Hoop Hogs notebook: Arkansas coach John Calipari gives second state of the program address as team enters exhibition season

By Kevin McPherson

Arkansas head coach John Calipari hit on several pertinent Hoop Hogs topics on Tuesday during a press conference at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville, sharing timely updates as his team’s preseason activities are set to ramp up in October as a lead-up to the regular season that tips off in early November.

It was Calipari’s second State of the Hoop Hogs Address. The first was delivered in July when he recapped the team’s summer limited practices.

Calipari had a lot to say about the current state of his program on Tuesday …

- Calipari sung the praises of Razorbacks sophomore guard DJ Wagner, the former high school 5-star prospect and McDonald’s All American who followed his head coach to Arkansas after his injury-laden freshman season at Kentucky.

“Here’s what was funny — before he got hurt, I believe he was Freshman of the Week three times,” Calipari said. “Like, ‘Well he just struggled.’ No, he was playing great. Then he got hurt and he never really bounced back from that … I think he’s healthy. I think he’s more athletic than he was. The kid lives in the gym. He knows how to read his body now — when I need to step back, or when I can be uncomfortable and it’s good for me. But I’m expecting a lot from him. You want his leadership. When you walk into my gym, the voice you hear is his. That’s the voice you hear, which means he’s into his team. Now, I want him to play, do what you do, fail fast. There’s some stuff that you did in high school that you can’t do in the SEC. Fail fast, learn, try it. After the third time, I’m looking, ‘Do you understand that doesn’t work now?’

“I want him to go be who he is. Unbelievably coachable player, maybe one of the best I’ve ever had. If you tell him something, he does it that moment, right then.”

- Updates on the development progress of big man Zvonimir “Big Z” Ivisic, who like Wagner followed his coach to Arkansas after his freshman season at Kentucky. And he also touched on veteran frontliners Trevon Brazile and Jonas Aidoo.

“Biggest thing is you’ve got to get in the best shape of his life and that’s hard, especially when you are 7-2,” Calipari explained. “He’s a great kid and we’ve got to just figure out where are we using him? How are we using him? He’s skilled for that size, good passer.  Fighting on this team, you know with TB, who’s explosive and we’re trying to get him to be an attack player, not just a jump-shooter. He’s doing pretty good. With Jonas, you’ve got that kid who has been in this league, was an all-conference player. Physically, able to do the stuff that you need to get done and that’s going to help Z get better because that’s who he’s practicing against.”

- Hoop Hogs team injury update as delivered by Calipari …

“We’ve been beat up a little bit, but that’s everybody,” Calipari said. “There are no excuses. Guys get hurt. Z’s fine, but he was in a boot for a while. Other guys were hurt and came back. We got a couple guys that will be out a week or two. That’s the last thing on my mind. Getting these guys to be a team, but No. 1, being great conditioned. Be that, like, no one is more conditioned than we are. Then, the second thing is, defensively, I think we’re physical enough to be that kind of team. And then offensively, it’s play fast and share the ball. Yeah, we’ll give you some actions, but this is going to be about those other two things first. Which means, like normal, my offense will be behind a little bit. When we start the season, it’ll clunk along, then you’ll start seeing it, but that’s how I’ve normally built teams.”

- Official practices ramped up to 20 hours per week as of last week, per NCAA rules and guidelines.

“So I’m kind of… I’m excited that we’re starting, that we’re getting underway, that we’re piecing a team together, that we’ve begun to build the culture, but there’s always the ups and downs,” Calipari said of the official start to the 2024-25 campaign. “It normally takes my programs two or three years to really get stuff established the way you want it. You try to win as many as you can, you try to see what level each team is, but I’ve had to do it with new teams every year, wherever I’ve been. But I’m not the guy, ‘We’re going to do this.’ That isn’t who I am. This is: I’m a grinder, I get a team, we develop, conditioning, defense, team play, doing it together, being sustained, that effort and that’s what I’m looking forward to doing with this group.

