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He certainly doesn't leave Lexington for Fayetteville with the same glow he had a few years back. Teams playing for CBB titles this season had experienced players whether from recruiting HS or recruiting the Portal and most often a bit of both. Cal for the most part stayed with one and done frosh wonders. 

 

Kentucky has not gotten past the 2nd round of the tournament since 2019. Calipari has a $33M buyout. I wonder how this is being finessed. A huge hire for Arkansas but is Cal past his prime.

 

Who's next for Big Blue? Pitino to Kentucky after once doing great things at Louisville or a younger up-and-coming coach like Bama's Nate Oates? Bruce Pearl at Auburn might also be a candidate. And would Danny Hurley consider leaving UConn?

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This is like Lincoln Riley leaving Oklahoma before things caught up with him, and he would be eventually shown the door.  Strike for your biggest contract while you still have the cachet, and the going is good...  From one SEC team to another?  Should be some interesting games later...

Mr. FishDuck

On 4/8/2024 at 8:37 AM, Charles Fischer said:

This is like Lincoln Riley leaving Oklahoma before things caught up with him, and he would be eventually shown the door.  Strike for your biggest contract while you still have the cachet, and the going is good...  From one SEC team to another?  Should be some interesting games later...

Yep, feels like getting out of Dodge to me.

  • Moderator

He certainly doesn't leave Lexington for Fayetteville with the same glow he had a few years back. Teams playing for CBB titles this season had experienced players whether from recruiting HS or recruiting the Portal and most often a bit of both. Cal for the most part stayed with one and done frosh wonders. 

 

Kentucky has not gotten past the 2nd round of the tournament since 2019. Calipari has a $33M buyout. I wonder how this is being finessed. A huge hire for Arkansas but is Cal past his prime.

 

Who's next for Big Blue? Pitino to Kentucky after once doing great things at Louisville or a younger up-and-coming coach like Bama's Nate Oates? Bruce Pearl at Auburn might also be a candidate. And would Danny Hurley consider leaving UConn?

He is very close with Arkansas's biggest booster, John Tyson.  Tyson is rumored to have pushed very, very hard for this hire.

Good move for everyone involved.  Things have been getting stale in Lexington over the last few years, Cal probably needed something new, Arkansas was struggling to bring in a big name, they whiffed on some others.  Really like this for everyone.

On 4/7/2024 at 10:18 PM, Steven A said:
WWW.ESPN.COM

John Calipari is finalizing a five-year deal to become the next men's basketball coach at Arkansas, sources told ESPN on Sunday night.

 

I remember when Altman took that job for about 15 minutes.

 

(for some reason can't "check post")

Does Cal have to sing , "Wooo, Pig, Sooie"?

  • Moderator
On 4/8/2024 at 3:50 PM, woundedknees said:

Does Cal have to sing , "Wooo, Pig, Sooie"?

Only when he cashes his paycheck. 😍

Wow a bombshell here. I was just wondering while watching the Natty tonight how much longer Cal would last at UK when his "high school superstar one and done" model was no longer the key to success in the NCAAs. Moving to Arky is not being banished to the netherworld. Nolan Richardson proved that big time winning is not impossible there, that's for sure. But the model has to change. For one thing, I doubt Coach Cal can have the success recruiting the elite of high school basketball to Fayetteville.  And even if he could, his model is stale.

 

I used to think that UK could be a consistently dominating program if Cal could get the guys he recruited to stick around three years, mature, and experience the value of teamwork. I remember thinking that NIL may be the key to bringing this about. Yet I have heard through the grapevine that many of the UK players did not ever go to class, had no interest in so doing, and probably wouldn't have remained eligible for much longer than a semester or two. It will be interesting, if this move comes to pass, to watch Coach Cal try to adapt to the changing landscape of college hoops.

 

Calipari once took UMASS to the Final Four. He turned Memphis into a National power, should've won a title in '08. So the guy can coach, but he got caught up with stacking McDonalds All Americans. He won on title in '12 , and had that undefeated season in '15 before losing to Wisconsin in the Final Four.

 

Since then it's been losses to double digit seeds. The formula for winning is now having experience. Guys with two kids and a mortgage payment. Coach Cal just can't get past this fact. Just hit the transfer portal Cal, pay the established guys not wanting to be one and dones.

 

Kentucky to Arkansas is a step down. That tells me this wasn't 100 percent his choice.

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