Breaking Free: Arkansas Offers Calipari a Fresh Start and Saves Kentucky from Stagnation
Kentucky found itself stranded. John Calipari was as well. The 65-year-old Hall of Fame coach’s union with the blue-blooded team was more than stale. It was poisonous. It was uncomfortable. It appeared more like a hostage video when Calipari and athletic director Mitch Barnhart appeared on a local television program last month to reassure supporters that they both understood the importance of leading the Wildcats back to victory.
Calipari, with his massive buyout, had Barnhart and Kentucky by the basketballs.
And then, like a surprise gift from above, Arkansas and its millionaire backers moved in to pay the coach what no one else could and grab him. Everyone is successful. Alright, so maybe not the Razorbacks, but definitely Kentucky and Calipari. He and the Wildcats both sorely needed a second chance.
In his ten years, the man who guided Kentucky to seven Elite Eights, four Final Fours, and a national championship decided it was time to move on after his team missed the NCAA Tournament cutoff line for the fourth time in a row. The heyday had long since passed. Calipari’s support base had grown sour. Barnhart had become tired of the proportion of bluster to banners he was receiving from the most influential coach on campus, despite their fake smile on the video. However, ending a relationship would be difficult, and both parties appeared afraid of getting a divorce in case the previous magic could be restored. After all, when it was good, it was really fantastic.
So the odd couple trudged toward an uncomfortable 16th year together and Barnhart — either unwilling or unable to pay Calipari $33 million to go away – grit his teeth and said to the public (via the program’s TV partner) things like, “This notion we have no relationship and stuff like that is garbage. The way we’ve gotten through 15 years, it’s been pretty good. We’ve had some highs and lows and we’ve had some things that haven’t gone exactly the way we wanted to, but by and large, I’m sitting next to a guy that I brought here 15 years ago and we’ve been together just fine.”
Since 2020, the Kentucky program has been just fine; yet, neither the Wildcats nor the Calipari desire to reside in just fine.
For a very long time, Calipari believed that ten years was the maximum amount of time anyone could, or should, head a program like Kentucky because of the high standards and other non-basketball responsibilities that came with the job. According to him, coaching ages a person in dog years, much like the US president. Nevertheless, he sailed over the 10-year mark and refused to acknowledge that his results had started to decline after that point. Never was Calipari more adamant about going about things his way—recent results be damned—than in the aftermath of his second first-round NCAA Tournament exit in the previous three years.
He lamented the errors made by such a young squad after being bounced by 14th-seeded Oakland, which would have been the biggest tournament upset in program history if not for the 2022 defeat to 15th-seeded Saint Peter’s. Then, when asked if he would reconsider building a team strong in freshmen players in light of recent postseason failures over and over in a time when collegiate basketball had trended increasingly older, Calipari said, “I’ve done this with young teams my whole career, and it’s going to be hard for me to change that.”
He was after a seventh freshmen, having already signed six for the next campaign. Play “I Got You Babe” on the radio when you set your alarm. Groundhog Day, only better. Whether they were right or wrong, Kentucky supporters were not interested in hearing, for the millionth time, that “Wait ’til you see these freshmen coming in.”
That will be a novel strategy, at least at Arkansas, where it is reasonable to expect Calipari will bring most of his No. 2-ranked recruiting class. With those billionaires supporting the Hogs, his predecessor Eric Musselman was more than capable of securing McDonald’s All-Americans. However, he used the transfer site to build the majority of his lineups using a different class of rental player.
Building up a roster of future NBA players and enrolling top recruits can be exhilarating for a while, and Kentucky was seduced by this notion for a considerable amount of time. However, it does not seem as tempting these days because you have to wake up hangover-prone on the first weekend of March Madness every year.Arkansas has the means to ensure that Calipari stays the king of crootin’ if he so chooses. (The strange thing about his saying Kentucky needs to invest more money is that he has never ceased receiving great talent.) However, there should not be any fear in Lexington about kicking the habit of attending highly regarded signing classes. What has all that talent done for the Cats since 2020? The next coach, with even average talent, can surely manage more than one win in both the SEC and NCAA tournaments over a four-year span.
Between Connecticut and Purdue, the two teams vying for a national championship on Monday night, their rosters total one former five-star recruit. For the past two seasons, Dan Hurley and Matt Painter have combined for a 130-21 record. Hurley has an opportunity to become the first winner to win the title twice since the Florida Gators of Billy Donovan in 2006 and 2007. In this era of college basketball, there are better ways to assemble a team than what Calipari has decided upon. Additionally, there are more effective staff-building strategies than Calipari’s buddy system. Over the past four years, the Wildcats have occasionally appeared remarkably unprepared, but word from inside the school indicated that he had no plans to reorganize his staff this offseason.
This has nothing to do with undermining Calipari’s former status at Kentucky. He restored the Cats’ cool. Throughout that incredible first ten years, he increased the number of national titles won and had the UK in the running for a championship practically every year. His charitable nature was evident throughout the state, as he consistently provided support to those in need, making him a positive influence.
The goal here is not to take away anything positive from his legacy. It is about accepting that Calipari has been undermining that heritage since 2020. It is about admitting that the trip was finished and it was time to get off for everyone involved. And just when it appeared like Calipari and Kentucky would still give it a go, Arkansas intervened to save them from themselves.
(Photo: Tim Nwachukwu / Getty)