“Got a great group. They’re listening. They’re responsive. If anybody’s been in our practice, they’d say, ‘Wow, they really listen.’ So then you come back to your staff and say, ‘They’re listening. I hope we’re telling them the right things. Because they are listening.’ So it’s been a good group so far.”

- More broad strokes regarding what his team has been working on since the start of the fall semester …

“When they came back, I shifted some to team, five-man, how we’re going to play together both offensively and defensively,” Calipari said. “The summer was total development of players and we really didn’t do much of that team stuff. So now… First of all, when you talk defense, you’re not only (talking) individually, you’re talking team. And then team play is, how do we make each other better? Some of that is how do we play for this team to be at its best? We’re going to play fast, we’re going to be unselfish, but how do you get into playing fast?

“Who takes it out of bounds with this group? I’ve done different things. I’ve had the 5 take it out, I’ve had the 4 take it out, I’ve had the 3 take it out different places because of those teams. We’re still working that through. And then the answer will probably be given to us by the players. They’ll do things that we’ll say, ‘This is the best way for this team to play.’ But you’re right. You say, ‘You don’t have the team stuff locked down yet and you’re going to play Kansas?’ Yeah. You’re going to get hit in the mouth, but you’re hoping they swing. You’re hoping they will learn from that experience. Shoot, I want to win every game I coach, but when you’re building and you’re doing this, you’ve got to throw them into the fire and see where they are right now. And then we’ll all know — here’s where we are as we start this process.”

- Included in Arkansas’ exhibition season are: Pro Day (Oct. 9 at BWA as all 30 NBA teams will have representatives on hand); Tip-Off Tour events (Oct. 12 at Bank Ozk Arena in Hot Springs and Oct. 13 at the Pine Bluff Convention Center); charity exhibition game vs. Kansas (Oct. 25 at BWA); and a second charity exhibition game at TCU (Nov. 1 in Fort Worth, Texas).

Regarding the two Tip-Off Tour events …

“We have the tipoff tour,” Calipari said. “So we’re going to Hot Springs on the 12th, we’re going to Pine Bluff on the 13th … My guess is they’ll both be sold-out. And you might ask, ‘Why are you doing this? What is it that leads you to do things that take the team to the state?’ Well, first of all, this program is the state’s program. By going to them, it’s kind of like we’re going to where you are. You don’t always have to come to us. And my guess is, there are going to be people at both venues, it’s their first opportunity to see a player, the team, the coach, in person. Now, that could mean they’re 8, 9, 12 years old. It could mean they’re 70. And this is their chance to see these players or this team in person. That’s one of the reasons I want to do it. I also want to get the kids out in the community to understand the importance to this state that this program has. We’re going to do things that I like to do in all these kind of events. We’re going to do a Samaritan’s Feet event and we’re going to give away 3,000 pairs of tennis shoes. In both places there will be 3,000 that we’ll give away … And the impact it has on the young people, yeah. But the impact it has on my players, enormous … Autographs, pictures with the team, we’re going to do different things. Probably a mini practice. But it’s more about us getting into the communities like that.”

Regarding the two charity exhibiton games …

“You know we’re doing the exhibitions for charity,” Calipari said. “We’re going to do (it) for Children’s Hospital. So it gives us a chance to do something to give back to the community, but it also puts us against opponents, Kansas (at BWA) and TCU in Dallas where we’re playing down there, that you’re probably going to get stung pretty good, but it’s perfect for us to figure out where we are right now. For our fans to see where we are. For the staff, everyone has an idea of where we are right now. And that we’ve got work to do. I’ve never promised to have a magic wand. My teams, usually, at the beginning of the year will struggle some and by the end of the year, we’re playing at our best. I imagine that’ll be the same for our team.

