Two of the biggest victories that helped build John Calipari’s early success were UMass wins over Arkansas.
Now he’ll try to cement his career legacy by leading the Razorbacks back to national prominence. Multiple outlets reported Sunday night that Calipari was leaving Kentucky to become the coach at Arkansas.
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Calipari, 65, is already a Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer and has taken three schools — UMass, Memphis and Kentucky — to the Final Four and won a national championship with the Wildcats.
But he’d won just one NCAA Tournament game in the past four seasons despite annually signing one of the nation’s best recruiting classes and entering the field with a high seed. This year’s upset loss to Oakland as a No. 3 seed continued that trend. Calipari’s March failures have turned a once-adoring Kentucky fan base against him. But his huge contract buyout — reported to be $35 million — made firing him, even for Kentucky, which has a huge men’s basketball budget unrealistic.
But rather than continue in a bad coaching marriage, Calipari chose to start anew with an SEC rival just five years after he pledged to retire at Kentucky. He signed a five-year deal to lead the program he upset to open the 1994-95 season and then beat in the 1996 NCAA tournament’s Sweet Sixteen. The deal, which is reportedly five years, is expected to be announced Monday or Tuesday. The Arkansas job opened when Eric Musselman left to become the head coach at Southern California.
Calipari has both a banner at the Mullins Center and a statue outside it to honor his success at UMass. Former Minuteman coach Bruiser Flint, will likely follow Calipari to Arkansas.
