Evaluating how John Calipari can successfully start from scratch with Arkansas roster

Now that John Calipari is the head coach at Arkansas, and not Kentucky, On3’s James Fletcher and Andy Staples discussed how Coach Cal can hit the ground running with his first roster in Fayetteville.

The two were up and at ’em on the On3 YouTube channel Monday morning following the blockbuster news from late the evening before, and Fletcher specifically had a clear path for how the former Kentucky coach can effectively build out the team he just took over in this modern era of rampant player movement.

“There’s two major factors that play into John Calipari being able to kickstart his success in the transition Kentucky fans wanted to see as he arrives at Arkansas. No. 1 is that he’s going to start from scratch on this roster,” explained Fletcher, noting the departures from Arkansas following Eric Musselman’s move to USC.

“He is not going to have pretty much anyone. I think they have one player who is currently on the roster and that’s a guy who might enter the NBA Draft. So, he will be building a roster from scratch without having a full recruiting cycle to bring in freshman.”

For Calipari, that means hitting the transfer portal.

“So he’s going to have to hit the transfer portal, and that’s exactly what Kentucky fans wanted him to do. Now, if he’s able to do that and has success in year one, then why wouldn’t he go back to it, why wouldn’t he continue to build that way knowing he was able to get it done?

“So, Calipari, I think this is a big opportunity for him, as crazy as it sounds as a Hall of Fame level coach, to grow in this new era and do the things he needs to do.”

Calipari has actually faired alright in the transfer portal, although he never used it nearly as much as Arkansas did under Musselman. But Kentucky did just have a third straight season where a transfer was named an All-American. In 2024 it was Antonio Reeves following Oscar Tshiebwe in 2023 and in 2022, when he was the consensus National Player of the Year. So, there is evidence of massive portal success for Calipari.

The other factor when it comes to the portal, per Fletcher, is that Arkansas already has a terrific staff in place who monitor the portal and always keep the Razorbacks in the mix for seemingly every top transfer.

“Second, while Musselman will take some people from Arkansas, Calipari will have the opportunity to keep on some people, especially behind the scenes within that program, who were doing a lot of that leg work. When we see every single transfer that enters the portal, that little note that pops up saying that Arkansas has contacted this player, a lot of those people are still in the building.

“If Calipari can retain some of them, learn some of how they’re using the transfer portal, I think this can be a huge success for him learning how to do that with the elite programs.”

There’s no guessing who ends up on Arkansas’ roster, but Calipari will certainly have resources. Plus, as usual, he had a massive freshman class coming into Kentucky and the sentiment is that many of those recruits will not ultimately wind up in Lexington. Perhaps he’s able to take several of them with him down to Fayetteville.