Report: Oregon assistant Chuck Martin 'the frontrunner' to join Kentucky staff, reunite with John Calipari

John Calipari could be nearing a reunion with a former assistant coach. Chuck Martin is “the frontrunner” to take one of the open recruiting assistant positions at Kentucky, Stadium’s Jeff Goodman reported Saturday.

Martin spent the 2022-23 season with Oregon under Dana Altman, but previously worked at Calipari with Memphis from 2006-08. He also worked as the head coach at Marist from 2008-12 and became an assistant under Frank Martin at South Carolina from 2017-22. Earlier in his career, Martin worked at St. John’s, UMass and Seton Hall.

Calipari saw the spot open after K.T. Turner left Kentucky to become the new head coach at UT Arlington. That wasn’t the only change to the UK staff, though. John Welch came on board last month in a newly created position after nearly 20 years as an assistant coach in the NBA, most recently with the Los Angeles Clippers from 2016-20.

The roster will look much different for John Calipari, Kentucky this coming season

It’s been an interesting offseason for Calipari and Kentucky coming off a 22-12 overall record and a 12-6 mark in SEC play this past season. The Wildcats lost some star power in Cason Wallace and Chris Livingston to the 2023 NBA Draft while Oscar Tshiebwe and Jacob Toppin signed with the Indiana Pacers and New York Knicks, respectively, as undrafted free agents this week.

That’s a lot of experience leaving Lexington, but Kentucky got some good news when Antonio Reeves decided to stay after rumors connected him to the transfer portal. In addition, the Wildcats are in on West Virginia transfer Tre Mitchell and hosted him for a visit Saturday. Landing him would add some much-needed experience to the Kentucky roster, which is adding seven freshmen as part of a decorated recruiting class.

The Wildcats have the No. 1-ranked recruiting class coming in, according to the On3 Industry Team Recruiting Ranking, headlined by three five-star recruits. Justin Edwards, Aaron Bradshaw and DJ Wagner are all Five Star Plus+ recruits, meaning they’re some of the only players ranked by all four major recruiting media companies as a five star during the 2023 cycle.

Edwards is the highest-ranked of the group, coming in as the No. 2 player in the nation, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, an equally weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. Bradshaw and Wagner were the Nos. 4 and 7 players in the country, respectively.