Calipari started playing basketball at a young age and spent two years at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington before moving to Clarion State. Calipari played basketball at both campuses and earned a marketing degree from Clarion State in 1982. After graduating, he returned to North Carolina-Wilmington for one season before moving on again, this time to Kentucky. He took over as head coach at his new school in 1986 after coaching at Clarion State for two seasons. He led Kentucky to its first National Championship in 1988, beating Michigan State in the final. The following year, they lost to Arkansas in the final game of the McDonald's College Basketball Tournament. In 1990, Calipari won his second national title with a victory over UNLV in the final game of the Jordan Classic. He left Kentucky after three seasons to take over at Memphis where he stayed for five years before moving on again, this time to UConn where he coached for ten years. In 2010, Calipari returned to Lexington as head coach of the Wildcats but was fired after just one season. He has been hired as head coach by the New York Knicks but will not start working with the team until later this year after agreeing to a four-year deal with an option for a fifth year. In 364 games over 12 seasons, Calipari is 228-136.