FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Things have escalated quickly around the word coming out of Little Rock on Sunday night that John Calipari is set to be the next coach at Arkansas … perhaps as early as Monday. That’s shaping up to be an interesting day with a ton of people surging into the state for “the path of totality” on a total eclipse.
This may prove to be entertaining with all of this going on. Right now, everyone is quoting unnamed sources, which may or may not be accurate. One source urged Bob Holt with the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette “a deal that could bring Calipari to Arkansas was far from done.”
Social media blew up with the story Sunday afternoon and it kept gaining steam throughout the evening. There is enough chatter about talks going on for there to be something. Exactly what those talks are remain a much larger issue. Never mind all the questions. There are enough — even outside the money discussions — to wonder about the financial gymnastics required to pull this deal off.
Calipari, 65, has been the Wildcats’ coach for the last 15 seasons and led the Wildcats to a 410-122 record, highlighted by a national championship in 2012 and three other Final Four appearances in 2011, 2014 and 2015, with 12 NCAA Tournament appearances overall. If the Wildcats were to fire Calipari, he would be owed $34 million, according to published reports.
If he leaves on his own there is no buyout in a contract that was re-done in 2019.
After Eric Musselman left last week for USC, the questions have swirled around who would be the next coach and speculation has run rampant, but this one didn’t pick up a full-throttle tilt until Sunday evening.
Calipari is the second-highest paid college coach in the country, according to USA Today’s database, with an annual salary of $8.5 million. The only coach with a higher salary is Kansas’ Bill Self at $9.6 million, according to USA Today.
Calipari’s salary is more than double the $4.2 million Arkansas paid Musselman.
On a day filled with a full eclipse in the morning and a national championship game to be played between UConn and Purdue on Monday night, this could be something just throwed into the mix.
You can follow all the talk on ESPN Arkansas and HitThatLine all day, starting with Tye Richardson and Tommy Craft at 6 a.m. on The Morning Rush.
