John Calipari Comments on NBA Rumors, Future at Kentucky and More

Kentucky head coach John Calipari revealed to Myron Medcalf of ESPN.com that he plans to remain at the school for at least as long as his son is enrolled. 

"My son's now here, so my son's walking on; I'm not gonna leave," he said. "I would say four to five years is a lock, and then after that, [shoot], I may be hanging it up. At that point, I'd be 60, 61. I never thought I would coach past the age of 60 because I'm not...basketball isn't my life."

Calipari, 57, has established quite a legacy for himself at Kentucky. He's gone 217-47 while at the school, winning the national championship in the 2011-12 season and reaching the Final Four with the Wildcats three other times. He's also recruited seven consensus All-Americans (Willie Cauley-Stein, DeMarcus Cousins, Anthony Davis, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Karl-Anthony Towns, Tyler Ulis and John Wall) to the school.

Calipari's calling card is his ability to recruit top talents to Kentucky. As Jon Hale of the Courier-Journal noted: "Since Calipari was hired in 2009, Kentucky has signed a consensus top-two recruiting class in the country each year."

That was no different in his first two college stints, at UMass and Memphis, where he built teams that reached the Final Four. He also coached the New Jersey Nets from 1996-99, going 72-112 before being fired 20 games into the 1998-99 season.

Given his success with top-tier NBA draft picks at Kentucky in recent years, the Association always seems to be calling him back. Calipari has long been rumored to ditch Kentucky for a second go at the NBA, but he again dismissed that notion to Medcalf.

"It would be believable if I didn't have this job," he said of going to the NBA. "There are coaches who come through here from the NBA. They say he'd be crazy to come into this league. He's got everything he needs right there. Why would he? It wouldn't be about finances."

You can follow Timothy Rapp on Twitter.