It is John Calipari and we have thoughts on if it will work or if it’s just a stunt. Plus Clay Henry takes us inside the details of covering a coaching search.
The Gimme The Hawgs Chuck Podcast- Ep. 212: John Calipari to Arkansas!
Presented by Weichert Realtors – The Griffin Company
Pig Trail Nation’s Mike Irwin on Tyson landing Calipari
Will see increased intensity for the basketball program and expectations will now go through the roof headed to season.
Eastside Liquor Halftime Podcast: 4-8-24
Total Eclipse Day, Hogs get Coach Cal, Baseball sweeps Ole Miss
Mike Irwin joins!
Bud Light Morning Rush Podcast: 4-8-24
Calipari signs deal to become the next head coach at Arkansas + more!
We probably should have seen this coming, thinking about it
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — For Arkansas to pull off a big-name coaching hire in basketball, someone told me one time “the moon and stars would have to line up just right and hope we don’t miss.” Interestingly, on a day with a total eclipse, apparently everything has lined up just right and John Calipari is set to become the Razorbacks’ next coach after 15 years at Kentucky.
That’s assuming all of this gets finalized, which is always required until there is an official announcement from one of the schools or Calipari himself. It’s in the fine print, but at this point it would be shocking if things fell apart.
There have probably been decisions being made on the fly on this whole deal. The Hogs had no control over SMU firing Rob Lanier or luring Andy Enfield away USC set the stage for surfer boy Eric Musselman going back to Southern California. Kentucky was ready to move on from Calipari after only one NCAA title in 15 years.
Right or wrong, the folks in the Bluegrass State don’t view that as successful. Arkansas has pushed the chips to the middle of the table on basketball, thanks to John Tyson. Wins will be the bottom-line on all of this and Calipari probably won’t get a lifetime appointment. As we’ve just seen at Kentucky, even those deals require wins or folks figure out a way to run coaches off. He was still wearing Kentucky blue at his house walking the dog Monday.
As this is being written, a solar eclipse is happening. There haven’t been any Calipari sightings just yet, so there goes the theory he just wanted to be in the path of totality. This came down to so many things coming together at the perfect time and being able to execute it.
Now we see if it translates to wins. Nobody will put out a minimum number that has to be hit every year. But the wins are assumed. Calipari has won everywhere he’s been and it doesn’t take a long time to build it up. Look for recruiting to rocket up a few notches, even from where Eric Musselman lifted things. Apparently the NIL is going to be there as well and that’s a big thing these days.
Believe it or not the Razorbacks may be a basketball school. The goal, obviously, is to be good at both, but this is an obvious leap in basketball. Calipari would be the third or fourth Hall of Fame coach for the Hogs in the last 50 years. Let that number sink in for a few minutes. Don’t worry about being a basketball school. It’s not a bad way to go, but there’s absolutely a new way to look at the Hogs’ coaching history now:
• Eddie Sutton built it. Without Frank Broyles hiring him in 1974, we’ll never know how it would have played out.
• Nolan Richardson took it to the highest level. He came in with the fire to get to the championship level and won the only national championship the Hogs have won in football, basketball or baseball. Don’t bring up the football thing because you don’t get re-do’s and since the trophy sits in Tuscaloosa, Ala., there is no argument to be had.
• Musselman and Calipari could move Razorbacks’ basketball into the elite category, joining the likes of Kentucky, North Carolina, Kansas, Duke, Indiana and UCLA. I probably missed a few in there, but you get the idea about the level I’m talking about. Once you get there it obviously takes a while to get kicked out of the club.
Calipari is expected to be officially announced in the coming days as the Razorbacks’ next coach. That’s when we’ll know the exact details.
MEDIA REPORTS: Razorbacks in talks with Calipari to be next coach
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.
Mark hits portal, shrinking roster to almost nothing right now
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Whoever Arkansas athletics director Hunter Yurachek chooses to replace Eric Musselman, he’s going to have to round up a lot of players in record time. Oh, and do it without the leading scorer from last season coming back because he apparently wanted to get as far away from the Razorbacks’ disintegrating program as fast as possible.
They are literally down to one scholarship player on the roster, a walk-on and a committe freshman with no idea if he’s going to come here or not. Tramon Mark put his name in the transfer portal on Sunday:
Trevon Brazile is the only returning player and that’s only as good as Sunday night.
Mark is the ninth Arkansas player to enter the portal this season, joining Joseph Pinion, Denijay Harris, Keyon Menifield, Davonte “Devo” Davis, Layden Blocker, Khalif Battle, Baye Fall and walk-on Cade Arbogast. Incoming freshman Jalen Shelley was released from his national letter of intent. Five players exhausted their eligibility. Arkansas has 11 open scholarships for the next coach to fill.
Transfer portal opened on March 18 and will remain open until Wednesday, May 1
Anytime during that window, a player can submit paperwork to their current school to request a transfer and within 48-hours of receiving the paperwork, a player must be submitted into the NCAA Portal database.
Before the window opens on March 18th and after the window closes on May 1st, players who have earned enough credits to graduate are able to enter the portal at any time, listed as a “Grad Transfer”.
Simultaneously, with any coaching movement – whether a head coach is fired or gets another job – players of that team are also given a 30-day window in which they can enter the portal which is not bound to the March 18th-May 1st window.
When a player has officially entered the portal, other schools are permitted to contact the player and begin the recruiting process.
