Arkansas Fans Go Nuts For Tyson Foods Heir That Lured John Calipari To Fayetteville

Getty Image / Wesley Hitt

It’s been quite the week for Arkansas basketball fans. After former Head Coach Eric Musselman left to go to USC, a coaching search ended with the stunning hire of coaching legend and former Kentucky Head Coach John Calipari. 

As far as college basketball coaching hires go, this one was as seismic a coaching hire as there has been in recent memory. It seemed to come out of nowhere on Sunday night to being more-or-less a done deal just a few hours later.

Things had gone south for John Calipari at Kentucky. The team had won just one tournament game since the 2019 season, and lost to 15th-seeded St. Peter’s in 2022 and 14th-seeded Oakland in 2024. But, he had it going at one point, winning the national title in 2012, making the final four in ’11, ’12, ’14, and ’15, and missing the Final Four on a buzzer-beater in 2017.

Arkansas has a passionate fan base, and they want to return to the glory days of the 1990s under the legendary Nolan Richardson, who won it all in 1994. Musselman got them back closer to those days. Before a rough season this year, Arkansas made the Elite Eight in ’21 and ’22 and the Sweet 16 in ’23.

Now, they’re hoping that John Calipari, 65, is rejuvenated and motivated to chase another title by bringing in the same kind of big-time talent to Fayetteville that he brought to Lexington.

There would be no John Calipari in Fayetteville if it wasn’t for John Tyson, heir and Chairman of the Board of Tyson Foods, the company that has frozen chicken in the aisles of your local grocery chain, the deal wouldn’t have gotten done. Tyson and Calipari go way back, and he provided not only financial but also helped recruit Calipari to get the deal done.

On Wednesday night, John Calipari was introduced at Bud Walton Arena as the new head coach of the Razorbacks. But, it was John Tyson who got a great ovation. Take a look.

That’s for a booster. It truly just means more in the SEC.