“So proud of what he is becoming”: John Calipari pens heartwarming birthday wish for son Brad Calipari via X
John Calipari and his son, Brad, have enjoyed a special journey in their college basketball careers. In the last eight years, Brad has been a part of his father's journey, both as a player and coach and the 65-year-old showed his immense love and appreciation for his only son with a kind message to celebrate his birthday.
John Calipari, the new head coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks, took to X (formerly Twitter) to share a heartwarming birthday wish for his son. He showed appreciation for his work as a player and an assistant coach, which left him beaming with pride.
"My son Brad turns 28 today. So proud of what he is becoming. It’s been a blessing to coach him for 3 years and now coach with him at Arkansas. Happy birthday @bradcalipari. Love you," Calipari wrote.
The father-son duo first interlinked their college basketball journeys in 2016, when Brad committed to Kentucky, where his father was the program's head coach.
Under John's guidance, Brad made two Elite Eight appearances and an appearance in the Sweet Sixteen of March Madness while also completing the double of the SEC regular season title and the SEC Tournament in 2017.
After spending the last two seasons of his playing career at Detroit Mercy, Brad joined his father's staff at Kentucky as a graduate assistant. He then gained experience at LIU and Vanderbilt as the Director of Player Development.
He followed his father to Arkansas this season, joining his staff as an assistant coach and the director of on-court player development.
John Calipari and Arkansas sit at 1-1 this season
Along with his son and the rest of his staff, Calipari assembled the second-best signing class in the nation comprising of some top players from his Kentucky roster last season. While the Razorbacks comfortably won their season opener against the Lipscomb Bison, they suffered a narrow 67-72 defeat to No. 8 (now No. 12) Baylor on November 9.
The Razorbacks lost two spots in AP's Top 25 men's college basketball poll in the latest update on November 11, which drops them down to 18th place. They will look to bounce back in their next game, which will take place against the Troy Trojans at 7 PM ET today.