Rumors Swirling That Kentucky Coach John Calipari Will Accept Arkansas Job

Getty Image / Tim Nwachukwu

It seemed like the college basketball coaching carousel was going to quietly end. But, former Arkansas Head Coach Erik Musselman left Fayetteville for  USC last week, opening up the Arkansas job, possibly for John Calipari.

Late Sunday night, credible sources around the Arkansas program started reporting that barring any last-second changes, legendary Kentucky Coach John Calipari would be leaving Lexington for Fayetteville.

Here’s Fox 16 out of Little Rock, Arkansas, with more.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Multiple sources are confirming to FOX 16 Sports Director Wess Moore that Kentucky’s John Calipari is expected to become the new head coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks men’s basketball team.

The hiring comes after former Hogs coach Eric Musselman departed from the team after five years to become the new coach of the University of Southern California.

At around 10:45 ET, credible reports have Calipari and Arkansas negotiating with each other.

As far as stunning hires go, John Calipari leaving one of the sport’s blue bloods for Arkansas would be an absolute stunner. It’s not as if Arkansas is a bad program historically. The opposite is true, actually. But, still, leaving Kentucky for another college job seems, on the surface, insane.

But, John Calipari may feel like the time is right to move on. The 2012 National Champion has seen things stagnate at Kentucky in recent years after a great first decade in Lexington. They have just one NCAA Tournament win since 2018-2019, and have lost to a 15-seed and a 14-seed in 2022 and 2024. The talent is still flocking to play for Big Blue. But, in an era where college basketball is getting older, young Kentucky teams are not faring well in big games.

If he does take the Arkansas job, it would be interesting to see whether he continues with the same roster-building strategy or if he focuses on building up teams with a lot of experience playing together.