5 million for four seasons and starting in 2025-2026 he will make $9 million a year for the last four seasons of the contract. The only bonus money Calipari can make from the contract deals with the team’s Academic Progress Rate, which is a metric developed by the NCAA to measure academic progress and eligibility. Those bonuses would be worth $50,000 each time the team meets an APR score of 975. The full details of the contract can be found here.
