John Calipari hits ground running in Arkansas after ugly final chapter at Kentucky that ‘sucks’

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The new man in city regrets the optics. A sterile nook workplace overlooking Arkansas’ Bud Walton Arena is, for now, a muted tribute to what’s about to happen. 

“They’ve got this a little bit like a dentist’s office, so I apologize,”  John Calipari says, stepping out from behind an empty desk. 

Things will quickly be cluttered, difficult and all-consuming for the Hogs’ new basketball coach — simply not at the moment. Coach Cal has his first new job in 15 years. He should meet individuals, reveal the persona that comes up on you want a three-quarter court docket press. Not all of these persons are the much-scrutinized recruits who’re populating that empty roster Calipari referred to in his introductory press conference. 

Some of them are holy. 

“We sleep pig and wake pig,” mentioned Father Jason Sharbaugh, who has already noticed Cal on campus at mass. “It’s all the more sweet having Coach in.”

Some of them are tolerated. For now, the hall-of-fame coach is sharing a brief apartment along with his son Brad close to the middle of the campus leisure district, Dickson Street.

“They mentioned to me, ‘It may get a little loud. It’s down by the strip,’ Calipari defined. “I used to be there Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. No drawback. Friday? One place has reside music, the opposite has karaoke, the opposite has a DJ.

“The whole room is like shaking from [the noise]. I’m sleeping with ear plugs.”

Some — properly, one — is a billionaire.

“One of the things Coach Cal does is he out-cares any coach in America,” mentioned John Tyson, chairman of Tyson Foods, shut buddy and driving drive behind Calipari taking the job. “If you do it the right way, the derivative of that is you might win the national championship.”

That’s actually what that is all about, isn’t it? Not simply the potential for a natty, the precise documented proof of idea. Calipari has gained one amongst his 855 profession victories. His bona fides additionally embrace six Final Fours, 12 Elite Eights and 15 Sweet 16s.

None of them recently, after all, however at age 65, Arkansas has develop into the subsequent podium from which Cal can preach. Yes, Calipari has reached retirement age, however seems to be 55 and has extra left in the tank than an Escalade. Never one to go away aptitude on the bench, the coach’s departure from Kentucky was as stunning as his arrival right here was spectacular.

It was each the suddenness — and the vacation spot — that astounded. Arkansas? Hogs in all places love their hoops.

“I grew up on that action,” mentioned Sharbaugh, pastor of University of Arkansas Newman Center Parish. “I just love the game. Next to Jesus, it’s the hottest thing in the universe.”

But it’s additionally honest to level out Arkansas’ place in the sporting universe. The Razorbacks final gained 11 soccer video games in 2011. A number of months later coach Bobby Petrino crashed his bike with a lady on board from the workers who was not his spouse. Scandal ensued. 

Nolan Richardson gained Arkansas’ final and solely basketball championship in 1994. Eric Musselman contributed two Elite Eights in 5 seasons earlier than leaving final month for … USC.

“You could see that coach Musselman had a desire — if maybe the right job opened up on the West Coast — to go home,” Tyson mentioned. 

It’s moreover honest, then, to claim that is the most important rent in the college’s athletic historical past. Arkansas coaches have come from Kentucky (John Pelphrey performed for the Wildcats) and gone to Kentucky (Eddie Sutton) however there was nothing like this. 

The likes of Frank Broyles, Sutton and Richardson just about made their bones right here. Lou Holtz gained a convention title, however bolted to Minnesota earlier than discovering the crest of his profession at Notre Dame. 

Legends, all of them, however Calipari comes prepackaged — oozing championship pedigree. He’s acquired the blueprint saved in the synapses someplace beneath that completely quaffed ‘do. Just step aside and let him show you. It’s anticipated, truly. 

“I made the analogy, this like you have a worldwide company and it’s in New York … and you’re being encouraged by another area,” Calipari advised CBS Sports. “So you move the headquarters.”

From CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander to Jay Bilas, just about all the sport’s tastemakers hailed Calipari’s transfer as a multi-level win — for Cal, for Arkansas, for Kentucky — for school basketball. 

All of them acquired a reset. Of course, Cal’s transfer can’t be recounted with no reminder that a large quantity of Big Blue Nation needed him gone. To that, properly, Calipari can’t wait to reply. 

“I think some people were happy,” the coach mentioned of his departure from Kentucky. “[Some were saying], ‘We’ve had this guy 15 years and we’ve only won 500 games.’ [Actually 410] We only won one national title and four Final Fours and eight Elite Eights? What the hell is going on here?’”

The sarcasm would possibly as properly be dripping from the ceiling. Calipari then launched into slice-of-life recollections from going again to Lexington, Kentucky, for a day earlier than his exit. Folks have been yelling, “We love you.” A pair pulled their automotive over to want him properly. At Panera “one of the ladies came from the back in tears to hug me,” Cal mentioned.

