John Calipari explains plans to bring winning culture to Arkansas: 'I want to build something special'

John Calipari will begin a new chapter of his life this winter as he kicks off his debut campaign as Arkansas‘ head coach. At the 2025 SEC Media Days on Tuesday, Calipari revealed what he hopes to accomplish with the Razorbacks.

“I want to have fun. I want to build something special,” Calipari said. “More importantly, I want 25 to 30 families — I want to help before I’m done with what I do. I want this to continue to be about the kids. These guys, they wanted to come, didn’t care who else was there, and they wanted to play for our staff.

‘How good can I get? Please challenge me.’ Here’s a great thing — I have four players on this team that I coached their dads. One of them is here, and that could mean that I’m an old fart. That could be one. But the other thing is, it’s the trust.”

One of those four players, Adou Thiero, was one of Arkansas’ representatives at the SEC Media Days. Thiero couldn’t help but chime in and joke about his father’s reaction to Calipari’s modern coaching style.

“My dad always tells me — he came and watched our practice — he was like, ‘Yeah, he’s taking it easy on you guys,” Thiero said with a laugh.

Adou Thiero’s father, Almamy, played under Calipari at Memphis from 2002-06. Calipari will be the first to admit his coaching approach has changed since then. Nonetheless, John Calipari still holds many of the same values: building young men and securing their future success.

“We talk about winning because it’s good for them and their futures,” Calipari said. “We’re not here to win at their expense. This is, ‘How do we help them?’ And you know what? I don’t have a magic wand. It’s the culture. They have to take what they want. They have to want to come in and say, ‘I’m going to compete against other really good players.’

“I like my roster. We’re a little beat up right now, but I like the roster. We’re so new, and normally it would take me a few years to get the culture right, and I’m saying it’s probably going to do that here. I don’t know how good we’ll be early or how bad. It won’t matter. It’s where will we be at the end?”

Evidently, experts around the country have faith in the 65-year-old head coach. Arkansas landed at No. 16 in the preseason AP Top 25.