The Kentucky football coach spoke out on the departure of his former colleague.
Kentucky football coach Mark Stoops penned a farewell to John Calipari after the former Wildcats basketball coach left for the job at Arkansas this week. The two coaches spent the previous 11 years together in Lexington after Stoops took over the football program in 2013. Calipari joined the basketball program in 2009.
“I would like to wish (Coach Calipari) and his family well in their new endeavor,” Stoops posted to social media Wednesday. “We spent 11 years working together and I really appreciate all they did for UK and the Commonwealth.”
Calipari and Stoops’ junction at Kentucky proved to be one of the most successful stints for the basketball and football programs in school history. Calipari led the Wildcats to five 30+ win seasons on the hardwood and four Final Four berths during his 15-year tenure. Stoops has guided his program to seven bowl appearances in the last eight years and two of the program’s four 10-win seasons.
Arkansas officially announced Calipari as head coach Wednesday, signing the the Hall of Fame coach to a five-year deal that pays $7 million annually. The base salary is $500,000, but there’s an additional compensation of $6.5 million, keeping him as the second-highest-paid coach in college basketball.
Calipari is arguably the greatest recruiter in college basketball history and led Kentucky to No. 1 in the AP Poll in seven of his first 11 seasons on campus. However, the Wildcats won just one NCAA Tournament game the last five seasons of his tenure and suffered first-round losses to double-digit seeds two of the last three postseasons.
“We’re appreciative of John Calipari leading our program for the last 15 years, adding to the legacy of championship success at Kentucky,” Kentucky athletic director Mitch Barnhart said in a statement following Calipari’s departure. “We’re grateful to John for his many contributions to the University, and our state, both on and off the court. We are working diligently to hire a proven, highly dedicated coach who embraces the importance of this program to our fans and the state of Kentucky.”
Per CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein, Baylor head coach Scott Drew will “officially meet” with Kentucky regarding its head coaching vacancy in the” near future.”
Drew took over a Baylor program rocked by public scandal and NCAA sanctions in 2003 and has turned it into one of college basketball’s premier programs over the last two decades. The Bears had been to just four NCAA Tournaments in program history before Drew’s arrival and have made 12 appearances since, including five Elite Eight runs and a national championship in 2021. The Bears climbed into the top 10 of the AP Poll each of the last five seasons and have been among college basketball’s steadiest programs under Drew’s guidance.
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