Kentucky insider lists candidates to replace John Calipari

It’s no longer a rumor that John Calipari could be leaving Kentucky as he is set to depart Lexington for Arkansas. With things now settling and landing this way in Fayetteville, Kentucky Sports Radio’s Matt Jones has now made a list of names who could be Cal’s eventual successor in the bluegrass.

Jones spoke on a Twitter Space amidst the connections between Calipari and the Razorbacks on Sunday night. In his statements, he listed three coaches that he thinks that the Wildcats could now pivot to in an unexpected coaching search.

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• Alabama’s Nate Oats
• Baylor’s Scott Drew
• Illinois’ Brad Underwood

This has progressed quickly between Calipari and the ‘Hogs after they’d considered several candidates over the past few days following the departure of Eric Musselman for USC. Calipari’s name then emerged to end the weekend with him now looking to be the next head coach of Arkansas.

Now, for Kentucky, it means a complete reset of the program based on what they expected to end just last week, let alone a few hours ago.

To start, Oats was the coach that Jones circled as his personal favorite choice of the overall trio. This comes following Alabama coming off their first-ever Final Four appearance this weekend. He would bring with him a 117-54 (.684) record over his five years with the Tide, including four conference titles and four appearances in the NCAA Tournament with this past one being the best in program history.

From there, Drew has been a nationwide candidate at different points after 21 seasons in Waco. His resumé with the Bears includes a 446-244 (.646) mark, a dozen appearances in the NCAA Tournament, and the school’s only national title that they won in 2021. It’s unclear where Drew would stand on a move, though, as his name came up in the carousel earlier on before re-committing to Baylor.

As for Underwood, this would be one of the first references to him in connection to Kentucky. He would arrive after seven seasons with the Fighting Illini and a record of 143-88 (.619) in Champaign. That stretch features a four-year run since 2020 where Illinois has made the NCAA Tournament in each season, including an Elite Eight this year, and won three conference titles.

There might not have been one soul for Kentucky that started their Sunday and expected it to result in it being the end of the Calipari era, an era that spanned 15 seasons and featured success in all aspects. Now that it looks as it is, though, these three are the very early names that Jones has listed as the possible next head coach for the Wildcats.