From Newsday:
… I’m not … sure the word obscene is a gross enough word to describe what the University of Kentucky, a taxpayer-funded institution, is offering John Calipari to become its basketball coach. According to several reports, Calipari is mulling over an 8-year, $35 million offer. That contract would make him the highest paid coach in the history of the game, surpassing Florida’s Billy Donovan, who makes $3.5 million a year.
…The state of Kentucky is in so much fiscal trouble that Gov. Steve Beshear declared in December that he planned to take a 10 percent salary cut, dropping his annual pay down to $111,945.
Calipari will make more than that much per game with an annual salary of $4.3 million. What’s more, the University’s board of trustees just approved a five percent tuition hike for undergraduates. I guess they’re going to have to get the money from somewhere, and it’s clear that this is a school and a state with priorities.
Now, I know I am going to get inundated with comments and e-mail talking about just how much money the basketball program brings into the school. My question is this: Just how much of that money goes to the English department, or engineering department or education department? …
March 31st, 2009 at 7:13PM
If this appointment goes through, then UK is my preseason pick for the Fulmer Cup 2010!
March 31st, 2009 at 9:10PM
You can find a better coach, but you can’t pay more money….
April 1st, 2009 at 7:24AM
Sorry, Polish Peter–we can’t cover that bet–it is like shooting fish in a rainbarrel. Even Ladbroke’s would fear to give odds against so certain a winner. The good folks of Kentucky must be desperate if they want to bring in Calipari.
April 1st, 2009 at 12:53PM
We can only imagine the reaction of the always-amusing John Cheyney when he heard the money that Calipari is getting (for context, see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51-4sJTf7iQ).