"What I don't want on my tombstone is wins and championships" — John Calipari gets honest about his biggest desire before quitting 

John Calipari, a legendary basketball coach, who joined Arkansas ahead of the 2024 season after an illustrious 15-year tenure, turned 65 in February.

Some may believe that the basketball Hall of Famer, who guided Kentucky to the NCAA national championship in 2012, will retire soon.

Calipari discussed the possibility of retiring from coaching on "The Pat McAfee Show" last Wednesday. He said he still has much more to accomplish in impacting people's lives and their families.

"What I don't want on my tombstone is wins and championships. Just that he helped a lot of families," Calipari said.

"So I would tell you — I want to help like 30 more families and then I'll be done. If I do this right, all that other stuff that the fans want, that I want, all the winning and the (championships), that happens if we're helping a bunch of families," he added.

John Calipari is committed to making a difference in players' lives, and NBA draft night is the best place to do that. He finds inspiration by helping young people and their loved ones. For this reason, Coach Calipari attended the draft on Wednesday.

John Calipari's plan after his retirement

John Calipari, a three-time Naismith College Coach of the Year, talked about his perfect retirement plan on "The Pat McAfee Show." He said he has a few places in mind where he could settle down and enjoy his retirement.

"Yeah, well, yeah. I don't know how long that will be. But, you know, I've always tried to be ahead. I know I got a couple places so that, when I'm done, I don't have to, like, stay somewhere. I can go where I need to go," Calipari said.

Calipari began his coaching career in 1982, taking on the role of associate assistant at the University of Kansas. He then became the assistant at the University of Pittsburgh, before his first role as a basketball head coach in 1988 at UMass.

His first NBA job came in 1996 when the then-New Jersey Nets offered him the head coaching role. Calipari had another brief NBA tenure as assistant for the Philadelphia 76ers before returning to college basketball with the Memphis Tigers in 2000.

"I wasn’t ready to stop, but I was ready to — let me get this thing going. Fifteen unbelievable years, great friends, won a lot of games, did a lot of stuff. I'm just as excited about doing this now, and let’s see where this goes," Calipari said.

With the Wildcats, John Calipari won six SEC tournaments, six SEC regular-season titles and a national championship in 2012.