Jeff Goodman critical of John Calipari: 'Time has passed him by'

John Calipari leaving Kentucky for Arkansas was college basketball’s biggest story of the offseason. But early returns for the Razorbacks have not been great. Calipari will head back to Rupp Arena with his team sporting a 1-6 SEC record and projected to miss the NCAA Tournament.

When asked what is going on with Calipari, Jeff Goodman says “Time has passed” the legendary head coach. Goodman also took a shot at the staff Calipari has assembled throughout the years, both at Kentucky and Arkansas.

“I think time has passed him by a little bit,” Goodman said Tuesday on The Paul Finebaum Show. “I think he and his staff haven’t adapted like a lot of other coaches in the league and even around the country… Everybody else is adapting and John Calipari and his staff full of yes men haven’t really adapted.”

You have to go back to 2019 to find Calipari’s last second weekend appearance in the NCAA Tournament. After COVID, Kentucky missed the tournament once, losing in the second round on another occasion, and was one-and-done twice.

Moving to Arkansas was viewed as a potential fresh start, especially since the program was committed to putting together a talented roster through NIL. Goodman says the group does not fit together despite having quite a high payroll.

Calipari having highly talented players on his roster is nothing new. The SEC has caught up though, meaning coaching ability has become quite important in the conference. It’s the area where Calipari has not found a way to adapt more than any.

“He has, arguably, the highest NIL payroll of any team. I think it’s them and Kansas State if I had to make an educated guess. Somewhere in the $7-8 million range. They just don’t fit. The pieces don’t fit. I’ve talked to a bunch of SEC coaches, wrote something up last week about it and they all said the same thing. It’s a collection of talented players but they don’t fit together…

“They got a bunch of guys that need the ball and don’t make each other better and ultimately, John Calipari has been able to out-talent his competition throughout most of his career. While their talent is still better, it’s not vastly superior like it usually is, especially within the league.”

Saturday was circled as one of the more anticipated days of the season. Calipari returning to Rupp Arena was going to provide plenty of storylines and even some hostility. While still true, Arkansas’ poor record has taken a little of the excitement out of the game.