After writing quite possibly the best reclamation story in collegiate basketball in his eight-year run at UMass from 1989-96, Calipari moved on to the NBA coaching ranks to take over the New Jersey Nets. In only his second season in 1997-98, he guided the Nets to the best turnaround from the previous year in the league and the NBA playoffs.

Calipari's fortunes, however, turned the other way in his third season with the Nets. After 20 games into that campaign, New Jersey parted ways with Calipari. Or, in Calipari's own words, he got fired. A year later, Calipari received an assist from mentor and then Philadelphia 76er head coach Larry Brown to join his staff. Calipari got the helping hand he needed, and he used that lift to get his career back on track. After that one year in Philadelphia, the track led Calipari to the Bluff City to a basketball program at the University of Memphis.

Prior to moving to the NBA, Calipari built a basketball program from the ground up at the University of Massachusetts (1988-96), which had one of the worst NCAA Division I basketball records in the 1980s prior to his arrival.

Calipari led the Minuteman program to numerous wins, conference titles and NCAA Tournament appearances. His passion to build a program helped accelerate the construction of the Mullins Center, UMass' basketball and hockey facility. Calipari's desire also reached out to eastern Massachusetts and Boston and brought fans back to Amherst, located in the picturesque Berkshire Mountains, to watch a national powerhouse basketball team.

During an eight-year stint at UMass, he took the Minutemen to five-straight NCAA Tournaments (1992-96), advancing to the Final Four in his last season. UMass advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16 on three occasions and two Elite Eights. The school became just the second NCAA Division I program to win five-straight regular season and conference tournament championships.

Calipari compiled a 193-71 record (.731) during his career at Massachusetts, including a 108-44 mark (.684) in Atlantic 10 play.

In addition to five-straight NCAA Tournaments, UMass also made two appearances in the NIT, advancing to the NIT final four in 1991. The 1990-91 season was the first of six-straight seasons in which the Minutemen won at least 20 games.

Calipari's personal 20-win streak has reached the 14-season mark as all eight of his Memphis clubs have won 20-plus games.

In his final season at UMass, Calipari was named the 1996 Naismith National Coach of the Year and The Sporting News National Coach of the Year. He was also named the Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year for the third time in four years, as well as Basketball Times East Region Coach of the Year.

During the Minutemen's 35-2 season in 1995-96, UMass posted wins over Maryland, Wake Forest, Georgia Tech, Syracuse, Virginia Tech and Louisville. UMass ended the regular season ranked No. 1 in the nation in the final regular season poll after being the top-ranked team for nine weeks earlier in the year. The Minutemen also won their first 26 games of the season, setting a school record for most consecutive wins.

In addition to his National Coach of the Year honors in 1996, Calipari was a Naismith Coach of the Year finalist in 1994 and 1995. He was the USBWA District I Coach of the Year in 1993.

Calipari's accomplishments are made even more impressive when you consider what he started with at UMass. Prior to his arrival, UMass had suffered through 10-straight losing seasons.

At 29, when he was named head coach, Calipari began to build a program from the ground up, going 10-18 his first season before posting a 17-14 record his second year and receiving a bid to the NIT. UMass made a late season run in 1991, advancing to the NIT's final four.

The Minutemen won their first A-10 championship in 1992 with a 30-5 record, including a 13-3 mark in league play. With a 77-71 overtime win over Syracuse in an East Regional second-round game, UMass made its first Sweet 16 appearance.

Off the court, UMass' graduation rate for its basketball players was close to 80 percent.

Calipari left UMass in June of 1996 to become Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations and Head Coach of the New Jersey Nets. He led the Nets to a second-place finish in the NBA's Atlantic Division and the playoffs in 1998, ending a five-year postseason drought for the franchise. The Nets' 17-game turnaround from the previous year was the best that season in the NBA.

He joined the Philadelphia 76ers coaching staff in 1999, rejoining Philadelphia coach Larry Brown, who Calipari was an assistant for at Kansas.

Calipari began his coaching career at Kansas as a volunteer assistant under Ted Owens. In 1983, he was hired as the recruiting coordinator at the University of Vermont, but was swayed back to the nation's heartland when Brown was hired as head coach at KU. He spent three seasons at Kansas (1982-85) before another three-year stint as an assistant coach to Paul Evans at Pittsburgh (1985-88).

The 49-year-old lettered two years at North Carolina-Wilmington before transferring to Clarion State. He played point guard at Clarion during the 1981 and 1982 seasons, leading the team in assists and free throw percentage. The Eagles were ranked in the Division II Top 20 both years and participated in the 1981 NCAA Division II Tournament.

Calipari and his wife, Ellen, have two daughters, Erin Sue and Megan Rae, and a son, Bradley Vincent. Erin is in her fourth year of college at UMass, while Megan began her first year of college at Memphis this fall.

Credit: University of Memphis Athletics (http://gotigersgo.cstv.com/)