Kentucky gave coach John Calipari a seven-year, $52.5 million contract extension that will pay a base package of $6.5 million next season and $8 million over each of the final three seasons.
Already one of college basketball’s highest-paid coaches, Calipari led the Wildcats to the 2012 NCAA championship and is coming off his third Final Four appearance in five years with Kentucky, a 60-54 title-game loss to Connecticut in April.
He has often been rumored as a potential candidate for NBA coaching openings, most recently this spring with the Los Angeles Lakers.