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After serious talks between Kentucky coach John Calipari and Arkansas officials progressed quickly Sunday, it appears Calipari will be the next Razorbacks’ coach, a source told CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander. The source said Calipari becoming the Arkansas coach is “imminent.”
Kentucky athletic director Mitch Barnhart told CBS Sports that Calipari has not notified him of talking to Arkansas AD Hunter Yurachek about potentially becoming the next Arkansas coach. However, sources said UK officials have been notified about the talks as Calipari’s contract terms mandate he must inform Kentucky if he engages with another school about a job interview.
Sources told Norlander that the Tyson family, Arkansas’ biggest donor, is prepared to make a major commitment to land Calipari, who has been very close with the Tyson family for years.
Calipari has spent the past 15 seasons as the leader of the Wildcats program and would remain in the SEC to succeed Eric Musselman, who took the vacant job at USC earlier this month if he were to accept an offer to become Arkansas’ next coach.
Calipari, 65, took the job at Kentucky in 2009 after spending nine seasons at Memphis. Calipari previously had stops as an assistant coach at Kansas (1982-85) and Pittsburgh (1985-88) and was the head coach at UMass from 1988-96. Calipari dipped his toes into the NBA world and was the coach of the New Jersey Nets (now the Brooklyn Nets) from 1996-99 and spent one season as an assistant coach for the Philadelphia 76ers during the 1999-2000 season.
The news of Calipari talking with Arkansas comes weeks after his meeting with Barnhart. The conclusion from that meeting was Calipari would return for his 16th season with the program.
“As we normally do at the end of every season, Coach Calipari and I have had conversations about the direction of our men’s basketball program and I can confirm that he will return for his 16th season as our head coach,” Barnhart said last month.
The Wildcats season ended with a loss to No. 14 seed Oakland in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Kentucky failed to reach the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament for the third consecutive season with the loss to the Golden Grizzlies. Kentucky missed the tournament in 2021 and lost to Saint Peter’s and Kansas State, respectively the two previous seasons.
In his 15 years at the school, Calipari compiled a 410-122 record with four Final Four appearances (2011, 2012, 2014, and 2015) and coached Kentucky’s last national championship team in 2012.
Calipari is known as one of the best high school recruiters in the country. Kentucky landed the No. 1 overall recruiting class in the 2023 cycle, which included standouts Reed Sheppard, Rob Dillingham, Justin Edwards, D.J. Wagner, and Aaron Bradshaw.
The Wildcats’ incoming recruiting ranked No. 2 in the country behind Duke. That recruiting class includes five-star center Jayden Quaintance, four-star guard Boogie Fland, four-star center Somto Cyril, four-star guard Travis Perry, four-star guard Billy Richmond, and four-star forward Karter Knox.
The Arkansas job opened after Musselman left to replace former USC coach Andy Enfield, who departed for the vacant job at SMU. Musselman spent five seasons with Arkansas and helped them reach the Elite Eight twice and the Sweet 16 once during his tenure.
The Razorbacks finished this season with a 16-17 record and (6-12 in SEC) and missed the NCAA Tournament for the first time during Musselman’s tenure. Multiple Arkansas players such as Tramon Mark, Khalif Battle, and Davonte Davis have already entered the transfer portal.
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