In an appearance on the Dan Patrick show, Razorbacks head coach John Calipari shared more details on the move to Arkansas and much more…
It’s been well over two months since Arkansas shocked the college basketball world and hired John Calipari away from Kentucky after 15 years. The Hall of Fame head coach hasn’t shied away from discussing ‘how’ and ‘why’ the move was made, and things were no different in his Wednesday morning appearance on the Dan Patrick Show.
In the interview, Patrick asked if it was weird for Calipari to be introduced as the Arkansas head coach. Calipari then spoke on how he’s gotten comfortable with it and offered an explanation for why everything happened.
“15 years at Kentucky,” Calipari said. “I loved it and it was a great run. We helped a lot of families. Won a lot of games, league championships, Final Fours, Elite Eights, national titles, Sweet Sixteens. They needed to hear another voice.
“I wasn’t planning on this, but when it came along…I’ve got to take advantage of this, now. Let me look. Then, over a two or three day period, (Arkansas is) in the SEC too. They’ve got great facilities, they have a great fanbase, a great building which houses 20,000, great home court, pretty good support…and lastly, I got to hire my son.”
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Brad Calipari officially joined his father’s Arkansas staff on May 23 as an assistant coach and Director of On-Court Player Development after two years at Vanderbilt. Outside of Arkansas being a great program and being able to hire his son, Calipari just felt it was time to move on and reiterated he doesn’t believe he was “pushed out” of Kentucky.
“I don’t believe that was the case,” Calipari said. “Let it be good for both (schools). I had 15 great years there. Let Mark Pope have 15 great years. Let me finish how I want to finish. Let me build another program. Let’s win another national championship. Let’s help another 25 families. Let me do this.”
Patrick and Calipari rehashed the story of how things came together with Arkansas athletics director Hunter Yurachek. Calipari shared the story of meeting with Yurachek during the Final Four weekend in early April once more, including a retelling of how his conversation with Houston coach Kelvin Sampson sold him on Yurachek and the Arkansas job.
“I’m having a hard time because I’m going to be leaving players, and Kelvin went crazy,” Calipari said. “If you leave, they can leave. They can go where they want. They can go with you. They can go pro. And if you stay, they can go somewhere else.”
“That got me to thinking a different way, and within 36 hours I said, ‘I want this new challenge.’ I want to help a bunch of families, I want to bring something to that state and the program that ‘explodes’ the state. Let’s go. Let’s go do this.”
In the two months since his hiring was made official, Calipari’s put together an impressive first Razorbacks roster. The 2024 Arkansas class ranks No. 3 overall includes the No. 1 transfer portal haul in the country, according to 247Sports.
Currently, the staff is focused on finishing out the schedule for next season and recruiting the 2025 and 2026 classes. Next Tuesday, they’ll host 2025 5-star guard Meleek Thomas on an official visit. Thomas will be just the second 2025 prospect to officially visit Arkansas, with more expected in the coming months.
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