Basketball Coach John Calipari is on the move to Missouri.
After five seasons coach the University of Arkansas Razorbacks, seasoned basketball coach John Calipari surprised everyone by accepting the head coach position at Arkansas’ SEC West rival the University of Missouri. The announcement arrived at halftime of the NCAA National Title Game that saw the University of Connecticut defeat the University of North Carolina for the second time in three years.
Immediately after the game, media members asked UConn head coach Don Hurley if he might consider the newly opened position at Arkansas. “Why?” he responded, “I just won my fifth national title. I wouldn’t leave here for UCLA in the year 1969, much less Arkansas in 2029.” He then added, “Tell, John, hello for me.”
John Calipari’s had said all season that his team of graduate students was built for March, that parallels could be drawn between advancing in the tournament and earning an advanced degree. And Arkansas appeared to be on a collision course with Connecticut when the brackets were first released.
The tournament committee selected Arkansas as the seventeenth seed in the DraftKings Sportsbook Beijing Region where they played sixteenth-seeded Dolly Madison University in the first round. A win against DMU on the first night of the tournament would have guaranteed a showdown between Calipari’ graduate students and Hurley’s team of blue-collar Dunkin’ Donut employees, but Calipari’s team went cold in the final minutes of the game, removing all chances of facing off against the Tournament’s number one overall seed. This marked the second straight season Calipari’s squad lost in the Round of 128.
But all that’s behind Calipari now as he heads north on I-49 and then east on I-44. Behind him also are his two Sour Sixty-Four appearances in the 2025–26 and 2026–27 seasons, plus that magical first season in 2024–25 when his team of transfers finished the NIT as champions.
Now he brings all that winning and media savvy to the 65211 in Missouri where he has already landed his first major recruit. “Oh, yeah, John Wall’s son Ace has committed to being a Tiger. He’s eleven years old, but he’s committed to playing for me. You know there’s some time between now and then, and I’m older now too and with so many campuses to see before I retire it could possibly be here.”
Coach Cal is seventy years old. The University of Missouri will be his fifth NCAA head coaching position. His lone national title occurred in 2012 with the Kentucky Wildcats. It was a magical time, but the ride is never over.
