Kentucky's John Calipari rebounds from bad year by landing nation's top recruiting class Posted Sep 20, 2021 John Calipari solidified his reputation as college basketball's best recruiter, and arguably the greatest recruiter of student-athletes in any sport ever, after taking the Kentucky job in March 2009. He immediately signed the nation's top-ranked recruiting class -- then did it again in 2010 and 2011 and 2012 and 2013. Five straight years. Five straight No. 1 classes. (CBS Sports)