Where is John Calipari? Old basketball coach from Kentucky, now at Arkansas

As was the case with many of its predecessors, the 2024 Champions Classic will feature no shortage of storylines.

Kansasthe preseason No. 1 team in USA TODAY Sports Coaches Pollwill participate in the event. Dukeled by freshman phenom Cooper Flagg and a top-ranked 2024 recruiting class, is playing its first big game of the season. State of Michiganearly in hits 30^e season under Tom Izzo, there will be too.

Then there is Kentucky.

What has historically been perhaps college basketball’s most successful program will be one of the most fascinating to follow during the 2024-2025 season. Not only will the Wildcats have a completely rebuilt roster, but they will also be led by a new coach.

This offseason, Mark Pope left BYU to take over at his alma mater, where he played on Kentucky’s famed 1996 national championship team, considered by many to be one of the greatest squads in the history of the sport.

So where does that leave John Calipari, the man who coached the Wildcats from 2009-24? Here’s what you need to know about Calipari and where he is now:

Where is John Calipari?

Calipari was the face of basketball in Kentucky for fifteen years.

During that time, he rebuilt and remade the Wildcats. After taking over a program that underperformed in its final seasons under Tubby Smith and during Billy Gillispie’s ill-fated two-year run, Calipari led Kentucky to the Final Four in four of his first six seasons, a run highlighted by a national title in 2012. , the first program in 14 years.

Along the way, he helped reinvent not only Kentucky’s identity but the sport as a whole, annually turning over his roster and replenishing it with a parade of high-ranked recruiting classes filled with players like John Wall, Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins. and Devin Booker, who would spend one season at the school before heading to the NBA, where many of them were top picks.

But in what seemed like an instant, he was gone.

In April, Calipari left the Wildcats to become the new head coach at Arkansas in one of the most stunning moves of the 2024 coaching carousel.

He didn’t make the move to Fayetteville alone. Calipari brought a handful of Kentucky’s top returning players, such as guard DJ Wagner, forward Adou Thiero and big man Zvonimir Ivišić, along with prized recruits like Boogie Fland, Karter Knox and Billy Richmond III, all of whom had previously committed to Kentucky. Calipari left.

A once unthinkable move within the SEC was made possible by a confluence of factors.

Despite all he accomplished at Kentucky, Calipari’s teams produced diminishing returns later in his tenure. Although it came close several times, the Wildcats never made it to the Final Four again under Calipari after 2015, when what had been an undefeated team was stunned by Wisconsin in the national semifinals.

This misery has increased in recent years. During the pandemic-altered 2020-21 season, Kentucky went just 9-16, its worst winning percentage in a season since 1926-27. Although they rebounded to make the NCAA Tournament each of the past three seasons, including twice as a top-three seed, they won just one postseason game during that stretch and never advanced beyond the first weekend of the tournament . These struggles were illustrated by a pair of stunning first-round exits, with Kentucky falling as a No. 2 seed to Saint Peter’s in 2022 and a No. 3 seed to Oakland in 2024. These setbacks not only raised questions about Calipari’s sole…and-done system, which pitted freshman-heavy squads against older, more experienced squads in the postseason, but Calipari himself. Was he still the right man for such a demanding gig with justifiably high expectations?

As frustration boiled among Kentucky fans after the loss to Oakland, Calipari met with athletic director Mitch Barnhart at the end of the season, after which Barnhart announced that Calipari would return for a 16^e season. At that point it seemed that a weak, reportedly unhappy marriage would continue.

Then a viable alternative to Calipari emerged.

After Eric Musselman left for USC, Arkansas needed a new basketball coach and eventually set its sights on Calipari. The Wildcats’ coach was interested. The Razorbacks have a rich history, including a national championship in 1994, and a passionate fan base that routinely packs Bud Walton Arena. Calipari also had a personal connection to the school, as he is a longtime friend of Arkansas mega-booster John Tyson, the CEO of Tyson Foods.

After discussions, a deal was made with Calipari signing a five-year contract that starts with a planned value of $38 million.

“This is a dream job,” Calipari said in a video to Kentucky fans he was released after it was announced that he had accepted the Arkansas job. “It was my dream job. Everyone in our field looks at University of Kentucky basketball and says, “That’s the bluest of blue.” In recent weeks we have come to realize that this program probably needs a different voice. And the fans need to hear a different voice. We have loved it here, but we think it is time to step away – and step away from the program completely.”

Although Calipari didn’t inherit much after arriving in Arkansas, he famously said at his introductory press conference, “I met the team.” There is no team.” – he brought over parts of his roster from Kentucky, much of what would have been the Wildcats’ 2024 recruiting class and some high-profile transfers like Florida Atlantic’s Johnell Davis and Tennessee’s Jonas Aidoo to put together a squad that season number 16 entered the Coaching Poll.

John Calipari record

Calipari went 410-123 during his 15 seasons at Kentucky.

For his career – which includes stops at UMass and Memphis before Kentucky and Arkansas – he has an overall record of 856-264. Along with Rick Pitino, he is one of only two Division I coaches to ever lead three different programs to the Final Four.

John Calipari age

Calipari is 65 years old and will turn 66 in February.