John Calipari: 'It normally takes a couple years' to get culture right

After years of running the Kentucky program, head coach John Calipari left for Arkansas during the offseason. Now, he’s looking to bring his culture to the Razorbacks men’s basketball program.

While at SEC Media Days, Calipari shared that it normally takes a couple of years for him to get the culture right because the expectations around his programs are high.

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“Normally, and this made some people, oh my gosh, it normally takes a couple years for me to get the culture right,” John Calipari said. “Now, will it be less? Maybe. It may be more. But the culture has to be right.”

Calipari went on to share what the culture he wants to instill at Arkansas to look like. In particular, he wants players entering the program to embrace a challenge.

“What you expect. What is unacceptable? Will they do more than expected? Do they understand we’re here to help? Each of you but we can’t do it for you. You take what you want. You’re not promised anything. You’re gonna play every day against really good players who are as good as you and have the same aspirations,” Calipari said.

“Well, I don’t want that. I want the fugazi. ‘Let me go somewhere where I can just go play and he’ll promise me and they’ll do this. I’m going to be the only player.’ Or do you want to go fight and take what you want? Those are the guys that come. They come here. The others don’t. That’s fine. Because at the end of the day, this is who fights. In this league.”

Certainly, throughout his career, John Calipari has found plenty of success. While at Kentucky, he managed to win a national championship and took the Wildcats to the Final Four on four different occasions. Prior to that, he took Memphis to the Elite Eight twice and he took UMass to the Final Four during his first stint as a college coach. Much of that success can be attributed to the culture of his teams.

“This thing here. This is a man’s decision to play in this league,” Calipari concluded.

John Calipari explains plans to bring winning culture to Arkansas

When sharing what type of culture he wants to bring to Arkansas, John Calipari shared that it’s important for him to build something special there.

“I want to have fun. I want to build something special. 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,” Calipari said.

‘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.”