He first stood courtside as boss in 1977, when he was 27 and coached a Division II school called American International College to an 82-68 win against the University of Massachusetts.
“Just to be clear, that was the University of Massachusetts in Boston,’’ Jim Larrañaga said, “not the University of Massachusetts that John Calipari coached.”
There were years before that when he played, and years before and after that when he was somebody’s assistant. But that marked his first win as a head coach. The stat sheet says 450 people attended the game.
“Probably our biggest crowd of the year,’’ he said.