John Calipari reportedly in talks to become next head coach at Arkansas
John Calipari is in serious discussion to become the next head coach at Arkansas, according to multiple reports.
Rumors of Calipari’s interest in the Arkansas job first emerged on Sunday evening. Within a matter of hours, reporters such as Matt Norlander, Jeff Goodman, Shams Charania and others confirmed the talks.
ESPN’s Pete Thamel said a deal is expected to be finalized within 24 hours:
Sources: John Calipari is finalizing a five-year deal to become the next coach at Arkansas. The deal is expected to be completed in the next 24 hours.
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) April 8, 2024
Calipari was on the hot seat at Kentucky following the Wildcats’ first-round exit to Oakland last month. However, Kentucky AD Mitch Barnhart announced the following week that Calipari would return for his 16th season in Lexington.
Calipari has fallen out of favor with the Kentucky fan base in recent years. He brought a national championship to Lexington in 2012, but hasn’t reached the Final Four since 2014. The Wildcats also haven’t made the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament since 2019. Since then, UK has suffered embarrassing defeats to Saint Peter’s, Kansas State and, most recently, Oakland.
For Arkansas, the Razorbacks are set to hire one of the most accomplished active head coaches in the sport to replace Eric Musselman. Musselman left earlier this week for the USC job. Calipari would bring more than 30 years of head coaching experience to Fayetteville. He’s also reached the Final Four 6 times during his illustrious career.
According to Goodman, Arkansas is set to pay Calipari between $7-8 million per season. The Razorbacks are also expected to have a hefty NIL budget going forward with Calipari in charge.
Per Kentucky Sports Radio’s Matt Jones, Arkansas would not have to pay a buyout to Kentucky to lure Calipari away from Lexington.
One of the things to remember is that Calipari has no buyout if he leaves
He can go and Arkansas would owe Kentucky no money
But Kentucky wouldn’t have to pay the rest of his contract
— Matt Jones (@KySportsRadio) April 8, 2024
If Calipari does depart as expected, Kentucky would immediately have the most attractive coaching vacancy on the market. Alabama’s Nate Oats, Baylor’s Scott Drew and the Chicago Bulls’ Billy Donovan are a few names who could be linked to the opening in the coming days.
Calipari has an overall record of 410-122 as Kentucky’s head coach. He went 198-65 in SEC play as Kentucky’s head coach. He reached the NCAA Tournament in 12 out of 14 opportunities, excluding 2020 when the tournament was canceled due to COVID-19. Calipari’s accomplishments also include 6 SEC Tournament titles and 6 SEC regular season championships.
Arkansas has not yet announced Calipari’s hiring.
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Third choice accepted Mr Yurachek’s offer.
Nobody and I mean nobody knew who Yurachek was targeting or offered. It is and was just speculation from several “unnamed” sources and we should all know how those type of sources have been wrong many times. Arkansas BB is a top 15 National job and probably top 2 in the SEC.
Calipari might be the Jimbo Fisher of SEC basketball. Never has any SEC basketball coach done less with so much talent
It feels like his best days are in the past. Arkansas needs a guy on the way up.
gary420 you may be right. But, I don’t know who else AR could get. For the moment I see it as a win for AR. Time will tell.
chris beard’s name made a lot of sense, but other than that one, yeah, the drones with a platform were tossing out names without any true credibility of a source. jeff goodman would be one of the last guys that i’d look to for insider info
You won’t be for long with this clown Calipari
So no school should ever talk to a coach unless they call first and ask if they can have the job??? Look at how many times Tennessee swung and missed. Beard should have taken the job. He won’t be able to get Ole Miss to Arkansas’ level in BB.
Heat got too hot for Calipari in Kentucky’s kitchen and is planning to run.
That seems to be the case.
That is probably the case. If he is gone, my first choice for a replacement would be Rick Barnes.
i’m shocked to hear barnes as a 1st choice. no shade to barnes, but considering his age and amount of time that he’s already been at tn, i just don’t see it.
i’d expect uk to shoot higher. outside of the obvious guys of interest, i’d look at jay wright and even kick the tires with brad stevens. you’re uk. it’s one of the most coveted jobs in the country.
Yeah, Barnes literally will not be receiving a call. Not sure what PJ is smoking.
Billy Donaven
Oats may have just gotten the leverage he needs to get a new arena in Tuscaloosa to keep him there.
Donovan is too much a Gator…and Golden just signed an extension..and loves UF…
Golden is very safe, so safe that you are the only one mentioning him.
ha! outside of maybe a couple other gator compadres, you’re on your own island with those thoughts.
Wow! That seat in Lexington must be really hot!! Arky has a great BB legacy but you don’t go there from UK unless you get fired! Could it be he’s playing footsies with the Hogs to make UK think about losing him?? Interested to see how this plays out.
What in the world????
Please be true! Fingers crossed!
All the crybabies getting what they wanted. Now you all can cry everytime Cal kicks Ky’s butt. And he will.
You mean like Oakland, ST. Peters, NC Wilmington, etc….?
You might bark up the wrong tree with that crybaby talk. I bet you save that for your home computer tough guy.