“And even after that, Lipscomb (regular season opener on Nov. 6 at BWA), Lennie Acuff is one of the best coaches in the country. Lipscomb’s going to come in here and be a hard game. And then our next game is Baylor. They’re top-5 and we’re playing them down in Dallas. So you could take some spills early and they’d be what you need at that point. We may play better than we thought. But this is all about building a culture. The culture of what is expected and whatever that is, do more. What’s expected of you in this program? Well, you know what that is, but do more. Then what is unacceptable? That’s when you start building culture. Part of that culture is learning what not to do to lose. You want to lose a ballgame, do these things and you’re losing. So it’s both that and here’s what it takes to win. I’ve been saying this for a decade: ‘Why are we not playing each other in exhibition games?’ You’ve got TV you can put it on. Fans get to see it. What’s the reason? And they said, because. Well, because what? Because, because. By now, letting us do it as charity, it solves two issues for me. It gets us involved in different things in our community, and we get to play these kind of people. We may, Bill and I, Jamie and I, we’re all good friends. Let’s play zone for five minutes. Let’s press each other. Let’s do situation work. Let’s do two, three minute situations (where) we’re up eight and then we’re down eight and let’s see how we play. Why not? It’s good for both programs. People are going to want to see it. Like I said, I like to challenge the guys. When you’re doing this (in) another building, you need everybody to see where the program is …”

– Similar to how virtually everyone else reacted when they saw it, Calipari was blown away by fellow Naismith Hall of Famer and legendary retired Arkansas head coach Nolan Richardson, who addressed his team at a Razorbacks practice several weeks ago.

“Did you guys hear his talk? How good was it?” Calipari asked rhetorically. “There were two things about it, on point, everything. There’s no substitute for conditioning. There’s no substitute for strength and toughness. And then he said. ‘You either play to win or you play to play, which are you?’ Then he also said, ‘I like what I’m hearing and all that,’ but he did it in five minutes. Why can’t you go 13 minutes? This day and age, they can’t stay focused that long. He did all that he did within 5 minutes, it was unbelievable. So yes, and I want him to be a part of the program. I invited Ted Owens and Larry Brown and coach Richardson, all of them to come to this Kansas game and sit in the [CENSORED]. The history of the program and all that. I want to bring people in to meet with the kids and have an impact on them.”

– Calipari took some time discussing NIL affecting timelines on facility updgrades, and his philosophy of being both a players coach who helps families and a coach driven to win at the highest levels.

On NIL’s impact on facilities upgrades …

“I’ve coached in here (at BWA), the visitor’s locker room is… (shrugs). There is worse, though, than this in our league. Worse. One has nail things and a board that you hang your stuff on. Here’s what I’ll say, when you’re coaching, do you ever get to the concourse and go to the bathrooms? Like, all I’m doing is going from my office to walking on that court, seeing 20,000 people going crazy. I’m not in the seats that need to be replaced, so I don’t know if they need to be replaced. I’m not on the concourse going and getting a Coke. I leave that all up to Hunter (Yurachek, Arkansas athletics director) and his group. Whatever needs to be done here should be done, but NIL may slow it down. NIL is going to slow down facilities and different things that programs will want to do. That’s why I said here, we have the best facilities in for basketball. But have you been to the baseball facilities? Have you been to the softball facilities? Have you been to the football facilities? How about track, which has won 40, 50 national titles? Tennis. You know, golf. The Blessings and what they have here. Now we can get down to how we’re going to make this work with NIL and this building. And I’m telling you, I’m fine with this building. Now some fans may look at me and say, ‘well, my seat, I get a something.’ Oh, I get that. You know? But for our team to walk into Bud Walton, I’ve been here. I’ve gotten cheered one time. When did I get cheered here? When they threw me out. When they threw me out. They cheered. Now we’ll remind you, we still won that game. But I know what it’s like in this building, and it’s going to be fun. It doesn’t mean you win every game here. It doesn’t. It means the fans are as connected to the team as anywhere in the country. And now, again, I’m taking the team out to do some preseason stuff in Hot Springs, in Pine Bluff. And I’ve been to Hot Springs. I’ve been there twice. Pretty nice. I like the town. I’ve not been to Pine Bluff. I’m looking forward to it, though.

