Could John Calipari be the Next Head Coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks?
The recent rumor mill has been stirred by some online mentioning that Kentucky Wildcats head coach, Calipari has been a name linked to the Arkansas Razorbacks head coaching search by athletic director, Hunter Yurachek. In this article, I dive into why it would actually make sense for both sides if Calipari decided to make the jump to coach the Razorbacks in Fayetteville.
John Calipari has been the head coach of the Kentucky Wildcats since the 2010 season, including 13 NCAA Tournament appearances, one National Championship and four final four appearances.
The last final four appearance however came back in 2015, and the last national championship came more than a decade ago in 2012. With all that being said, Calipari still recruits at a very high level and while Kentucky fans may have higher expectations than just tournament appearances, other schools like Arkansas may be very well satisfied.
With the departure of Eric Musselman who took the head coaching position at USC earlier this week, the vacancy for the Arkansas Razorbacks and athletic director Hunter Yurachek has been all the buzz. And it has been reported by Lance Dawe on a recent episode of LockedOn Kentucky that Calipari is being rumored by some to be a target of Yurachek’s.
While Dawe points out that he does not believe there is truth to this rumor, it is at least intriguing to think about, is it not? And the “what if” that would come from it for Kentucky as well.
The way this would make sense is because of a few things.
Arkansas Athletic Director, Hunter Yurachek Needs to Make a Big Splash
Recently, Yurachek could have very well put himself squarely on the hot seat after he went on the 1 Star recruits YouTube channel making some statements off of a social media video post he made that did not sit well with the Razorbacks fan base as detailed in my article here.
The Kentucky Fan Base is not Happy with John Calipari
Again, while making the NCAA Tournament year-over-year may be satisfactory for the majority of schools in college basketball, it is not that way if you are at a blue blood school like the Kentucky Wildcats. There are expectations beyond making it to the first or second round, and especially when you are bringing in a bunch of five-star recruits.
With that being said, it may actually suit Calipari to find a cooler seat in Fayetteville as coach of the Hogs where simply making the NCAA Tournament would be more of the expectation and satisfaction level instead of having to win national championships and make it to final fours.
Will this happen? Most likely not, but it intriguing to think about like I said.