John Calipari botches Happy Anniversary tweet to wife Ellen

John Calipari took the time to pen his wife, Ellen, a happy 39th wedding anniversary on social media on Saturday. Calipari wrote a lengthy note, praising her for being a basketball coach’s partner.

Ellen Calipari, or the princess, as he affectionately calls her, has stood by his side at every stop during his coaching career. The sweet note from the Arkansas head coach to his wife reads as follows:

“Ellen and I celebrate our 39th anniversary today,” it began. “We met at Kansas when I was a low level asst and she worked in the business office under Art Lingel. She has been the perfect coaches wife for me, and as other coaches wives have said IT ISNT EASY! She has been a great mother to our kids and at times a father too.

“The princess has been a great wife even when I wasn’t the greatest husband. We have weathered every storm together yet continue to laugh at each other. She works out most days as I do. She watches what she eats (and watches me eat). Most importantly she’s the mother of beloved Palmer (and Erin, Megan, and Brad)!! … Love you Ellie and look forward to tackling the future challenges together as we continue to celebrate the good stuff together. Happy Anniversary!”

The only issue — their anniversary isn’t until June 22. Calipari fired off his tweet on June 21. Cue the old man jokes on social media. As one responder on X put it, “better to be early, than be late! Happy Anniversary!” It’s unlikely the princess would let something like that slide.

It wasn’t until 20 minutes later that Calipari realized the blunder he had made. He promptly added a correction to his post on X, and tried to play it off all the same.

“I wrote this on the airplane with the intent of it being sent out tomorrow on our anniversary but now Ellen gets to enjoy what I wrote for two days! AND NO I didn’t get the day wrong!!!” he wrote.

Good thing that the Razorbacks leader clarified this before Ellen could respond on social media. He could have lost major brownie (not related to Ellen’s legendary birthday brownies she makes for his players) points from his wife if his mistake had gone unnoticed.

Instead, Calipari saved himself with the tweet. Whether he takes Ellen out to dinner both nights as well remains to be seen.