This time last year, John Calipari had a 10-year, $80 million contract offer on the table from the Cleveland Cavaliers, but he stayed at Kentucky on a new seven-year deal worth $52.5 million and led the Wildcats to a 38-1 season.
After turning the NBA away once again, Calipari is starting the upcoming season with a virtually clean slate. Calipari will soon welcome his recruiting class to campus to join a small handful of players returning after seven declared for the NBA Draft.
Those seven players were also his top scorers and they helped the Wildcats go 38-0 before losing to Wisconsin in the Final Four. Kentucky is in a transitional phase, but it is not uncharted territory for Calipari.
"I'm excited about just how I'm learning more about them, seeing how good this team could be," Calipari told the Associated Press. "When we have the team that I think we'll have, it would be again like, 'What could we do? Where could we go?'
"Like last year, they started thinking this could be crazy. And at the end of the day, it was."
Despite reports that Calipari is yearning to get back to the NBA, the coach has reiterated how he is happy coaching in college, but he has mostly let his actions speak out. He recently told Despite reports that Calipari is yearning to get back to the NBA, the coach has reiterated how he is happy coaching in college, but he has mostly let his actions speak out.
He recently told Yahoo Sports' Dan Wetzel he has "no regrets" about turning down the Cavaliers' offer, which reportedly would have made him coach and team president.
"No, nope. Because what happened, and the reason I did what I did, was based on having guys come back who wanted to be coached," he said. "I didn't feel comfortable not being at Kentucky."
