The Cleveland Cavaliers did not merely offer John Calipari a beefed-up contract to try and lure him away from Kentucky; they offered him near-full control of the team.

Unnamed sources told Yahoo Sports Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert offered Calipari a seven-year deal worth more than $60 million to be the head coach and president. The sources said Gilbert was "persistent" in contacting Calipari and wanted to offer the coach full control of basketball operations.

The terms of the contract would not have led to Gilbert firing current Cavaliers general manager David Griffin, but Calipari would have final say in any decision. The sources said Calipari seriously considered taking Gilbert's offer since he would be able to coach a team with young talent, led by All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving, and who possessed the first overall pick in the draft.

Though news broke Friday that Calipari had accepted an extension from Kentucky, the sources said he rejected Gilbert's offer in favor of the new contract mid-week. Calipari recently joined Kansas coach Bill Self to talk with ESPN's Andy Katz about the prospect of coaching in the NBA.

Both coaches said they would have a hard time leaving their current positions, in which they both recruit some of the best classes of high school talent every year. Both Self and Calipari also denied fielding offers, or even talking to NBA teams about coaching vacancies.

As a sign that Kentucky knew Calipari would be a hot commodity for NBA teams looking for a coach, they did not give him a buyout in his new seven-year $52.5 million deal, sources told NBA.com insider Adam Zagoria. This means the only way for Calipari to collect the entire amount is to see it through to the end.

The sources also said Calipari became far more likely to stay at Kentucky once Aaron and Andrew Harrison decided to stay. Even though James Young and Julius Randle declared for the draft, it was the Harrison twins that likely swayed Calipari to accept the extension.

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