Arkansas pulling Calipari away from Kentucky with multi-year deal to become new Razorbacks men’s basketball coach

By Kevin McPherson

LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas is finalizing a deal to make the biggest plate tectonic shift hire in college basketball spanning the last several years as the Razorbacks men’s hoops program is luring away Kentucky’s John Calipari to Fayetteville for roughly $40 million over five years, according to sources.

Sources also indicated Calipari will have a significant NIL coffer — between $5 and $6 million per year — at his disposal for recruiting at Arkansas.

A formal announcement from Arkansas confirming the hire officially could come down as soon as Monday, and an introductory press conference at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville could be held as soon as Tuesday.

It’s the first time in a storied Razorbacks basketball program that a head coaching hire of elite magnitude has been achieved. Calipari has already been enshrined in the Naismith Hall of Fame (class of 2015), raising the total to three Naismith HOF’ers to represent Arkansas as head coach (a list that includes Nolan Richardson and Eddie Sutton).

Calipari will replace Eric Musselman, who left the program after five seasons and publicly accepted the head coaching job at Southern California on Thursday.

Calipari takes over a Razorbacks men’s basketball program that boasts one national championship (1993-94); one national runner-up (’94-95); six Final Fours (1995, 1994, 1990, 1978, 1945, and 1941); eight Elite Eights (including two in the last four years); 14 Sweet Sixteens; and 24 regular-season conference championships (including two in the SEC in 1992 and 1994).

The hire comes smack dab in the middle of the NCAA Tournament Final Four being played in Phoenix, Ariz., giving Arkansas a monumental boost on the college basketball national stage heading into Monday night’s championship game.

Renowned national college basketball analyst Jeff Goodman caught up with Hogville to weigh in on the significance of the hire for Arkansas.

“This is obviously huge for Arkansas because it’ll keep the program relevant at the highest level no matter what,” Goodman said. “All eyes will be on whether John Calipari can get back to competing for Final Four’s or whether it’ll be more of what it’s been lately. But either way, he’s been a lightning-rod in college basketball and will have the resources in which there will be no excuses not to get it done at the highest level at Arkansas. But he’s has the resources. The key for him will be adapting and roster construction because we all know he’s going to get talent.”

Word began circulating on Friday and gained some steam on Saturday that Calipari, 65, was in play for the Arkansas job, and throughout the day Sunday one source after another informed Hogville he was locking up a deal to leave Kentucky after 15 seasons of leading Big Blue in Lexington, Ky.

Razorbacks icon, former Arkansas assistant coach, and current Little Rock Parkview head coach Scotty Thurman competed against Calipari as both a player and coach spanning the mid-1990s through 2019, and he told Hogville he was elated by the Calipari-to-Arkansas move.

“Great hire, especially considering Coach Cal’s brand, following, and ability to recruit,” Thurman said. “In my humble opinion, it is a step up for Arkansas and for Coach Cal!! The potential is definitely there for the program to acquire elite players, to continue to make trips to the NCAA tournament and beyond, and to make the Hogs even more of a brand nationally.”

Calipari led the Wildcats to a national championship in 2011-12; he coached in two national championship games (’11-12 at Kentucky and ’07-08 at Memphis); he took three teams to a combined six Final Fours (UMass in ’95-96, Memphis in ’07-08, and Kentucky in ’10-11, ’11-12, ’13-14, and ’14-15); and he coached six SEC regular-season championship teams and six SEC Tournament championship teams. Two of his Final Fours (’96-96 at UMass and ’07-08 at UMass) were vacated as part of NCAA-imposed penalties for violations.

Calipari is a three-time Naismith National College Coach of the Year (’95-96, ’07-08, and ’14-15); a one-time Associated Press National College Coach of the Year (’14-15); and a four-time SEC Coach of the Year (’09-10, ’11-12, ’14-15, ’19-20).

His overall record as a Division 1 college head coach is 813-260 (.758), which included a 410-122 mark at Kentucky. His ’14-15 Kentucky team ran through the season undefeated before suffering its first loss to Wisconsin in the NCAAT Final Four.

Arguably the greatest recruiter of all-time in college basketball, Calipari has landed dozens of household-name players including All American and eventual NBA big man Marcus Camby at UMass, eventual NBA MVP Derrick Rose at Memphis, and perennial NBA All Pro Anthony Davis at Kentucky, with the latter starring on Calipari’s lone national championship team in ”11-12.

Calipari has a long history coaching against Arkansas, including the mid-1990s when Nolan Richardson has the Razorbacks program at the top of college basketball.

Richardson’s Hogs were coming off a 1993-94 national championship — the program’s one-and-only title in hoops — when it entered ’24-25 ranked No. 1 in the nation with Calipari’s 3rd-ranked UMass squad lined up as the season-opening opponent in the Tipoff Classic on Nov. 25, 1994, in Springfield, Mass. UMass rolled to a stunning 104-80 win, but the Razorbacks would eventually advance back to the NCAAT national championship game in March.

A year later, Richardson’s ’95-96 Hogs with a retooled roster made its way to the NCAAT Sweet Sixteen where it faced a No. 1 seed UMass crew and lost, 79-63, on March 21, 1996. UMass would go on to its first Final Four — the first for Calipari — where it lost in the national semifinals.

After a move to the NBA and spending three seasons as head coach of the New Jersey Nets (his record as an NBA head coach was 72-112 spanning ’96-97, ’97-98, and ’98-99) and one season as an assistant coach with the Philadelphia 76ers (’99-00), Calipari jumped back to Division 1 basketball to lead the Memphis Tigers.

He quickly built Memphis into a nationally relevant college basketball program, and after his Memphis teams went 1-2 against Arkansas in the early 2000’s Calipari put a halt to the fevered series by making a public statement that effectively declared Memphis would be a national program and did not need to play Arkansas.

Once Calipari made the jump to Kentucky and the SEC, his teams went 13-7 against Arkansas teams that were coached by a trio of Head Hogs in John Pelphrey, Mike Anderson, and Musselman. Two of his wins over Arkansas were in the SECT championship game (both when Anderson was the Razorbacks’ head coach).

Calipari has been ejected once during a game against the Hogs at BWA (during the Wildcats’ come-from-behind 73-66 win in ’19-20).