University of Memphis Athletics
Calipari Named To UMass Athletic Hall of Fame Induction Class Of 2004
Aug 19, 2004 | Men's Basketball
Aug. 19, 2004
AMHERST, Mass. - University of Memphis men's basketball head coach John Calipari has been named as one of six inductees for the 2004 University of Massachusetts Athletic Hall of Fame class, UMass Director of Athletics John McCutcheon announced Thursday. Joining Calipari in the 2004 Hall of Fame class are All-Americans Bob Foote (football), Mark Millon (lacrosse) and Michael Quinn (cross country/track and field); two-sport star Marjorie Anderson (lacrosse, soccer); and head coach Dick MacPherson (football). This is the second Hall of Fame class to which Calipari has been named this year. In May, the Tigers' head coach was inducted into the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame in Chicago. Calipari, who has a 93-39 record in four seasons at Memphis, has served as a head basketball coach at both the collegiate and professional level for 15 years. As the Tigers' mentor, Calipari has guided Memphis to 20-win seasons and postseason appearances in each of his four years. Last season, Calipari directed the Tigers to a 22-8 overall record and a 12-4 Conference USA mark, claiming a share of the C-USA regular season title. The C-USA crown was the program's first regular-season championship since 1995-96. The 2003-04 Memphis squad also earned a second-straight NCAA Tournament bid and advanced to the second round, before falling to NCAA Final Four participant Oklahoma State. The NCAA Tournament first-round victory was the program's first since the 1995 NCAA postseason. The Tigers finished 2003-04 ranked No. 24 in final Associated Press Top 25 poll, marking the first time Memphis completed consecutive seasons ranked in the final poll since 1985 and 1986. Memphis finished 2002-03 ranked No. 19 in the final AP poll. In 2002-03, Calipari directed the Tigers back to the NCAA Tournament, the program's first appearance since 1996. Memphis also won the C-USA National Division title for the second-straight year in 2002-03. The Moon, Pa., native led his first U of M squad to the NIT Final Four in 2000-01 and laid claim to the NIT Championship the following season when the Tigers posted a 27-9 overall record. After 12 college seasons, Calipari has the sixth-most wins behind Roy Williams, Everett Case, Denny Crum, Jim Boeheim and Nolan Richardson in the history of collegiate basketball. In his first collegiate coaching stint at UMass, Calipari led the Minutemen program to an overall record of 193-71 in his eight seasons as head coach from 1988-1996. His .731 career winning percentage remains the best in school history, and he ranks second all-time at UMass in victories with 193. Calipari led the Minutemen to five-straight NCAA Tournament appearances from 1992-1996, after UMass had gone to the NCAA postseason only once in the first 81 years of the program. His Minutemen made the Atlantic 10 Conference's first and only Final Four appearance in the 1995-96 season, during which they went 35-2 overall and spent 10 weeks ranked No. 1 in the nation. Following the 1996 season, the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC), The Sporting News and Naismith/Atlanta Tipoff Club named Calipari the National Coach of the Year. UMass won five-straight Atlantic 10 Conference regular season and tournament titles under Calipari from 1992-1996, becoming only the second team in NCAA history to win its conference championships in both the regular and postseason for five-consecutive years. A three-time Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year selection in 1992, 1993 and 1996, Calipari coached a National Player of the Year (Marcus Camby, 1996); two first team All-Americans (Lou Roe, 1995; Camby, 1996); three Atlantic 10 Players of the Year (Harper Williams, 1992; Roe, 1995; Camby, 1996); and a total of 24 All-Atlantic 10 selections during his eight seasons at UMass. Following his time at UMass, Calipari served as head coach of the New Jersey Nets in the National Basketball Association from 1996-1999. 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 with the club's highest league finish at the time. Calipari's Nets also had a 17-game turnaround in 1997-1998, the best that season in the NBA. After spending one season as an assistant coach for the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers in 1999-2000, Calipari took over as the head coach at Memphis. In all, 43 nominations were received for consideration for the UMass Athletic Hall of Fame this year. The Class of 2004 will be honored on the UMass campus this winter. The Hall of Fame was resurrected in 1996 following a 15-year period of dormancy, and today boasts 73 members.
