John Calipari: Latest News, Rumors and Speculation on Kentucky Coach's Future

A day after firing head coach Lionel Hollins and reassigning general manager Billy King, the Brooklyn Nets have apparently zeroed in on the man they want to hold both positions: Kentucky head coach John Calipari.Continue for updates.Nets CEO Making Calipari PushMonday, Jan. 11Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports reported Nets CEOBrett Yormark is pushing hard behind the scenes for Calipari to take over Brooklyn's bench in an overarching role. Calipari would be given control over the roster and a massive salary that would make him the highest-paid coach in basketball.As it stands, Calipari has set a reported asking price of $120 million over the next 10 years to even consider leaving Kentucky. That price comes from a combination of the 10-year base the Cleveland Cavaliers offered in 2014 and Phil Jackson's $12 million annual salary to run the Knicks. Calipari currently makes between $8 and $9 million per season at Kentucky and enjoys almost complete job securitya rarity in today's basketball landscape.The 56-year-old previously coached the Nets for parts of three seasons in the '90s. He went 72-112 overall and was fired following a 3-17 start to the 1998-99 campaign. That experience would eventually lead him back to the college game at Memphis, where he rebuilt his reputation as a grand architect who took full advantage of the one-and-done culture.Calipari's continued that trend in his six-plus seasons at Kentucky, making four Final Fours and winning a national championship despite near-constant roster turnover. His program has produced 13 lottery picks in the last six drafts, including Anthony Davis, DeMarcus Cousins, John Wall and Karl-Anthony Towns. Wojnarowski's article points to Cousins and Wall as players who could be interested in reuniting with Calipari in free agency if he leaves for Brooklyn.Still, reporter T.J. Beisner doesn't think Coach Cal's collegiate success makes him worth his heavy price:As it stands, there's no way we have a definitive answer about this situation until the summer. Calipari isn't leaving Kentucky in the middle of the season. The Nets still need to run an exhaustive search and decide whether handing Calipari the keys and backing away is in their best interest.Either way, these rumors aren't stopping.Calipari has accomplished everything possible as a collegiate coach, and his NBA days were a failure. With teams willing to give him full organizational power, it's likely one of these pro offers will someday be too good to pass up.Given the Nets' nonexistent young talent, dearth of draft picks and spiraling on-court product, it may wind up taking more than $120 million to make the headache worth it.Follow Tyler Conway (@jtylerconway) on Twitter
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