CLARION – John Calipari, a 1982 Clarion University graduate, coached the Memphis Tigers basketball in the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship game Monday night. Memphis had a 38-2 record and were one of four number one seeds in the NCAA tournament.
This was Calipari’s eighth season as head coach at Memphis. He was also head coach at the University of Massachussetts from 1988-96.
Calipari played for the Golden Eagles for two seasons. In the 1981 season he was a guard on Clarion’s 23-6 team that went to the NCAA East Regional Final before losing. In 1982 Clarion started 7-0 and was ranked 3rd in the country – before finishing 16-11. That season, Calipari had 143 assists as Clarion’s point guard and scored 144 points.
He was inducted into Clarion’s Sports Hall of Fame in 1995.