From UMass to Memphis to Kentucky, the Calipari coaching tree has yet to produce a star

The latest installment of the Kentucky-Louisville basketball rivalry series was to bring a familiar face back to Rupp Arena for the first time as an opposing coach.

Kenny Payne, who was to return to Lexington on Saturday afternoon — this time, in charge of the Louisville Cardinals — also represents the latest former assistant under John Calipari to become a head coach in the college basketball ranks.

Payne is in his first season with U of L, but — before he got that job — he spent a decade with Calipari as an assistant coach for the Wildcats, helping the program advance to four Final Fours and win the 2012 national championship during his tenure.

This is Calipari’s 31st season as a college head coach — eight at UMass, nine at Memphis, and going on 14 at Kentucky — and only one assistant in that span has worked with Calipari longer than Payne, who came to the Cats in 2010 and left UK in 2020 to join the New York Knicks’ staff.

A look through the history of Calipari’s assistants shows that he’s had several long-serving coaches on staff, often bringing trusted colleagues back for a second stint. Until current assistant coaches Chin Coleman and KT Turner joined the UK staff, Calipari had had only 16 different assistants over his entire career. And every one of his 14 coaching staffs at Kentucky has featured at least one assistant that was with him at either UMass or Memphis.

Like Payne, several of those Calipari assistants have gone on to become head coaches themselves, but the Calipari coaching tree has not yet produced a ton of success from there. None of his former assistants have made it beyond the first week of the NCAA Tournament as a head coach, and very few have been hired to lead power-conference programs.

Here’s a look at the top five Calipari assistants — in terms of total NCAA victories as a head coach — and a few other notables who have worked with the leader of the Kentucky program.

Bruiser Flint

Head coach: UMass (1996-2001), Drexel (2001-16)

James “Bruiser” Flint spent two seasons as an assistant coach at Coppin State before Calipari hired him to join his second UMass staff in 1989. Flint spent the next seven years as an assistant there until Calipari — after leading the Minutemen to the 1996 Final Four, where they were defeated by Kentucky — was hired as head coach of the NBA’s New Jersey Nets.

Flint, just 30 years old at the time, was chosen as Calipari’s successor at UMass.

“I’m going to be Bruiser Flint. I’m not going to try to be John Calipari,” Flint said then of the expectations that came with the job. “I want to win a national championship. I don’t want to get just as far as John Calipari did.”

UMass made the NCAA Tournament in each of Flint’s first two seasons in charge, but the Minutemen didn’t advance in either year. He ultimately resigned after five seasons as UMass head coach, compiling an 86-72 record. (He was replaced by Steve Lappas, who didn’t get to the NCAA Tournament in four years as head coach).

Following his UMass departure, Flint was immediately hired as head coach of Drexel University in his hometown of Philadelphia. He coached 15 years at that school but never returned to the NCAA Tournament, compiling a 245-217 overall record.

Calipari spoke fondly of Flint, 57, throughout the latter’s two-decade head coaching career. After spending three seasons as an assistant coach at Indiana after his Drexel exit, Calipari hired his former longtime assistant in 2020, replacing Kenny Payne on Kentucky’s staff.

Josh Pastner

Head coach: Memphis (2009-16), Georgia Tech (2016-present)

You can’t really call Josh Pastner a Calipari disciple — he played for legendary Arizona coach Lute Olson, then joined Olson’s staff for a total of six seasons at his alma mater — but Pastner holds a prominent place among former Calipari assistants. His 261 total victories as a head coach entering this season are second only to Flint. No former Calipari assistant has advanced further than him in the NCAA Tournament (round of 32). And Pastner was ultimately the person Memphis hired to succeed Calipari when he departed for the Kentucky Wildcats.

Pastner spent just one season under Calipari at Memphis (the 2008-09 campaign) before the latter left town for Lexington. The Tigers then chose the 31-year-old to lead their program. Pastner went 167-73 in seven seasons at Memphis — with four NCAA Tournament appearances and two trips to the round of 32 — but he couldn’t match the success Calipari had there, ultimately leaving for Georgia Tech. (Memphis hired former UK coach Tubby Smith to replace Pastner).

Now 45 years old and in his seventh season as the Yellow Jackets head coach, Pastner had a 94-96 record entering this season and has been to just one NCAA Tournament with the program.

Derek Kellogg

Head coach: UMass (2008-17), LIU (2017-22)

Derek Kellogg played point guard at UMass under Calipari from 1991-95 and spent three years as an assistant — two under Jim Larranaga at George Mason, one under John Robic at Youngstown State — before Calipari hired his former player to be part of his first coaching staff at Memphis in 2000.

Kellogg coached alongside Calipari for eight seasons before returning to his alma mater, replacing former UK point guard Travis Ford as the UMass head coach in 2008. He compiled a 155-137 record over nine years there, with a first-round loss in the 2014 NCAA Tournament marking the Minutemen’s only trip to the Big Dance in that span. (That also stands as the most recent NCAA tourney appearance by a UMass team).

After leaving UMass, he was hired as head coach at LIU Brooklyn (later known simply as LIU) and made the 2018 NCAA Tournament in his first season there, losing in a First Four game. Kellogg was 74-74 in five seasons at LIU before the school let him go this past summer in order to install Rod Strickland — another former Calipari assistant — as its head coach. Earlier that offseason, Kellogg hired John Calipari’s son, Brad Calipari, to be part of the LIU staff. The younger Calipari remains on Strickland’s staff this season as the team’s director of player development. Kellogg, 49, is now an assistant coach at UMass.

