John Calipari plans to stay at Kentucky until retirement

March 21 (UPI) -- Kentucky Wildcats basketball coach John Calipari says he'll stay with the program until he retires.

The 2015 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductee made the commitment to the Wildcats on Wednesday night on Twitter.

"Before I go to bed, let me just say this: I'm coaching at the Univ. of Kentucky. In my opinion, there is no better job in the world to coach basketball," Calipari tweeted. "My plan and my desire is to retire at Kentucky. I think the university feels the same as I do and we've talked openly about it."

"Now let's focus on this game tomorrow!"

The tweets came after sources told ESPN that UCLA has shown interest in Calipari and Virginia coach Tony Bennett. Sources told 247 Sports that Calipari has also shown interest in UCLA. Calipari has also drawn interest from NBA teams.

Calipari, 60, will lead the No. 2 Wildcats against No. 15 Abilene Christian in the first round of the 2019 NCAA men's basketball tournament at 7:10 p.m. EDT on Thursday in Jacksonville, Fla. He has led the Wildcats to the tournament in nine of his 10 seasons at the school.

Calipari was hired at Kentucky in 2009, after nine seasons at Memphis. He coached at the University of Massachusetts for eight seasons before landing at Memphis. He owns a 747-210 record during his 27-year coaching tenure.

He is also the highest-paid coach in college basketball at $9.27 million in 2019, according to data collected by USA Today.

Calipari signed a two-year contract extension with Kentucky in March 2017. The extension keeps Calipari under contract until March 30, 2024.

The Wildcats coach owns a 53-18 record in the NCAA tournament, including six Final Four appearances and a national championship. He owns a 302-70 mark at Kentucky.