Coach Cal is on the move.
John Calipari is expected to make it official and ink a contract Monday to become the next coach at Arkansas, sources told CBS Sports. Calipari and high-ranking officials at Arkansas were involved in heavy negotiations over the weekend, and by late Sunday night, the school and Calipari entered into a verbal agreement, according to CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander. One source with knowledge of the situation said Calipari becoming the Arkansas coach is “imminent.”
Kentucky athletic director Mitch Barnhart told CBS Sports that, as of late Sunday night, Calipari had not notified him of talking to Arkansas Razorbacks’ AD Hunter Yurachek about potentially becoming the next Arkansas coach. However, sources said UK officials had been made aware over the weekend through back channels that Calipari was interested in Arkansas and the feeling was mutual from the university. The contract terms of Calipari’s deal with the Wildcats stipulates he must inform Barnhart if he engages with another school about a job interview.
The contract is expected to be completed in the next 24 hours.
Calipari’s deal is expected to be for five years and have an overall base salary of slightly less than the $8.5 million he was earning at Kentucky. The universities most affluent donors are also expected to be quite generous, injecting millions more into Arkansas’ NIL collective, potentially putting the program at the top of the list in the sport for the largest pool of resources.
A huge factor that helped the deal to materialize was Calipari’s long-standing relationship with the family of billionaire, John H. Tyson, Arkansas Athletics’ biggest donor who is prepared to make an out of this world commitment to land Calipari and pour millions into the men’s basketball program.
Calipari has spent the past decade and a half as the leader of the Wildcats program and would remain in the SEC to succeed Eric Musselman, who took the vacant job at USC earlier this month, if he were to accept an offer to become Arkansas’ next coach.
Embed from Getty ImagesThe 65-year-old Calipari took the job at Kentucky in 2009 after spending nine seasons at Memphis. Calipari previously had stops as an assistant coach at Kansas (1982-85) and Pittsburgh (1985-88) and was the head coach at UMass from 1988-96. Calipari tried his hand at the next level, dipping his toes into the NBA world and was the coach of the New Jersey Nets, now the Brooklyn Nets, from 1996-99 and spent one season as an assistant coach for the Philadelphia 76ers during the 1999-2000 campaign.
The news of Calipari talking with Arkansas comes on the heels of an annual meeting with Barnhart at the conclusion of each season. The presumed outcome from that meeting was Calipari would return for his 16th season at the helm. The pair appeared on local television as a sign of good faith moving forward.
“As we normally do at the end of every season, Coach Calipari and I have had conversations about the direction of our men’s basketball program and I can confirm that he will return for his 16th season as our head coach,” Barnhart said last month.
The Wildcats season ended abruptly and in shocking fashion with a loss to No. 14 seed Oakland in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, a defeat that raised the antennas of a ravaged, passionate fan base and led to widespread speculation over Calipari’s future with the school. Kentucky failed to reach the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament for the third straight year with the loss to the Golden Grizzlies. Kentucky missed the big dance altogether in 2021 and dropped games to Saint Peter’s and Kansas State, respectively, the two previous seasons.
In his 15-year tenure at the university, Calipari posted a 410-123 record, fourth best in SEC history, with four Final Four appearances (2011, 2012, 2014, and 2015) and coached Kentucky’s last national championship team in 2012, featuring Anthony Davis.
Calipari has made his name known as one of the best high school recruiters in the country. Kentucky landed the No. 1 overall recruiting class in the 2023 cycle, which included standouts Reed Sheppard, Rob Dillingham, Justin Edwards, D.J. Wagner, and Aaron Bradshaw.
The Wildcats’ incoming recruiting ranked No. 2 in the country behind the Duke Blue Devils. That recruiting class includes five-star center Jayden Quaintance, four-star guard Boogie Fland, four-star center Somto Cyril, four-star guard Travis Perry, four-star guard Billy Richmond, and four-star forward Karter Knox.
Sources told CBS Sports that Calipari’s bargaining with Arkansas included discussions about bringing aboard his freshman class, in addition to widened parameters over how he could recruit the transfer portal.
The Arkansas job opened after Musselman left to replace former USC coach Andy Enfield, who departed for the vacant job at SMU, who gave Rob Lanier his walking papers after just two seasons on the job. Musselman spent five seasons with Arkansas and helped them reach the Elite Eight twice and the Sweet 16 once during his tenure. Prior to Musselman taking Arkansas to the Sweet 16 in 2021, the school had not enjoyed that amount of success since 1996.
The Razorbacks finished this season with a 16-17 record and (6-12 in SEC) and missed the NCAA Tournament for the first time during Musselman’s tenure. Multiple Arkansas players such as Tramon Mark, Khalif Battle, and Davonte Davis have already entered the transfer portal.
