Lexington newspaper misspells John Calipari's name in front page story

After 15 seasons at the helm of the state’s most prominent sports team, you’d think local newspapers could spell Kentucky basketball coach John Calipari’s name correctly. Apparently not.

The Lexington Herald-Leader, the city’s largest newspaper, printed a story Monday morning on its front page about Calipari and the potential buyout if he was to be fired following the Wildcats’ stunning early exit from the NCAA Tournament. Except in mega font, plastered on the front of every issue of the paper, Calipari’s name was misspelled “Kalipari.”

Take a look at this unfathomable error, which Kentucky Sports Radio’s Matt Jones tweeted out:

This is an unbelievable error by the Herald Leader

Wow pic.twitter.com/vu4Cqxp7NQ

— Matt Jones (@KySportsRadio) March 25, 2024

You can watch the tournament live on Prime Video, add on your favorite channels and watch at home or on your phone and laptop at work!

This is no typo, because the C and K are on opposite sides of the keyboard. Clearly, whoever wrote this headline spelled “Calipari” with a K at the beginning for some reason. The actual writer of the story surely knew their stuff and likely had the name correctly in the text, but how the headline turned out the way it did is a tough mystery to understand.

Just look at the caption for the image, which correctly spells the Kentucky head coach’s name. It really makes you wonder: did anyone at the Herald-Leader check the title? It obviously wasn’t double-checked. But seemingly anyone who’s lived in Lexington longer than four months would know how to spell the surname of a man who is probably second in name-recognition, only to the governor, when it comes to the Bluegrass State.

Spelling errors aside, there could soon be clarity coming on John Calipari’s future at Kentucky, according to Matt Jones, who offered an update on the situation Sunday night on a Twitter Space.

“John Calipari is coming back tomorrow, and my assumption is whatever happens will probably take place tomorrow evening or tomorrow late afternoon,” Jones said. “Because of that, I suspect we won’t know anything until late Monday or Tuesday.”

He did give a hint of what could be coming, though:

“I can say with confidence — there will either be a change, or basically, the days of Calipari and UK basketball doing whatever they want separate from the athletic department will end now.”

Bob Dylan was in Louisville for a concert Sunday night, and he’s got a song that says something about the times, that they’re a-changing, right? Sounds like that will be the case to some degree with the Kentucky basketball program this offseason.