And now he’s theirs once more, solely right here. 

“I’m a poor, miserable sinner,” Calipari mentioned. “Please, That’s who I am. I hope I have a good heart for kids and their families. I’m not a magician and I don’t have a magic wand.”

If not, he’s acquired rights to the very best set of card tips ever seen.  

Regardless, Arkansas has proved it’s all in. There is already discuss of a monster NIL warfare chest. As of Tuesday, the once-depleted Arkansas roster now contains seven scholarship gamers. Two Kentucky gamers have transferred to Arkansas — Adou Thiero and Zvonimor Ivišić. FAU switch Johnell Davis, the most effective skills in the portal, led the Owls to the 2023 Final Four. Tennessee switch Jonas Aidoo averaged 11 and seven for the Vols. 247Sports presently has Calipari’s first Arkansas class No. 6 nationally, third in the SEC.

Think of what’s at stake, not solely Arkansas’ basketball future however Kentucky’s basketball model. What if the Hogs edge previous the Wildcats on the nationwide scene at some level with Calipari?

The transition has been swift and spectacular. It was made clear by Cal there will probably be competitors at Arkansas for a good rotation. The Division I most is 13 scholarships per staff. Who truly performs is one other factor. 

“I enjoyed coaching last year. I had a ball, but that was hard,” Calipari mentioned. “Then Reed Sheppard decides to become [SEC] Freshman of the Year. I asked him after the season, ‘How much did you expect to play?’ He said, ‘Ah, I thought I’d be carrying water.’ Did you expect to leave here after the season? He said, ‘Coach, I expected to be here all four years.’ ”

That’s a roundabout means of Cal saying he nonetheless has it. Sheppard left for the NBA after a 12 months and is projected as a top-10 NBA Draft choose.  

“My thought was, ‘We’re going to get this,’ and we had a good group coming in … ,” Calipari continued. “It wasn’t like we have been 15-15. But there’s an expectation the place it’s solely successful championships and successful that ‘ship. 

The Calipari rollout got here on a latest wet Wednesday night time at Bud Walton. Calipari regarded misplaced at his introductory press convention. Watching him put on purple Arkansas gear was like watching Derek Jeter in a Padres uniform as an alternative of pinstripes. Some issues simply want getting used to. This was life-changing in a basketball sense. Ted Owens, the 94-year-old former Kansas coach who gave Calipari his first job, signaled that by making the journey over from Tulsa, Oklahoma. 

The solely factor lacking was Cal’s first public calling of the hogs. That’s coming too and will probably be a significant occasion in these elements. 

“It gave [fans] a chance to really thump their chests and say, ‘Hey we got a blue blood’s head coach to come to our university and coach our men’s basketball team,’” Arkansas AD Hunter Yurachek mentioned. 

An athletic division whose funds was tenth amongst 14 SEC groups final 12 months, has a contemporary celebrity on the bench. A state of solely 3 million individuals is hungry to rally round a gregarious legend from Moon Township, Pennsylvania who was as soon as fired by the New Jersey Nets. 

 “I’m not going to try to get spiritual,” Calipari mentioned. Then, after all, he did. 

“Something nudges you and you don’t know what it is,” the coach continued. “But I’ve been there [at Kentucky] 15 years. Maybe it’s ‘You’ve done what I needed you to do there for the kids, for the state. Now I need you to do something down there [at Arkansas].’ ”

The earth-bound driving drive behind the rent definitely doesn’t wish to be thought-about the driving drive behind the rent. Tyson, 70, is definitely the basketball patriarch of this endeavor. Yes, he’s the cash man of many issues in Arkansas. This one occurs to be private.

This is Tyson’s second run at Calipari. While Calipari was at Memphis in 2007, Tyson and Broyles reached out. Calipari couldn’t make himself go away his gamers — particularly Derrick Rose — again then. Memphis then performed for a nationwide championship in 2008. 

“I think we were close [to getting him] but that’s when Cal said, ‘I’m committed to my kids,’ Tyson said. “Back then kids couldn’t move. Nowadays kids can move.”

Which form of explains the sport, the local weather and the explanation for the transfer.

Neither Calipari nor Tyson can keep in mind the circumstances of their first assembly 20 years in the past. They bonded over discuss of management. Tyson oversees a worldwide meals firm headquartered in Springdale, Arkansas, that is second nationally in the processing of rooster, beef and pork. He reminisces lovingly about his late father, Don,  who admired Harry Truman a lot his workplace is constructed in an oval form for 2 causes.

That imitates each Truman’s Oval Office and the form of eggs laid by chickens that are so vital to the corporate. 

Calipari specializes in shaping 18-year-olds into champions for the one of many greatest manufacturers in school basketball. His gamers have signed NBA contracts value greater than $4 billion. 

