Samuel Colmar
Kentucky head coach John Calipari reacts to a foul call during the No. 2 Kentucky vs. No. 7 Texas A&M men's basketball match in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals on Friday, March 15, 2024, at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee. Kentucky lost 97-87. Photo by Samuel Colmar | Staff
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.