On his coaching philosophy …

“If my team really really does well, there’s probably six families on that team that are helped. You could be top ten and lose early, you’re a top ten team but you lose early, you might have three guys drafted from that team, two guys drafted from that team if we’re recruiting the kind and developing the kind of players that we do. So when I tell you 25 to 30, I’m hoping we have a lot of success because I know that will lead to a lot of players lives changing. I know people say, ‘You know he cares more about the kids or getting NBA players than winning.’ You don’t need to go over what I’ve been able to do coaching-wise, do you? I mean, c’mon, how do you say that? Other than you want to create a narrative that ‘He doesn’t care about winning.’ Have you ever watched me coach? Like, I don’t care about winning? But not at the expense of the kids. I’m not going to be that guy, not now. I’m not changing at this point, I don’t think I can if I wanted to. It doesn’t mean they run the plays. They are going to be held to a high standard. My best players are held to the highest standard. If I can’t coach them, how am I going to coach the other guys? You guys know if you’re one of my better players, I’m coaching you harder than I am anybody else. I would ask the team every year, ‘Who am I being hardest on?’ Sometimes there are like six of them that raise their hand.”

- Calipari shared his thoughts on staffers Kenny Payne (associate head coach), Chin Coleman (associate head coach), Tyler Ulis (assistant coach), and Ronnie Brewer, Jr. (director of student-athlete development) …

On Payne …

“Kenny and I really worked together well, but I’ve done that with other staff members, too,” Calipari said. “But I looked at Kenny and I said, ‘What I want you to remember, you’re Kenny — I used an adjective — Payne. Don’t you forget that. And I want you to come here and be that same guy. I want you to be who you are. I want you to challenge the kids. I want you to be involved in what we’re doing, talking to me offensively and defensively.’ And it gives me an experienced guy that I already know how we work together … We know what we want to do (as a staff), and then I bring in Kenny, who we’ve been together. So, yeah, it was important for me, and I think important for the kids. I want guys on this staff that bring value to young people. They don’t need to tell me what I want to hear. I’ve done this enough. Do you add value? Do you help them get better? Do you tell them the truth? Are you trying to just be their friend? Will they respect you, because you’re keeping it real? You’re telling them what they need to hear, and hopefully we’ve got a staff full of guys, and I believe we do, that will be that way.”

On Coleman …

“I’ve been around him enough to know the basketball, the feel for the game, he’s not afraid to coach,” Calipari said. “He’s good in recruiting situations in homes. He’s good. He’s driven and wired. You’ve got to be authentic at this stuff. You can’t like, try to fake it. He is who he is, and he loves it. That’s why I say, and not only that, I think he’ll be really, really successful.”

On Ulis …

“When he was my point guard, he did a lot of coaching of the team,” Calipari said. “I never said no to any of his suggestions. He would say something, and I’d say, ‘I like it. Let’s go with it’. So, having him back, giving him that opportunity. He had the injury in the NBA, set him back. He had a car accident, almost took his leg off, so it doesn’t look like he’s going to be able to come back and play. To give him a start, let him get going, be an on-the-court coach, and the kids will respect him.”

On Brewer …

“When you come in, you evaluate and you figure out who needs to be here to help us,” Calipari said. ” Who has a feel for what I’m about and what we are going to be about and the culture. I felt that with Ronnie. He had great support in the community and I knew his ties with recruiting, telling him, ” I want you… we need to know in Texas, in Dallas, in Kansas City, in St. Louis Missouri. In Memphis, in our state. Who are the best young players?” All the contacts he has and then I want to make sure he ties us to the former players, I think you saw that we brought some of the guys back and they were introduced on the football field. We just want everyone to understand that we’re standing on your shoulders. This is your program as well as anyone else’s You were here. You did it together. You did it at a high level. We did the fantasy experience and Joe Johnson and all the guys were back. It was pretty neat. I want Ronnie to be that connector for us. He’s done good and the kids respect him, they know him.”

- Calipari will be a featured guest at Little Rock Catholic High School’s annual alumni dinner next Thursday, Oct. 10, according to sources.