That must be relatable to any CEO — or recruit. When Kentucky got here to city Calipari would exit of his technique to have Tyson at his courtside seat. Never thoughts Tyson being an enormous Arkansas benefactor.

“He’s my friend first,” he mentioned of Calipari.

They name one another youthful nicknames of endearment — Johnny. That’s why when Tyson mentioned it’s honest to say issues had gotten stale between the 2 events at Kentucky it means one thing.

“I talk to my folks around here. There are cycles,” Tyson mentioned. ‘Don’t inform me you’re going to retire at 65. There are enterprise cycles. When we get to the top of the cycle, would you like to join one other cycle?’ ” 

You don’t need to be dunked on to get the connection. Cal has signed up for one more cycle at Arkansas. And stale has completely different definitions. Calipari as soon as consulted former Kentucky coach Joe B. Hall, who lasted 13 years in the Big Blue maelstrom. 

“I stayed three years too many,” Calipari quoted Hall as telling him. 

Cal stayed at Kentucky two years past that. At the top of final season Tyson estimated there have been three choices for his buddy  – stick with the Wildcats, chase a championship elsewhere or go do TV. 

“But he’s a competitor,” Tyson mentioned.

“Last year revived me. I had so much fun with those kids and they celebrated each other,” Calipari mentioned. “The way it ended … I’ll just say, sucks.”

The first-round loss to Oakland marked the third straight 12 months UK completed in need of the Sweet 16. The final time that occurred was 2006-2008 underneath Tubby Smith and Billy Gillespie.

The Arkansas’ hiring course of took lower than three days. On April 4 Yurachek was in Phoenix for the Final Four. About 1 pm PT Musselman knowledgeable the AD he was taking the USC job. 

Tyson first known as his teaching buddy to ask if he’d converse to Yurachek about vetting candidates. Yurachek known as Calipari that night time. 

At some level Yurachek reduce to the chase and requested Calipari if he was . 

“In my judgment as a businessman, either you go big [or not],” Tyson mentioned. “When we have been speaking massive, I threw out three names. I mentioned, ‘Do you name Bill Self? Do you name Danny Hurley or do you name Coach Cal?

‘Or do you [hire], Chris Beard, Jerome Tang. In the business world you call that a lateral move. You go get somebody who knows how to do the business. You’re in all probability going to need to pay them a little bit extra.”

It wasn’t till Yurachek and Calipari talked that they came upon they have been in the identical metropolis for unrelated causes. Cal was in Phoenix for an NABC assembly. (He is the present president of the coaches’ group.) Yurachek was additionally there for a gathering as a member of the College Football Playoff choice committee. 

Calipari mentioned any face-to-face assembly must occur rapidly.

Tyson then advised Yurachek he’d higher have a plan. That is, aligning the support and sources of the college to make such a rent. In different phrases, John Calipari doesn’t need to interview for the job. He simply has to need it.  

“Swing big … who would you hire?” Tyson emphasised. “Coach Cal, of course.”

The two sides linked. Calipari vetted Yurachek with Houston coach Kelvin Sampson, who had labored underneath Yurachek, the previous Cougars’ AD.  

Cal didn’t need the information to leak that he had been speaking to Arkansas, stealing the highlight from the Final Four. Then, after all, it leaked.

“I’m not mad about it,” Calipari mentioned, “but it wasn’t me and then it was like an avalanche.”

Speculation and anticipation ran wild. By that Saturday night time an oral settlement was shut. Only a good circle knew – Yurachek, Calipari, Cal’s lawyer Tom Mars and an Arkansas board member. That in itself was distinctive. Yurachek had as soon as been named in a lawsuit filed by Mars who was representing former soccer coach Bret Bielema towards the Arkansas Razorback Foundation.

“Hunter was a real pro. He was hands-on. I guess he forgave me for all the horrible things I said about him in the Bielema lawsuit,” Mars joked.

Attorney Matt McCoy, who oversees athletic division authorized affairs, was looped in. 

“We just kept at it and got the contract finished Monday night,” mentioned a supply concerned in the talks. “A land-speed record.” 

It helped that Cal didn’t have an agent, a rarity for somebody of his stature. An agent would have taken roughly $1.225 million of the $35 million Calipari is incomes over these 5 years in charges. An agent would have presumably prolonged the negotiations by weeks. 

Arkansas was certainly all in. The basketball world — no, American sports activities — gasped. Dickson Street had a brand new inhabitant.

In the center of the interview in that sterile workplace, a well-recognized face ducked in the doorway.

“You good?” he mentioned.

It was not some assistant doing a preplanned drop by to ensure the interview didn’t run too lengthy. This was Brad Calipari, that 27-year-old coaches’ son and roommate who has moved over from the workers at Vanderbilt.

John Calipari certainly was good. For now.

“His mom is telling him to check on me every 30 minutes to see if I’m still alive,” the coach mentioned.