The new head hog has arrived. Former legendary Kentucky Coach John Calipari made his long awaited arrival to Fayetteville, Arkansas on Wednesday and will be announced tonight in a free celebration to the public at Bud Walton Arena, the Basketball Palace of Mid America.
Calipari spent 15 years at Kentucky where he went to four Final Fours, won a National Championship in 2012, and won the SEC Title 12 of his 15 seasons in Lexington.
A massive hire, and a base contract of over $7 million per year, with incentives Calipari can get close to $10 million per year in Fayetteville. The deal makes Calipari the 2nd highest paid college basketball coach in the nation.
Hundreds if not thousands of Arkansas Razorback fans showed up at Drake Field in Fayetteville to welcome the coach to his new job, see the video below.
Calipari is one of only two coaches to ever take three different teams to the Final Four. Calipari took Memphis State (Now Memphis) and UMass to final fours as well as Kentucky.
Calipari has been to a total of six Final Fours as a head coach.
In a beautiful moment, Calipari opens the door to high five a young Arkansas fan that was waving at him. Welcome to The Hill Coach, Arkansas is glad to have you!
Calipari has an overall record of 813 wins with only 260 losses for a 76% winning percentage. Coach Cal was also a Coach in the NBA for three seasons with the New Jersey Nets.
| Championships | |
|---|---|
| NCAA Division I tournament (2012)6 NCAA Regional ”“ Final Four (1996*, 2008*, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015)NIT (2002)6 SEC tournament (2010, 2011, 2015”“2018)6 SEC regular season (2010, 2012, 2015”“2017, 2020)4 C-USA tournament (2006”“2009)5 C-USA regular season (2004, 2006”“2009)5 A10 tournament (1992”“1996)5 A10 regular season (1992”“1996)* Vacated by the NCAA | |
| Awards | |
| 3× Naismith College Coach of the Year (1996, 2008, 2015)AP College Coach of the Year (2015)3× NABC Coach of the Year (1996, 2009, 2015)2× Basketball Times Coach of the Year (1996, 2015)2× Adolph Rupp Cup (2010, 2015)Jim Phelan National Coach of the Year (2009)4× SEC Coach of the Year (2010, 2012, 2015, 2020)3× C-USA Coach of the Year (2006, 2008, 2009)3× A10 Coach of the Year (1993, 1994, 1996) |
Watch Coach Calipari getting off the plane in Fayetteville from Lexington.
Johnny Tyson, Chairman of the Board for Tyson Foods can be seen at the very end of the video loving on Coach Cal, it’s a great day to be an Arkansas Razorback!
Go Hogs!
Join the Discussion
COMMENTS POLICY: We have no tolerance for messages of violence, racism, vulgarity, obscenity or other such discourteous behavior. Thank you for contributing to a respectful and useful online dialogue.