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During his reign as head coach for the Kentucky Wildcats, John Calipari has amassed one of the strongest coaching resumes in the game. With four final four appearances during his 10-year career at Kentucky, Coach Cal has the Wildcats in a position to contend for national championships on a yearly basis.
One of the best recruiters in the game, Calipari is able to load up his squad with elite “one and done” players that compliment a talented veteran core. Along with being an elite recruiter, Calipari is one of the best defensive coaches in the game.
John Calipari National Championships: How Many Titles Has Coach Won?
Despite four final four appearances during his 10-year reign at Kentucky, Calipari only has one national championship to his name in 2011-2012. Coach Cal and the Kentucky Wildcats also fell just short in 2013-2014 as they fell in the championship game to cardiac Kemba and the UConn Huskies.
A defensive-minded coach, Calipari does a great job of building defensive juggernaut teams that are built to make deep runs in the NCAA tournament. One of the most time tested and accurate March Madness sayings is “defense travels” and Calipari has epitomized this during not only his time at Kentucky but during his previous head coaching stops before taking the “blue blood” job.
How did John Calipari Find His Way to Kentucky?
Calipari also got close to a national championship on a few occasions prior to his stint at Kentucky. Calipari’s first gig at UMass saw him completely turn around the program from a 10-18 team in his first season. By his last season there, Calipari had turned UMass into a national power and made the first final four run of his career.
From Umass, Calipari would jump ship to Memphis where he would pull off a similar revitalization of the program. While Memphis was far from the state that UMass was in when he took over, Calipari turned them from a solid C-USA program to yet another national title contender. Calipari’s last season at Memphis coincidentally involved another final four run (his only during the Memphis tenure) and national championship birth featuring superstar freshman Derrick Rose.
After taking yet another mid-tier program deep into the tournament, Kentucky, who had been struggling (by their standards) under Billy Gillespie. Since arriving at Kentucky, Calipari has cemented himself as one of the greatest college coaches in the game and arguably one of the best coaches in the history of the game.
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