John Calipari Spearheads Minority Leadership Initiative

With John Calipari among 74 coaches taking part, the John McLendon Minority Leadership Initiative is now taking applications for Future Leader opportunities at schools across the country.

Calipari will fund six positions at the University of Kentucky, UK announced Monday. Information about the program and how to apply can be found at MinorityLeaders.org.

Calipari has spoken of the program as a way for minorities to gain access and opportunities for work in athletic departments. On multiple occasions, the UK coach said he considered the program as a way he could make a difference in dealing with this country’s systemic racism.

The idea sprung from the police killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and other people, he said. Those killings sparked protests of this country’s history of systemic racism.

The coaches who joined Calipari to serve as “ambassadors” for the program include a who’s who of college basketball coaches: Mike Krzyzewski of Duke, Roy Williams of North Carolina, Bill Self of Kansas, Tom Izzo of Michigan State, Jay Wright of Villanova, Jim Boeheim of Syracuse and Chris Mack of Louisville.

Earlier this summer, P.G. Peeples, who is President and CEO of the Urban League of Lexington-Fayette County (Lexington, KY), said that the President of the National Urban League, Marc Morial, had given “an all-hands-on-deck commitment to participate” in the program.

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