Calipari is leaving Memphis, where he rebuilt a struggling program into a national power, for one of the highest profile jobs in college men's basketball.
He has been named coach at Kentucky to replace Billy Gillispie, who was fired last week after two seasons. The school confirmed the hire Tuesday night in a news release.
Memphis also will lose freshman point guard Tyreke Evans, who will enter the NBA draft, Evans' brother, Julius, said Tuesday. The brother said Evans still needs to file paperwork with the league. Evans' decision is no surprise given he's projected to be a first-round pick.
But times could get tougher for Memphis as highly regarded recruits waver.
For Calipari, 50, Kentucky could be the last stop in an illustrious career that includes two Final Fours. His only forgettable stint was a job with the NBA's New Jersey Nets. In an interview last month, the coach said he will likely retire by the time he's 60.
He is considered one of the game's top recruiters despite the disparity in the name brand between Memphis and tradition-rich schools such as Kansas, North Carolina and Duke.
Now he can offer as much basketball prestige as anyone.
"It's the marriage of one of the most powerful programs in basketball history with a head coach who is on top of his game as a recruiter right now," Dave Telep, national recruiting director for Scout.com, said Tuesday. "For Kentucky, it's the perfect storm. He's going to be a load for the rest of the guys to deal with."
There also will be enormous pressure on Calipari. He will be expected to deliver Kentucky's eighth national title.
Coach Tubby Smith, who led the Wildcats to the 1998 NCAA title, fell out of favor with Kentucky fans during a title drought and left for Minnesota two years ago.
Under Gillispie, Kentucky failed to get an NCAA tournament berth this season for the first time since 1991. His hot/cold personality was considered a bad fit.
Calipari won over Memphis fans with success and charm. He knows how to rally the troops, and Kentucky administrators can count on that in Lexington.
But the scale of the test awaiting Calipari cannot be understated. This will be a proving ground for him. It has been said he is most comfortable being a big fish in a small pond of mid-major schools.
He spent his first eight seasons as head coach at Massachusetts, and he built that program into a national contender. In 1996, he led that school to the Final Four, though that appearance later was vacated by the NCAA because then-star Marcus Camby committed rules violations.
He left Massachusetts for the bright lights of the NBA in 1996, going 72-112 with the New Jersey Nets. He was fired midway through his third season.
Then he returned to doing what he mastered at UMass, taking a struggling mid-major Memphis program and guiding it to national prominence.
Last year Memphis reached the NCAA title game but lost in overtime against Kansas. That Memphis team featured star freshman Derrick Rose, who last summer was the NBA's No. 1 draft pick, taken by the Bulls.
This year the Tigers reached the Sweet 16 and lost to Missouri. They finished 33-4 and went unbeaten in Conference USA for the third year in a row.
Calipari has ambitious goals. He said last month he wants to coach a perfect season.
"I want to coach a team that wins all its games," he said. "I want to be part of that experience. That is what I live for. They say you can't do it but I've been told those things my whole life. The players I coach, they've been told those kinds of things, too."
Therein lies part of Calipari's incentive to succeed. He views himself as the underdog and has coached teams that are similarly portrayed.
Lately, Calipari has had too much success recruiting to portray his players as underdogs. Last month he secured a commitment for Memphis from DeMarcus Cousins, a top-five recruit from Mobile, Ala. Cousins, though, said Tuesday at the McDonald's All-American game his recruiting would be wide open should Calipari leave.
"This is why it's good to wait before you sign," he said.
Another top-five player, Xavier Henry of Oklahoma City, signed a national letter-of-intent in the fall along with highly regarded recruit Nolan Dennis of Richland, Texas. Dennis' mom told USA TODAY early in the week she didn't think her son would attend Memphis if Calipari left. She said she has a letter from Memphis that releases her son from his letter of intent if Calipari leaves.
Henry also told USA TODAY he had a similar agreement. School spokesman Lamar Chance said Monday he could not confirm the agreements.
