Kentucky extends contracts of head coaches Calipari, Stoops

Kentucky announced Wednesday it has agreed to two-year contract extensions with both basketball head coach John Calipari and football head coach Mark Stoops.

The extension sees Calipari's contract now run through 2024 and will pay him $7.75 million for the 2017-18 season and $8 million for each season thereafter.

"John has achieved consistent championship-level performance at Kentucky," athletic director Mitch Barnhart said. "No one in America is better suited for everything that comes with being the coach here. Not only has he attained incredible success on the court, he is also a leader in our community and in college basketball. We have been blessed to have him and Ellen here for the last eight years and we are blessed they will continue to call Kentucky home."

Calipari has guided the Wildcats to the NCAA tournament in seven of his eight seasons, winning a national championship in 2012 and reaching three Final Fours. Kentucky is currently in the Sweet 16, where it will play UCLA on Friday.

Stoops' contract will now run until 2022 and pay him $3.5 million for the current year and increase $250,000 each season, topping out at $4.75 million.

"The last four years have been a grind for Mark and his staff, but he has never wavered in his commitment to building Kentucky football into a consistent winner," Barnhart said. "While the work isn’t close to finished, we believe Mark is the coach to take us there. We are thankful to Mark and Chantel for all they have done to this point and we look forward to our program’s bright future under his leadership."

With Stoops at the helm, the Wildcats have gone 19-30 overall and 8-24 in-conference. Kentucky finished 7-6 last year, with a bowl game appearance, giving the Wildcats their highest win total since 2009.