Kentucky coach John Calipari turned down a seven-year, $60 million offer to become coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers, according to Yahoo! Sports.com.
Calipari and the Wildcats recently announced terms of a seven-year, $52 million extension that will keep him in Lexington for the foreseeable future, but not before Calipari "had gone deep in discussions with the Cavs and owner Dan Gilbert.
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Yahoo added if the veteran coach had accepted the Cavs offer, the plan was for him to work hand-and-hand with GM David Griffin to rebuild the organization. The deal would have made Calipari one of the league's highest paid executive.
Intrigued by the idea of coaching Kyrie Irving and controlling the top-pick in this year's draft, Calipari thought long and hard about joining the Cavs, but the Yahoo adds the idea of working with the volatile Gilbert may have served as a detriment to the idea of it all.
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With Calipari now out of the picture, the Cavs have turned to a candidate pool of veteran NBA coaches that include Alvin Gentry, Lionel Hollins, Vinny Del Negro and Tyronn Lue. Top collegiate coaches Tom Izzo and Billy Donovan have also been rumored as candidates.
After advancing to the NCAA title game last season, the Wildcats boasts what's widely considered college hoop's strongest roster entering this season, despite freshmen stars Julius
Calipari previously served as coach and president of the New Jersey Nets for three seasons beginning in 1996.
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