Missouri coach Cuonzo Martin and Kentucky John Calipari square off at least once every year on the basketball court, but now they’re joining forces in an organized push to provide minorities more professional opportunities in college athletics in the newly launched McLendon Minority Leadership Initiative.
Calipari, who announced the non-profit initiative Monday morning on ESPN’s “Get Up," will serve as co-chair along with Harvard coach Tommy Amaker. Martin is one of more than 30 coaches named an MLI Ambassador in the new foundation, along with Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski, Michigan's Juwan Howard, Tennessee’s Rick Barnes, South Carolina’s Frank Martin and others.