John Calipari opens up about his decision to leave Kentucky for Arkansas

Now officially the head coach at Arkansas, John Calipari is opening up about the end of his time at Kentucky. Calipari, some of his closest coaching friends, DeMarcus Cousins, and several sources spoke to Shams Charania and Kyle Tucker of The Athletic about what led to his decision to take the Arkansas job, including the moment it happened and the tumultuous months leading up to the split.

The story is only available to subscribers of The Athletic and is well worth the price of admission. There are a few particularly noteworthy parts. Sources close to Calipari say he regrets turning down the UCLA job in 2019 for a lifetime contract at Kentucky, shortly after which things turned south in Lexington. The primary reason why? Calipari’s relationship with Mitch Barnhart, or lack thereof.

The Athletic cites sources on both sides who say the relationship between the two was “broken beyond repair” going back to Calipari’s “basketball school” comments in August 2022 and Barnhart’s reaction to it. Calipari made those comments during a conversation with reporters in the Bahamas in which he pushed for a new practice facility. Barnhart responded to them at a press conference alongside Mark Stoops in which he said if the support the basketball program was receiving from the university wasn’t good enough, “coaches change a lot in today’s world.” Things didn’t exactly get better since then, so it’s at least nice to see in print that sources on both sides admit the interview on BBN Tonight last week was “a dog and pony show.”

And then there’s NIL. Calipari’s new deal with Arkansas includes a hefty NIL budget reported to be in the $5 million range. Calipari told The Athletic that he was the one having to round up NIL money at Kentucky and is happy he no longer has to do that.

“The other thing to change is figuring out our roster, and you have to go in now and have NIL ready, which the school will do. I don’t have to go out and do it anymore. I had to at Kentucky. Here, we’re putting a team together now.”

John Calipari to The Athletic

Cousins is also quoted as saying that Calipari felt like he didn’t have the school’s backing. For what it’s worth, now that Calipari is gone, there’s a growing sense that Kentucky’s biggest boosters will be all-in on helping the basketball with NIL and facility upgrades.

Again, lots of great stuff in this behind-the-scenes bombshell, which, despite Calipari’s heartfelt message to fans yesterday, suggests the relationship between Cal and Kentucky won’t be so kind moving forward. You can read it in full over at The Athletic.