Like BBN pointed out, it’s actually the knowledgable basketball fans getting what they wanted. Where’s that leave you?
Oh, an internet tough guy calling someone else names. Pretty funny but I enjoy watching all the mess. You ain’t gettin Oats. And that’s all we need to know.
And whys that Glad?
Governorpoop, I will tell you to your face that you’re a crybaby. You will become a bigger one.
@cats64, I don’t think it’s crybabies getting what they want- it’s a simple fact that Cal has worked himself into a corner and the program has languished in mediocrity for a number of years now. Cal will generate a bunch of excitement for Arkansas and a fresh start will serve him well. Will he beat Kentucky? I’m sure that’s a possibility- but Arkansas (among other teams) have been pretty successful AGAINST Cal at Kentucky, so nothing really new there either.
There are some who say that Cal has always had an interest in AR, whether there’s any truth to that, who knows. Cal’s leaving a program where half the fans wanted him gone…..same with Muss. Sounds like everyone just needed a change.
The only people that want Calnto stay are people who are Cal fans, not Cat fans. Cats64 that makes it pretty clear what you are, little guy. Tuck your tail and run away down to Arkansas like your hero Cal.
So long Cal. Hello Nathanael Justin Oats!
The hate from Bama fans would be astronomical if that happened.
We are resigned to our fate. Bama is a football school; Nate oats choosing to remain would give us some cred, but change nothing.
Not a bad fate.
Who will be the number one target for KY?
Nobody wants Oats he supports his players in murder cases and is a toxic coach, he constantly runs his mouth and doesn’t know when to quit.
LOL
Haha. You love you some fiction man. But whatever. You carry that false flag around when you post, and have your fun.
It’s sarcasm. He’s definitely a Bama fan, even though he does have a troll imposter.
If nobody wants Nate Oats then where do you think he stays? Think a little next time.
I’ve never had a larger case of “rent free” then with that cute little piece of horse dung.
A little surprising but when you think through, not that much. Cal just got tired of all the hate. He likely has more money than he and his family will ever need so why not try one more ride somewhere else. Everybody is happy, for the most part. It really makes a lot of sense when you think about it. A fresh start for both parties. oats, drew, beard maybe, few, hurley, painter. There are very few names that should be automatically eliminated if ky wants them. It may be the only job in the country that can say that too. Someone said Barnes but he’s too old. I thought he would strongly consider retirement this year but he likely only has a few years left at best.
Definitely agree on your perspective on Cal. But to be fair to normal fans, the relationship soured on both sides. There’s always going to be the crazy fans that are never happy, but Cal’s early success kind of made him think he was bigger than the program and when you’re not seeing that same success, it becomes tough to hear John Calipari continuously talk down to the fan base. Not to mention the relationship with boosters and the athletic department. Everything was fractured/broken and it was going to be really tough for him to continue and have any real fan support. But now that “fans” have gotten what they’ve been asking for, it will be interesting to see what’s next and who’s running the ship…
This is pretty shocking as I definitely did not see this coming. After a little thought, it could actually turn out to be a win-win-win situation. The Cal and UK relationship had grown stale. I think both sides of that wanted out. UK didn’t want to pay the buyout, so Cal did them a favor. Purely a guess, but I think Cal had his reps reach out to Arkansas. They have a nice history and this is a fresh start for Cal with a lot of NIL money. I think it’s a good move for all. UK will have some nice options as a replacement.
Well said- I agree with all of this.
Let’s see. Calipari is 65. Barnes is 69. Not a lot of difference. Oats is 50. A lot of difference. We’ll see if Calipari is effective at Arkansas. One thing I like is that he doesn’t seem to get caught up in talking negativity too much. Too old, I reckon.
If Calipari bolts this should give KY a great chance to grab Beard.
This is a good move for Cal. The NCAA fail again this season brought Cal ever so close to being fired. And Cal likes to be in charge- so preemptively taking the Arky job makes sense. And Arkansas has a nice solid basketball history, so I think this gives him the chance to reinvent himself where he would continue to battle the one and done model in Lexington. Now we will see what Barnhardt can do to replace him in Lexington. I have been one of the fans that’s said it’s time to go in another direction- but now that the time is here, there’s some nervousness about the next hire and what that means. With all the name being tossed around, I’m not willing to bet on any of them. This may sound a little crazy and/or desperate, but I think brining Pitino back to steady the ship for the next 4-5 years would be a good move and close the circle with Rick retiring where he kind of got his start in big time basketball…
Hey he brings all those 4 and 5 star players with him. I believe you will get Cal’s best now apparently what MB said to CJC pissed Cal off. Leads to why he’s going to Arkansas. I think it a good move for Arky if Cal’s out to prove all those at UK and the fanbase say he can’t coach. UK doesn’t have to pay Cal’s buyout so they can get almost whoever they want. I’d like to see Billy Donovan get it. I think he may be over the NBA. He was an assistant under CRP when he was at UK and CBD was the coach in waiting under him. Then billy went to UF before all that happened and we all know what Donavon did there. I don’t know if Donovan would want the jo,but he would be the first I’d ask.