In a shocking move made public Sunday night Kentucky hall of fame head coach John Calipari is expected to resign from his post in Lexington to accept the title of Arkansas head coach.
ESPN’s Pete Thamel confirmed that Calipari is negotiating a five-year contract with Arkansas that is expected to be complete in the next 24 hours.
Calipari had been under scrutiny in Lexington after a series of poor postseason showings that included two first round exits in three years. The Cats have not made it out of the first weekend since 2019 and have not seen the Final Four since 2015.
The hall of famer came to Lexington after successful stints with both UMass (Massachusetts) and Memphis, replacing Billy Gillispie, who was only in Lexington for two seasons.
In his first season Calipari led Kentucky back to the Elite Eight before finally winning the big one in 2012 behind Anthony Davis, granting UK its eighth national championship.
Kentucky nearly reached another level of immortality in 2015 when it ended the regular season undefeated and reached the Final Four with a 38-0 record before being stunned by Wisconsin.
While the Cats have never made it back to the final weekend, Kentucky has been within the upper echelon of college basketball for nearly his entire tenure, boasting 47 NBA Draft picks including several No. 1 overall draft picks.
Despite his accolades, there were calls from fans to fire the man in charge after Kentucky’s 2024 NCAA Tournament first round exit versus Oakland, but the fire of Calipari leaving seemed to be extinguished when athletic director Mitch Barnhart confirmed “Cal” would be back for next season.
With many larger jobs, such as Michigan and Louisville, filling up, it seemed as if there was nowhere for Calipari to go that had a serious chance of landing him, but that all changed when Arkansas head coach Eric Musselman opted to move back west to become the leader of USC.
With one of the better jobs in the SEC open, the Razorbacks zeroed in on the hall of famer and, before long, officially landed him as their next head coach. Calipari had prior relationships with members of the Tyson family, famous for Tyson chicken nuggets, who are major Arkansas donors.
Specifics regarding Calipari’s deal with Arkansas have yet to be made public and no replacement has been announced for his role at Kentucky.
The Kentucky Kernel will provide updates for all roster change, coaching search and deal-specifics news as information becomes available.
James Martin • Apr 8, 2024 at 6:42 am
This not a great day for the BBN , coach you will be miss, here comes the billy days back again,get ready BBN you ask for it so enjoy
Josh • Apr 8, 2024 at 8:52 am
We’re already in the Billy days. There’s nowhere to go but up.
Lanny Fobis • Apr 8, 2024 at 4:24 am
If cal wants to go to Arkansas then that is his decision to make and not the fans. In no way should anyone be threatening him or his family . If cal excepts the job then I wish him the best in his upcoming 5 years with Arkansas. Us true blue fans should get ready to expect 2-3 years of so rough times for the team members. Some will transfer or go to the nba draft. Not just anyone is cut out for the head coaching job at UK. It takes a person that is strong willed and ready to hear complaints from the fans. I appreciate everything Cal has done for the UK basketball program but I am getting tired of the one and done’s. I hope if UK has to hire a new head coach that Barnhart will take his time in hiring the right person for the job. It’s time to see players staying for more than one year.