Tony Barbee

Head coach: UTEP (2006-10), Auburn (2010-14), Central Michigan (2021-present)

Tony Barbee played on some of Calipari’s first UMass teams, and — after a brief pro career overseas — returned to Amherst as a graduate assistant under Calipari for the program’s Final Four year. He was eventually promoted to assistant coach under Flint and later joined Calipari’s first staff at Memphis, spending six seasons there before getting his first head coaching job at UTEP.

Barbee went 82-52 in four seasons with the Miners, compiling a 15-1 league record and making the NCAA Tournament in year four. Auburn hired him as head coach after that season, but he went just 49-75 (18-50 in the Southeastern Conference) in four seasons with the Tigers. Barbee was replaced by Bruce Pearl, and Calipari hired him for a non-assistant role at UK, spending one season in that spot before returning to the bench for Kentucky the following year.

Barbee left UK after the disastrous 2020-21 season to become head coach at Central Michigan, which went 7-23 in his first season. The Chippewas started this season 4-8 before stunning the Michigan Wolverines with a 63-61 victory in Ann Arbor on Thursday night.

Barbee, 51, spent 10 seasons as a full assistant coach under Calipari, tying him with Payne.

Bill Bayno

Head coach: UNLV (1995-2000), Loyola Marymount (2008)

A graduate assistant under P.J. Carlesimo at Seton Hall and Larry Brown at Kansas for one season each, Bill Bayno spent one year as an assistant coach at what is now Charleston Southern before joining Calipari’s first staff at UMass in 1988.

Bayno was with Calipari for seven seasons before landing the UNLV head coaching job in 1995, and he had a 94-60 record in five-plus seasons there, making two NCAA Tournament appearances but advancing neither time. After his departure from UNLV, he coached a few lower-level professional teams, then spent three seasons as an assistant with the Portland Trail Blazers before getting the Loyola Marymount head coaching job. He resigned that post after just three games due to health concerns.

Bayno, 60, has been an assistant coach in the NBA for the past 13 seasons and most recently joined former Kentucky player/assistant coach Dwane Casey’s staff with the Detroit Pistons last year. He underwent surgery for prostate cancer in October.

As a head coach, Bayno has the fifth-most victories among former Calipari assistants.

Other notable Calipari assistants

John Robic: A full assistant coach under Calipari for a total of 19 seasons, Robic was on the first staff at UMass after serving as a graduate assistant at Kansas. He’s been Calipari’s longest-serving assistant by a wide margin, joining the head coach at all three of his college stops and being on staff for all six of Calipari’s trips to the Final Four. Robic moved to a non-coaching role at UK in 2016 and parted ways with the program in 2021. He was 58-113 in six seasons at Youngstown State (1999-2005), his only head coaching job.

Orlando Antigua: A former McDonald’s All-American and Harlem Globetrotters player, Antigua was an assistant at Pittsburgh, his alma mater, for two years before joining Calipari’s staff for the head coach’s final Memphis season. He came with Calipari to UK and quickly established himself as one of the nation’s top recruiters, helping lead the Cats to three Final Four appearances in five seasons before landing the top job at South Florida in 2014. Antigua went just 23-55 and was dismissed midway through his third season with that program. After a stint as an assistant coach at Illinois, he rejoined Calipari in Lexington in 2021 and — at just 49 years old — is a candidate to get a second chance as a head coach at some point in the future.

Rod Strickland: The former NBA point guard joined Calipari’s staff at Memphis in an administrative role following his playing days, ultimately being elevated to a full assistant on Calipari’s first staff at Kentucky (alongside Antigua and Robic). Strickland spent just one season in that role before he was moved to an off-the-court position and replaced by Kenny Payne in 2010. Antigua hired him as an assistant coach at South Florida, and he later served as the lead recruiter in the NBA G League’s Ignite program, which lured some high-profile Kentucky targets to the pro ranks (making him a bit of a thorn in Calipari’s side). LIU hired Strickland for his first head coaching job over the summer, and his team took a 2-11 record into Saturday’s game.

Preston Spradlin: Though he was never a full assistant coach on a Calipari staff, Spradlin was a grad assistant for his first two seasons at Kentucky and then spent three years as Calipari’s assistant director of basketball operations before former UK point guard Sean Woods hired him at Morehead State. Following Woods’ midseason resignation during the 2016-17 campaign, Morehead State made Spradlin the interim head coach, later hiring him permanently. Spradlin had a 92-88 record in five-plus years as head coach entering this season, including a 46-19 mark with one trip to the NCAA Tournament over the past two years.

Calipari’s other assistants: Dave Glover (UMass), Ed Schilling (UMass, Memphis), Steve Roccaforte (Memphis), Chuck Martin (Memphis), Barry “Slice” Rohrssen (Kentucky), Joel Justus (Kentucky), Jai Lucas (Kentucky), Chin Coleman (Kentucky), KT Turner (Kentucky).

This story was originally published December 31, 2022 at 7:00 AM.

Ben Roberts

Lexington Herald-Leader

859-429-2848

Ben Roberts is the University of Kentucky men’s basketball beat writer for the Lexington Herald-Leader. He has previously specialized in UK basketball recruiting coverage and created and maintained the Next Cats blog. He is a Franklin County native and first joined the Herald-Leader in 2006. Support my work with a digital subscription