May 6, 2008

LOS ANGELES, Calif. - University of Memphis head coach John Calipari will serve as a guest host on Fox Sports Net's "Best Damn Sports Show Period" (BDSSP) on Wednesday, May 7. Check local television listings for broadcast times in your viewing area.

Calipari is scheduled to guest host along with Gary Payton and David Wells.

The 2008 Naismith National Coach of the Year has been a regular on BDSSP the last three years, and appeared as a guest on the show recently during the Tigers' run to the NCAA championship game.

Calipari took the Memphis hoops program to heights not seen in the Bluff City in quite some time, while also hitting some personal milestones in 2007-08. The Moon, Pa., native guided the Tigers to the NCAA Final Four, the program's first since 1985, and the NCAA title game, the school's first championship game appearance since 1973.

Memphis, under Calipari's guidance in 2007-08, won an NCAA Division I record 38 games (38-2 record) in advancing to the NCAA title contest. The Tigers, which began 2007-08 with a school-record 26-straight wins, moved into the No. 1 spot in the national polls in January and remained there for a school-record five-consecutive weeks.

The 2007-08 Tigers also completed quite possibly one of the best three-year runs in NCAA Division I history. Memphis posted a 104-10 record since 2005-06 - all under Calipari - and the 104 victories are tied for the most in a three-year period in NCAA Division I history. The 104 wins also make Calipari the winningest coach in a three-year span in NCAA Division I history.

On Mar. 8, the Tigers defeated UAB to win their 30th game of 2007-08, and the victory placed Memphis and Calipari in elite company. The Tigers, 30-1 at that time, became the second program in NCAA Division I history to win 30 or more games three-straight seasons (Kentucky was the other program/1947-49, 1996-98). For Calipari, he became the second coach in NCAA Division I history to post three-consecutive 30-win seasons, joining Kentucky's Adolph Rupp who did it from 1947-49.

In late February, Calipari won his 400th game as a collegiate head coach, and his overall record stands at 412-136. He is only the second head coach in the history of NCAA Division I basketball to reach the 400-win plateau in his first 16 seasons as a collegiate head coach. Roy Williams is the other coach to do so.

The Naismith National Coach of the Year award was Calipari's second of his career, as he also received the same honor for the 1995-96 campaign while directing the UMass Minutemen to the 1996 NCAA Final Four. Calipari is only the second coach to win the Naismith Award twice since the honor's inception in 1987. Duke's Mike Krzyzewski is the other coach to do so, taking home the award three times.