Tyler Ulis to join John Calipari at Arkansas

Of all the folks who have followed John Calipari to Arkansas, this departure stings a little differently. The former Kentucky head coach revealed on Wednesday that Tyler Ulis will be joining him next season in Fayetteville.

Ulis spent the last two seasons on the sidelines in Lexington as a student assistant. The role allowed Ulis to be involved in on-court activities, individual workouts, and film sessions; pretty much any and all coaching duties except recruiting.

The undersized point guard quickly became a fan favorite while scrapping his way around the court with the 38-1 2015 team. The following year he was the best point guard in the country. A Consensus First Team All-American, Ulis averaged 17.3 points as a sophomore and broke the UK single-season assist record.

Ulis was selected in the NBA Draft, but his professional dreams were dashed when injury problems arose. That’s why he was a subject on today’s edition of ‘Ways to Win,’ John Calipari’s podcast with Craig Robinson. Their guest is Alex Smith, someone who overcame quite a bit of injury adversity in his career, prompting Calipari to use Ulis as an example of perseverance.

“He gets drafted in the second round, he’s in Phoenix. I’m watching him play. He’s incredible. He was fighting through screens, 300 pounds, he fought. They tried to post him — you’re not posting him,” Calipari said.

“He has an injury to his hip and they do a surgery. Then it becomes muscles in his abdomen and that affects him. Then he goes home and he’s trying to get back and he has a car accident that almost takes his leg off. What I did was say, ‘Get down here, finish your degree. You’re gonna be on my staff.’ And he’s coming with me to Arkansas too.”

Tyler Ulis, one of the most beloved members of the Big Blue Nation, will be wearing red on an Arkansas sideline next season. We knew he couldn’t be in Kentucky blue forever, but this is a tough pill to swallow.

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