John Calipari officially introduced as new head coach at Arkansas
John Calipari is officially the new head coach at Arkansas!
Reports of Calipari leaving Kentucky for the Razorbacks surfaced early this week, but that move had not been confirmed prior to Wednesday morning. Since the reports surfaced, UConn won its second straight national championship and Calipari confirmed in a Tuesday video that he was departing the program.
Wednesday morning, the news finally became official with AD Hunter Yurachek and Arkansas’ basketball team on social media officially introducing Calipari. The move was officially tagged as “Cal those Hogs.”
Cal. Those. Hogs. ?
Hall of Famer John Calipari is officially the head of the Arkansas Razorbacks. pic.twitter.com/UPp8ljTZB7
— Arkansas Razorbacks Men’s Basketball ? (@RazorbackMBB) April 10, 2024
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— Hunter Yurachek (@HunterYurachek) April 10, 2024
What to expect from Calipari
It is true Calipari had fallen onto a hot seat in Lexington, and part of that is understandable after a few first-round exits for a program as talented as Kentucky’s. Still, results in March Madness do not always tell the full story.
Arkansas landing a coach the stature of Calipari is a big win for the Razorbacks, and he should elevate the talent and performance even beyond what Eric Musselman achieved. And, prior to the 2023-23 season, that performance included 3 straight Sweet 16 appearances and a pair of Elite 8s under Musselman.
ESPN’s Seth Greenberg is among those with an extremely optimistic outlook for the Razorbacks, predicting Calipari will lead Arkansas back to the Final Four within 3 seasons. Head football coach Sam Pittman also classified the hiring as a home run with the potential to be a grand slam.
We’ll see if that comes to fruition, but it’s a new start for the Razorbacks with a seemingly bright future.
Arkansas has hired, a great recruiter, a great salesman, a great spokesman, a good guy, and an average basketball coach. His ability to coach in game has always been a question, but he had superior talent that overcame some of that. Arkansas will do well with Calapari and I believe I can speak for BBN, good luck, except against us.
Hope he gets his flowers at Rupp next year, and when his name goes up in the rafters.
Cal will do well at Arky.
I’ve heard that Cal met with all the big boosters and they’ve agreed to not only fund NIL money for basketball, but they’ll open their wallets for football as well. It’s amazing how things can change with one hire.
Big change from ego tripping on “basketball school” comments.
Arky has same rich and famous guy who I believe lives somewhere in TX. Think he may own some sports team. Can’t think of his name but Arky may want to give him a call on his rotary telephone.
The owner of Tyson Foods is what I heard.
No, it’s the owner of a famous basket company.
No disrespect, but they went the Walmart route when they had to replace Chad Morris with Sam Pittman. Morris has a way of breaking the bank and he sure scammed Arkansas. So seeing more NIL in the football program up there would be a 180 turn from the Morris recovery mode.
Cal will get the attention he thrives on, and will have a good run. Can’t wait for the rivalry to be like the 90’s again.
I remember watching those games very well. And what I remember most was when the Hogs came into the conference with Coach Richardson, it was instant electricity. Kentucky needed a big competitive opponent and boy did Arkansas deliver in some years before being joined by Donovan at Florida. Just seemed like the SEC in BB had really arrived as a conference, not just a one team league. Yeah those were good years.
Spot on about those years. Sadly after Nolan the Hogs management went the bargain basement – up and comer route. Always thank Muss for getting us back on track and headed in the right direction again.
Looking forward to what Cal will put on the floor next season. Totally caught me off guard when I heard the news.
Hogs dropped off and you could see it. Then we hear stories (true or false?) that he was actually looking around before this past season. But at any rate, he got back to where the big boosters were willing to step up. I’d bet that if not for Musselman, in spite of a down year, Calipari likely wouldn’t have wanted to even consider it.
He needs to hire some really good assistant coaches in my opinion, who can help keep all the relationships with players and administrators healthy.
You will not find a more exciting and colorful person than Coach Calipari. He had a great run at Kentucky. He is also a very devout Catholic who has a big heart for the community and does a lot of great work off the court.
