Report: Bill Self, John Calipari both turned down Cavs job

David Blatt hit the coaching lottery this summer. After an incredibly successful coaching career in Europe and abroad, Blatt took the vacant head coaching gig with the Cleveland Cavaliers, a franchise in flux that hadn't been to the postseason in four years.

Within a couple of months of Blatt landing the gig, the sorry Cavs had landed LeBron James and Kevin Love.

The same job, pre-LeBron, had been linked to some notable coaching names before Blatt got it, and it was reportedly turned down by Kentucky's John Calipari.

According to ESPN's Brian Windhorst, Calipari wasn't the only big name college coach to turn down Cleveland's offer.

"They offered this job to Bill Self of Kansas," Windhorst said on ESPN, via Pro Basketball Talk. "They offered this job to John Calipari at Kentucky and a huge contract, reportedly over $10 million a year. They both said no."

Both Self and Calipari are well taken care of financially at Kansas and Kentucky, respectively, but if it's true, and if both declined the Cavs' offer because they maybe weren't sure what James was going to do, they're surely rethinking things by now.

The chance to win with James, in Cleveland of all places, would have been a once in a lifetime experience, and would have cemented the already accomplished careers of both Self and Calipari.