Calipari Campaign Cash Stands Out Among College Sports Figures

Arkansas head men’s basketball coach John Calipari and his wife have given more than $90,000 in political contributions this cycle, almost all of which the couple donated last year.

Calipari’s biggest beneficiary was the Democratic Grassroots Victory Fund, which received $50,000, while Pennsylvania’s Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro got $20,000 of Calipari cash.

The former Kentucky coach also spread some of his wealth to Republicans—at least those living in the commonwealth. In 2023, he gave the Kentucky state GOP $3,400, while lavishing Rep. Andy Barr with $10,000 for his U.S. Senate bid. Calipari’s wife, Ellen, also gave $3,300 to Barr’s Senate campaign and another $3,400 to the state party.

Since the start of this year, Calipari’s donating has mostly dried up, with records showing his lone 2024 contribution being a $1,000 check he wrote in May to Jamie Palumbo, a Democrat who lost the primary election for a Kentucky House District seat.

After leading UK men’s basketball for 15 seasons, the 65-year-old Calipari departed Lexington in April to take the top hoops job at SEC rival Arkansas, which pays him $7 million per year. Calipari did not respond to a request for comment sent through an Arkansas Razorbacks spokesperson. 

Calipari’s giving served as an outlier among major college sports figures, according to a Sportico review of state and federal campaign finance reports. Regardless of how much money they make, or how politically engaged they behave online, the cohort has largely avoided opening their wallets to candidates this cycle. This is in spite of the increasingly political dynamics of the intercollegiate athletics industry, which in recent years has been turned on its head by state-based NIL laws, and which has habitually lobbied Congress to come to its aid.

One notable example where this appeared to come into play was in April, when Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.)—who has been at the center of a bipartisan legislative effort at passing an NIL reform bill—received a number of contributions from college sports notables. They included NCAA president Charlie Baker ($2,500); Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark ($2,500); LEAD1 president Tom McMillen ($2,500); college sports consultant Oliver Luck ($2,500); MAC commissioner Jon Steinbrecher ($500); college basketball commentator Len Elmore ($1,000); college sports attorney Bob Boland ($500); Northwestern’s then-athletic director Derrick Gragg ($500); and Maryland AD Damon Evans ($250).

On April 17, McMillen hosted a Booker fundraiser at his Capitol Hill home, which Baker and Luck attended in person, and Yormark joined virtually.

In a phone interview, McMillen, a former Maryland basketball star and congressman, said his support for Booker owes as much to their common interest in animal welfare as it does with college sports. A source close to Yormark noted that he and Booker have been friends for decades, dating back to when the politician was mayor of Newark, N.J., and Yormark was serving as CEO of Brooklyn Sports Entertainment, the parent company of the NBA’s Nets.

McMillen, who last month retired from LEAD1 (since renamed as the FBS Athletics Directors Association), also gave $500 to Rep. Lori Trahan (D-Mass.), who has similarly been central to the college sports reform debate on the Hill.

“There are industries that are very political, that know their members of Congress, support them, worship both sides of the aisle, where that is all part of the game,” McMillen said. “In college sports it is really kind of hit or miss. A lot of universities that are reluctant to get in the middle [of politics], and a lot of coaches and administrators are also not geared in that way.”

In 2010, Calipari canceled a political fundraiser he had planned to host at his home for Kentucky’s then-Gov. Steve Beshear, a Democrat, after suffering a backlash from some Wildcats fans. In a statement he later posted on Facebook, Calipari said: “I know how politically charged this state is and I recognize that the Big Blue Nation comes from both sides of the aisle. I appreciate every elected official who supports the University of Kentucky, regardless of party.”

Beshear’s son Andy, Kentucky’s current governor, received a $1,500 donation last October from Mark Stoops, UK’s football coach. Beshear was elected; Kelly Craft, the wife of billionaire Wildcats mega-booster Joe Craft, finished third in the GOP primary.

Aside from Calipari, Sportico could find only two other major college coaches or athletic administrators who donated at least four-figure sums to federal candidates this cycle:

This story will be updated if we discover any other noteworthy contributions.