John Calipari was officially introduced as Arkansas’ head coach on Wednesday evening in Fayetteville.

The Arkansas faithful rolled out the red carpet for their new, national championship-winning head coach. Calipari’s introductory event went about how you might expect.

Calipari said he wants to build something “special” at Arkansas. Athletic director Hunter Yurachek spoke glowingly about this program’s history and how the Razorbacks arrived at this moment. And, of course, they called the Hogs.

But now? Now comes the hard part.

The first thing Arkansas will need is a roster. Anytime there’s a coaching change in college athletics in this era, it’s a safe bet that many — if not all — of the players from the previous season won’t be returning. So the idea that Calipari may be starting from scratch in his new gig shouldn’t be too surprising or alarming.

Still, it’s something he’s taking very seriously as he enters his first offseason in Fayetteville.

“I met with the team, there is no team,” Calipari said at his introductory press conference. “So now … Hunter is extremely confident, but we’ve got to get a roster together. And some of it is a little bit of everything, but we will.”

Of course, Calipari will likely have some good options for filling out his team. It’s expected that Arkansas’ NIL budget is will be amongst the leaders in the sport — and was reportedly a key factor in bringing Calipari to to Fayetteville in the first place. While on stage at the event on Wednesday, Calipari credited John Tyson, the billionaire chairman of Tyson Foods, for connecting him with Yuracheck during Arkansas’ search.

Calipari is also arguably college basketball’s best recruiter and was set to bring a star-studded group of recruits to UK in the class of 2024. Multiple players who committed to play for Calipari at Kentucky have since reopened their recruitment, and it stands to reason that Arkansas could now recruit those players. It’s also certainly possible that players from Kentucky’s 2023-24 roster could be interested in heading west along with Calipari.

The roster is a short-term problem. The long-term problem is whether or not Calipari’s system — both schematically and philosophically — is a good fit with the expectations that he’s now facing at Arkansas.

In making this move, Arkansas and its boosters are paying up big-time — both in Calipari’s salary and in NIL support. They’re paying for more Sweet 16’s, Elite Eights and Final Fours. Perhaps above all, they’re paying for a shot at another national championship, which is stage the Hogs have not come particularly close to in the last 20 years.

Is Calipari the coach who can deliver those results in 2025 and beyond? Kentucky fans would likely caution against believing so.

The Wildcats missed the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament in 4 consecutive years. It’s been 8 Tournaments since the last time they’ve made the Final Four despite being a top-4 seed in 5 those tournaments. Since 2021, Calipari ranks 117th amongst coaches in BartTorvik’s PASE (performance against seed expectations) metric, which he historically has performed quite well in. Despite the recent downturn, Calipari ranks 3rd amongst all coaches (behind Tom Izzo and Roy Williams) since 2000.

It’s clear that whatever Calipari was doing over the last 4 years in Lexington doesn’t work anymore. Too many things have changed in college basketball in recent years. Everything from the transfer portal, to the average age of rosters to 3-point rate has changed since Calipari’s peak at UK about a decade ago.

And to Calipari’s credit, his offense in 2024 had the highest 3-point attempt (37.5%) rate of any previous Kentucky team he coached. UK also rarely played 2 non-shooters at the same time, which helped significantly floor-spacing. But the team was not without its flaws. The Wildcats ranked 222nd in D-I experience, a trait that was exposed in the NCAA Tournament by Oakland this year.

Calipari readily admitted that he doesn’t have a “magic wand” when speaking to the crowd at Arkansas on Wednesday. Instead, he said, he “grinds” out results over the course of the season in an effort to improve his players on an individual level.

“The only thing that I want to tell you is I’m not that guy that has a magic wand,” Calipari said Wednesday. “That’s not who I am. I’m the grinder that comes everyday and when you watch my team from the beginning to the end of the year, you say ‘Wow, they got better.’”

Calipari’s success at Arkansas — to the level that the Razorbacks are hoping for — will likely depend on his willingness to adapt in a couple of key areas. Whether or not that happens remains to be seen. But Calipari is intent on doing the hard work to get there, and for now at least, that’s plenty good enough for Arkansas.