A deal between Arkansas and John Calipari is nearing completion amid concerns the current Kentucky basketball head coach had second thoughts about leaving Lexington. Negotiations between the two parties are still on-going and a contract should be finalized and signed Tuesday, sources familiar with the discussions tell Brandon Marcello. An announcement from Arkansas is expected when Calipari signs the deal.
Calipari brushed off a reporter Monday while walking his dog in Lexington, Ky., and declined to comment on the developing situation.
As a Basketball Hall of Fame inductee and three-time National Coach of the Year award winner, Calipari will bring tremendous winning experience to Arkansas when he officially makes his intra-conference move. He led Kentucky to the 2012 national championship and has six career Final Four appearances across his stops at Kentucky, Memphis and Massachusetts.
Calipari and Arkansas began conversations as early as Friday, a source familiar with the discussions told 247Sports’ Brandon Marcello. The legendary coach’s relationships and fan support in Lexington have been strained in recent years as his Wildcats have won just one NCAA Tournament game since 2019, and Calipari finished his 15th year at Kentucky with a first-round loss to Oakland. He is 410-122 overall and 198-65 in SEC play with the one national championship. He last advanced to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament in 2019 with a trip to the Elite Eight.
The key to Calipari’s interest in Arkansas is mega booster John Tyson, chairman of Tyson Foods — a mainstay among Arkansas businesses. Tyson is heavily involved in the pursuit of Calipari, Marcello reports, and is offering financial support to help lure him to coach the Razorbacks.
ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported late Sunday that Calipari and Arkansas are working on a five-year contract with an annual salary under $8.5 million, which is expected to be finalized within 24 hours.
Calipari would replace ex-Arkansas coach Eric Musselman, who departed from the Razorbacks program last week for USC. He led the Hogs to three-straight Sweet 16 appearances earlier in his tenure — including back-to-back trips to the Elite Eight — but suffered through a losing season in his fifth and final year in Fayetteville.
The Arkansas opening is not the first coaching vacancy that garnered Calipari’s attention this offseason, though. CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander reports that Calipari privately expressed “significant” interest in Ohio State’s job before the Buckeyes promoted Jake Diebler from interim coach to head coach. The timing, however, was not right for Calipari, and the Arkansas job opening after Musselman’s departure presented a “dream shot out of Lexington.”
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Calipari’s expected departure from Kentucky comes after athletic director Mitch Barnhard announced after the Wildcats’ first-round March Madness exit that Calipari would return for a 16th season.
Carter Bahns contributed to this report.
