More than$ 90,000 in political contributions have been made by Arkansas Head Men’s Basketball Coach John Calipari and his wife this cycle, almost all of which the couple donated last year.
Calipari’s biggest benefactor was the Democratic Grassroots Victory Fund, which received$ 50, 000, while Pennsylvania’s Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro got$ 20, 000 of Calipari income.
The original Kentucky trainer even spread some of his success to Republicans—at least those living in the state. In 2023, he gave the Kentucky state GOP$ 3, 400, while lavishing Rep. Andy Barr with$ 10, 000 for his U. S. Senate charge. Calipari’s family, Ellen, even gave$ 3, 300 to Barr’s Senate campaign and another$ 3, 400 to the state party.
Calipari’s donating has mostly been stale since the start of this year, with data indicating that his only 2024 commitment was a$ 1 000 search he wrote to Democrat Jamie Palumbo, who lost the primary vote for a Kentucky House District chair.

After leading English men’s basketball for 15 months, the 65-year-old Calipari departed Lexington in April to take the top hurdles work at SEC foe Arkansas, which pays him$ 7 million per year. A request for comment sent through an Arkansas Razorbacks director was never received by Calipari.
Calipari’s giving served as an exception among major college sports statistics, according to a Sportico assessment of state and federal campaign finance reports. The group has mostly avoided opening their cards to prospects this period, regardless of how much money they make or how socially engaged they are online. This is in lieu of the professional athletics industry’s extremely political dynamics, which has historically lobbied Congress to help it and has recently been turned on its head by state-based NIL laws.
This was a notable instance of this coming into play in April when Sen. Cory Booker (D-N. ) took the lead. J. ) A number of contributions were made by school sports stars, who has been the subject of a bipartisan legislative effort to pass an Minimal reform bill. 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 gala at his Capitol Hill apartment, which Baker and Luck attended in people, and Yormark joined almost.
In a phone interview, McMillen, a former Maryland basketball star and senator, said his support for Booker owes as much to their frequent involvement in animal welfare as it does with school activities. According to a cause close to Yormark, the pair have been pals for centuries, dating again when the lawmaker was mayor of Newark, New Jersey, and Yormark was the head of Brooklyn Sports Entertainment, the parent firm 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 also played a significant role in the Hill Hill conversation on college sports reform.
” There are companies that are very social, that know their members of Congress, assist them, worship both sides of the aisle, where that is all part of the game”, McMillen said. ” In school sports, it is really hit or miss. Many colleges are reluctant to engage in elections, and many educators and administrators lack that type of training.
In 2010, Calipari canceled a democratic charity he had planned to network at his house for Kentucky’s then-Gov. Steve Beshear, a Democrat, after suffering a reaction from some Falcons enthusiasts. Calipari said in a speech he afterwards posted on Twitter that he was aware of how politically charged this condition is and that the Big Blue Nation is a group of people from all sides of the aisle. I applaud every elected national who, regardless of party, supports the University of Kentucky.
Beshear’s son Andy, Kentucky’s current chancellor, received a$ 1, 500 payment last October from Mark Stoops, UK’s basketball manager. Beshear was elected, Kelly Craft, the wife of businessman Wildcats mega-booster Joe Craft, finished second in the GOP key.
Apart from Calipari, Sportico could find only two other main college coaches or sport administrators who donated at least four-figure amounts to federal candidates this period: UNC-Charlotte sports manager” Biff” Poggi gave$ 6, 400 to Jason Saine, the once-powerful Republican state senator in North Carolina, who resigned from office in June to provide the private sector. Poggi even donated$ 9, 900 to another Republican Tar Heel, position Sen. David Craven.
Iowa basketball coach Kirk Ferentz, however, donated$ 3, 300 to Republican Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, who’s Congressional district includes UI.
This account will be updated if we discover any other prominent efforts.