Sources: Hoop Hogs lure Kentucky head coach John Calipari to Arkansas for 5-year, $40 million deal

LITTLE ROCK (PIG TRAIL NATION) – Arkansas is finalizing a deal to make the biggest plate tectonic shift hire in college basketball spanning the last several years.

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 indicate Calipari will have a significant NIL offer, between $5 and $6 million per year, at his disposal for recruiting at Arkansas.

Sources: Arkansas Razorbacks zero in on Kentucky’s John Calipari as new men’s basketball coach

It’s the first time in a storied Razorbacks basketball program that a head coaching hire of elite magnitude has been achieved.

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

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

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 leading Big Blue in Lexington.

Sources: Eric Musselman interviewing at USC

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.

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).

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His overall record as a Division I college head coach is 813-260 (.758), which included a 410-122 mark at Kentucky.