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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Thursday, April 2, 2009

Calipari has incentive to win

Associated Press

NCAA TOURNAMENT

College Men

All Times Hawai'i

FINAL FOUR

At Ford Field

Detroit

National Semifinals

Saturday, April 4

Michigan State (30-6) vs. Connecticut (31-4), 1:07 p.m.

Villanova (30-7) vs. North Carolina (32-4), 2:47 p.m.

National Championship

Monday, April 6

Semifinal winners

College Women

NCAA Tournament

FINAL FOUR

At Scottrade Center

St. Louis

National Semifinals

Sunday, April 5

Connecticut (37-0) vs. Stanford (33-4), 1 or 3:30 p.m.

Louisville (33-4) vs. Oklahoma (32-4), 1 or 3:30 p.m.

National Championship

Tuesday, April 7

Semifinal winners, 2:30 p.m.

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LEXINGTON, Ky. — The $31.65 million deal making John Calipari the highest-paid coach in college basketball is packed with perks beyond his annual salary, including membership to the country club of his choice, two cars and incentives for reaching the NCAA Sweet 16 and Final Four and winning a national title.

Calipari agreed to leave Memphis and Tuesday night signed the eight-year contract to join the nation's all-time winningest basketball program.

His base pay is listed at just $400,000 per year, but his guaranteed compensation actually is $3.7 million in his first season when marketing, broadcasting and endorsement payments are added.

The Wildcats paid Memphis $200,000 as part of Calipari's buyout of his Tigers' contract, which had paid him $2.35 million per year.

Including $3 million in retention bonuses he'll get for staying with Kentucky through March 31, 2016, Calipari is in line to receive an average of $4 million a year over the eight years.

The deal also gives Calipari:

  • Two "late model, quality automobiles," plus mileage.

  • Membership in a country club of his choice, including monthly dues and initiation fees.

  • 20 prime "lower-level" season tickets to UK home games.

  • Eight tickets for each UK home football game.

  • Hundreds of thousands of dollars in incentives for reaching certain milestones, such as a 75 percent graduation rate or better ($50,000), winning the Southeastern Conference ($50,000), winning the SEC tournament ($50,000), making the NCAA tournament round of 16 ($100,000), making the Final Four ($175,000), or winning the national title ($375,000).

    ELSEWHERE

    Oregon: Ernie Kent will stay on as men's basketball coach after a disappointing 8-23 season. Kent, an Oregon alum, has coached the Ducks for 12 seasons and has gone 219-157.

    Virginia: Tony Bennett said yesterday he intends to rebuild the men's basketball program at Virginia around two basic principles: passion and integrity.

    "I came here to build a great team, but more importantly, I came here to build a program that lasts, and the way you go about that is you have great integrity and you have great passion," the 39-year-old Bennett said at his well-attended introductory news conference.