The Kentucky Wildcats fell early in the NCAA Tournament once again this year, losing their first-round matchup on Thursday to the Oakland Golden Grizzlies. This continues what has been a troubling trend for the program in recent years under longtime head coach John Calipari, which has led to a ton of angry Kentucky fans calling for his firing.
Calipari has consistently been praised as a top recruiter in the country for Kentucky. But unfortunately, his ability to bring in high-end talent hasn’t correlated to all that much postseason success recently.
In the last five seasons, Calipari and the Wildcats have been able to get out of the first round of the NCAA Tournament just once. The last time they reached the Sweet 16 came all the way back in 2019.
That simply isn’t good enough for a blueblood program like Kentucky. But unfortunately, it will be incredibly hard for Kentucky to move off Calipari should they even want to look elsewhere for a head coach.
According to Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports, Calipari’s current buyout at Kentucky is $33,375,000. This means that if Kentucky wanted to part ways with Calipari, they would need to pay him just short of $34 million to do so.
REMINDER: John Calipari's current buyout at Kentucky is $33,375,000.
He's going to be Kentucky's head coach unless someone paid him just south of $34 MILLION DOLLARS. https://t.co/dracynRhe1
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) March 22, 2024
That obviously limits what Kentucky can really do to improve its current situation. But regardless, Kentucky fans are still seemingly hopeful that they do indeed part ways with the former National Championship-winning coach.
Attention all fans of Kentucky:
If we all pitch in a couple bucks we can buy out Cal and find us someone who wants to win again https://t.co/MpPvWgw7eq
— Tyler (@tylerknauer) March 22, 2024
When the right people want you fired, money is never an obstacle. See Fisher, Jimbo. https://t.co/KRUomzhrn6
— Brian Hadad (@brianhadad) March 22, 2024
It is my life mission to be paid even a $1M to not work. Hell $100K and I’m chilling. Let alone $34M. That’s the life. https://t.co/YkKzWeoeQq
— Michael DeRosa (@MDtheDream) March 22, 2024
they can’t fire him oh my god. kentucky is cooked https://t.co/gG6D9q2iJR
— Shaq Dej (@shaqdej) March 22, 2024
Calipari’s buyout is $10 million more than the budget of the entire Oakland University athletics department https://t.co/mGjF7OfqYW
— Lawson Mansell (@lawsonhmansell) March 22, 2024
Unless they bite the bullet on Calipari’s buyout, Kentucky appears to be stuck with him for the time being. And unfortunately, that could mean some more early exits in the Big Dance for years to come.
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.