As a lifelong UK fan, I have to admit I was a little saddened to see Cal leave. I do believe that he will do great things at Arkansas and wish him the best, but replacing him with Scott Drew? Really?
Only thing against be excited about Drew for Kentucky fans I’d guess is it doesn’t just jump out like a Donovan or Hurley. But the guy’s record at Baylor says he will be a welcome change. He’ll go if he’s offered. The future of the Big 12 is still in flux. Could go up, could go away. Could pick up some leftovers from the ACC after all that dust settles.
Tyson Family (Tyson Foods)
Walton Family (WalMart)
JB Hunt
ABF
Mr. Smith (FedEx)
Jones Family (Blue Star)
Stephens Family (Stephens Inc)
Not bad for a small state
BUT we can’t ignore how all that money hasn’t been willing to shell out much for NIL up to this point. The money is there, but we keep hearing about how the U of A ranks toward the bottom in NIL funds, and that was apparently a big reason why Muss went west. Tells me that these big boosters 1) didn’t like Muss, 2) don’t see football as a smart investment (or haven’t until now), or 3) both.
We were hearing rumors of Muss leaving after year 2 when we played in Indiana for the NCAAs as Indiana needed a coach.
Muss certainly ended 25 years of mediocrity in the program, but when it came to beating the Big boys in the tourney (Baylor then Duke then UConn) we got routed.
Muss also made it public of his love for So Cal. He got what he wanted.
When I first looked at my computer Monday morning my jaw dropped. It’s been two excruciating days waiting to hear the final word.
Sure. I think Muss was one foot out the door regardless. My point was that yes, Arkansas has some maaaaajor boosters with some deeeeep pockets, but the NIL numbers we’ve heard mean big boosters haven’t been wooed and convinced it’s a worthwhile use of their money until now. Big money in the state doesn’t automatically mean they’re willing to throw it at the athletic dept.
There are always a thousand rumors out there, usually just someone thinking out loud and trying to get an unfounded story rolling. But the sports shows keep mentioning that Musselman was putting out feelers during the 22-23 season. Even mentioned he let Louisville know he was interested. Somehow I don’t believe that, or most of it. He’s a Southern California guy and he’s no spring chicken himself. I’d bet he was trying to get back there and didn’t care who. USC or UCLA, just anything probably. But his style sure seemed like it had lost some fire for whatever reason. In spite of the Sweet 16 appearance, winning just 13 conference games over two years sure looked like he was slipping away. He came in the same time as Oats and came out of the gate faster, but sure faded on the backstretch.
“Mr. Smith (FedEx)”
FedEx is headquartered in Memphis.
FedEx was founded by an Arkansan and only set up in Memphis because the Little Rock airport isn’t big enough. (That’s what I’ve heard)
After reading down further, I see what I heard is wrong lol.
There’s another multi billion annual revenue company in NW Arkansas called Simmoons and they have there fingers in not only being wholesale suppliers to restaurants but also many different labeled pet food products.
Not any connection between Arkansas and Fred Smith/Fedex, huge financial supporter of University of Memphis. Only connection Smith had to Arkansas, I believe, is he started out buying and selling used jets out of Little Rock and almost went broke. No other connections.
Yeah, zero connection that I’m aware of. Fred Smith is a Yale grad who was born in MS. Not sure where the above poster is posting that.
almost perfectly correct. Fedex was founded in Little Rock, AR in 1971 and began operations in Memphis in 1973. His contributions go to UM as you noted.
Fred Smith, founder of FedEx, is in Memphis, is he not? I know FedEx is based in Memphis and when I lived there 1990-2000 he employed 14,000 people.
Those days were amazing as a fan. Probably the most memorable game for me as a kid was an opportunity to sit behind the UK bench while Pitino was the coach close enough to see the veins pulsate in his neck.
Scott Drew turns KY down.
So, Cal to Arky and word is Mark Pope may be the new Wildcats coach. Meanwhile, Bama and Auburn are breathing a sigh of relief.