John Calipari on how hard it was to leave Kentucky: 'I love that state'

On Wednesday evening, John Calipari was officially introduced as the new head coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks with an introductory ceremony at the Razorbacks’ home court, the Bud Walton Arena.

During the introductory press conference, the new Razorbacks head coach spoke on a number of topics, including what it was like for him to leave Lexington, KY, and the Kentucky Wildcats program and head West to Fayetteville, AR.

“I love that state, I love the governor. The people are the salt of the earth. They’re generous, kind, they grew up like we did,” said Calipari.

The Wildcats’ fans had a mostly positive relationship with their former head coach. However, after recent struggles in the NCAA men’s championship tournament, things began to sour a bit. Even with that being the case, Calipari had nothing but kind words and love to express about the Wildcats’ fan base.

Calipari has brought success with him at his three previous head coaching spots: UMass, Memphis, and Kentucky. The new Arkansas men’s basketball head coach was able to take all three programs to the Final Four, something that only Rick Pitino is credited with doing. Not only that but at Kentucky, Calipari sent a number of players to the NBA, with 35 of them being selected in the first round. That is the most for any program since he took over at Kentucky in 2009.

“Kentucky’s the bluest of blue,” he said. “There’s only a few schools like that. And I hate to tell you, Arkansas is one of them. All I can tell you is we loved our time there, we gave every ounce of everything we had to that job that stayed in that school. So, I walk away sad, but knowing no regrets; we left nothing on the table. There’s not a whole lot more we could have tried to do.”

From his comments, it is clear that Calipari is not looking in the rearview mirror and believes that he did all that he could have while being the head coach at Kentucky. Under his leadership, the Wildcats made it to the men’s Final Four four times and won it all back in 2012.

The Wildcats also won six SEC regular-season titles and six SEC tournament titles, sweeping the conference crowns three times under his control: 2010, 2015, and 2017. In the 533 games that he has coached at Kentucky, Calipari has an impressive 410-123 record, winning nearly 77 percent of his games.

While his time at Kentucky did not conclude with a storybook ending, Calipari is optimistic about his future as Arkansas’ next head coach.