John Calipari’s name in the basketball world is synonymous with a few things. The first of which would be winning: as the only coach to lead four teams to number one seeds, and a career winning percentage just a hair under 77%, no one is going to argue with that. But social media giant? That, for most basketball fans, would be a bit of a surprise.
College basketball’s greatest recruiter has evolved into a networking mogul since laying his hat in the tall blue grass. Calipari has over 1.1 million followers on Twitter, over 130k on Facebook, and the top-selling paid sports app on the iPhone. Not bad for a gent who admittedly can barely type on his blackberry. But what makes the boisterous coach from Kentucky’s meteoric ascent in the pantheons of social media is not how he’s doing it, but what he’s doing with it. Calipari’s web of followers have been leveraged to raise awareness and funding for multiple charities and philanthropic causes. And he continues to grow his base, adding China into the mix which is sure to bolster those numbers even further.
This is just another worthy example of how even the most unlikely of characters can translate their personal brand and presence onto the web to do good for others. What will you do with your network?
Check out more about what Coach Cal is doing here: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/24/sports/ncaabasketball/24calipari.html?ref=sports
All my best,
Jay Kubassek