There is also a new rule this off-season that will have major ramifications on the transfer market.
In recent years, players were given a one-time transfer waiver and if transferring for a second time, a waiver had to be granted to be immediately eligible by the NCAA. For the transfers this spring, transfers are expected to be immediately eligible for the 2024-25 season according to a recent memo by the NCAA.
Hogs Baseball
 | vs James Madison | W, 6-4 |
| vs James Madison | W, 15-5 |
| vs James Madison | L, 6-3 |
| vs James Madison | W, 4-0 |
 | vs Oregon State Kuboto College Baseball Series | W, 5-4 |
 | vs Oklahoma State Kuboto College Baseball Series | L, 2-1 (14 innings) |
 | vs Michigan Kuboto College Baseball Series | W, 4-3 |
 | vs Grambling State | W, 21-7 (7) |
 | vs Murray State | W, 5-1 |
| vs Murray State | W, 11-1 (8) |
| vs Murray State | W, 5-3 |
 | vs UCA | W, 9-7 |
 | vs McNeese State | W, 3-1 |
| vs McNeese State | W, 11-1 (8) |
| vs McNeese State | W, 18-5 (7) |
 | vs Oral Roberts | W, 4-2 |
 | vs Missouri | W, 8-0 |
| vs Missouri | W, 6-0 |
| vs Missouri | W, 9-1 |
 | @ Auburn | W, 1-0 |
| @ Auburn | W, 6-5 |
| @ Auburn | L, 8-6 |
 | vs. Little Rock | W, 11-0 (7) |
 | vs. LSU | W, 7-4 |
| vs. LSU | W, 4-3 (10) |
| vs. LSU | W, 7-5 |
 | vs. Arkansas St. | W, 13-0 |
 | vs. Ole Miss | W, 5-2 |
| vs. Ole Miss | W, 8-3 |
| vs. Ole Miss | W, 7-4 |
 | vs. San Jose St. | W, 5-1 |
| vs. San Jose St. | W, 8-2 |
 | at Alabama | W, 5-3 |
| at Alabama | L, 4-3 (10 innings) |
| at Alabama | L, 5-0 |
 | vs. Texas Tech | W, 9-8 |
| vs. Texas Tech | W, 5-3 |
 | @ So. Carolina | W, 2-1 |
| @ So. Carolina | L, 9-6 |
| @ So. Carolina | L, 5-0 |
 | vs. UAPB | W, 11-1 |
 | vs. Florida | W, 2-1 |
| vs. Florida | W, 6-5 |
| vs. Florida | L, 9-5 |
 | vs. Missouri St | W, 12-7 |
| vs. Missouri St | W, 8-5 |
 | at Kentucky | W,10-3 |
| at Kentucky | L, 11-3 |
| at Kentucky | L, 7-4 |
 | Mississippi State | W,7-5 |
| Mississippi State | L, 8-5 |
| Mississippi State | W,9-6 |
 | at Texas A&M | L, 1-0 |
| at Texas A&M | W, 9-6 |
| at Texas A&M | SAT, MAY 18 1:00 PM • SECN+ |
Souza lifts Razorbacks to series’ sweep over Ole Miss
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — This was Nolan Souza’s game in the finale for Arkansas against Ole Miss. When he hit the second home run of the day in the seventh inning, that became clear with a 416-foot shot into the teeth of a strong wind blowing directly in holding flies up all day. The 7-4 win Saturday was just another part of a “Hawaiian Connection” as he and Wehiwa Aloy tag-teamed the Rebels into an SEC sweep, their third of the season.
Souza was 3-for-5 on the day with 5 RBI and those two massive homers. Just to help out, Aloy was 2-for-4 at the plate and scored a run.
“You guys and the ‘Hawaiian Connection,'” Van Horn said, chuckling.
He knows, though, they have been a big part of a dramatic run that is historic to start the season. A lot of it has been at home and now they are going on the road in the SEC next weekend.
Don’t bring any of that to Van Horn. He just chuckles when you recite stats and remind him what’s happened. He’s not going to be rude, but it is what it is right now.
“It’s great,” Van Horn said, laughing. ” I don’t know what else to tell you.”
Souza’s second homer gave the Hogs a 6-3 lead. After that, it was a parade of Rebels to the mound and a case of throwing the ball around the infield turning into a big problem. Mainly because the ball was in play at that moment and a wild throw into center field set things up to bring catcher Hudson White home for a 7-3 lead.
The third inning is one Van Horn will want to get back for a while. Most of it was brought about as it appeared Ole Miss starter Mason Nichols was doing his best to avoid throwing over the plate. The Hogs’ Kendall Driggs led off with a single to right and Ross Lovich grounded out, then a parade of free passes started.
Three walks around a double by Peyton Stovall somehow never got a run across the plate, even with the bases loaded and one out. Souza finally broke the standoff with a 404-foot homer to right-center field into the teeth of a fairly stiff breeze coming out of the the south. That gave Arkansas a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth.
The Rebels took the lead in the top of the fifth on a towering pop-up by Andrew Fischer that hung in the wind and came down about six feet from where Jared Sprague-Lott and Aloy were planning. The ball bounced off the heel of Aloy’s glove and allowed a run to score.
Ole Miss added another run and chased Brady Tygart after he struck out seven and walked three on 82 pitches. Jake Faherty came on with runners on the corners and got out without things getting worse.
Arkansas took control immediately. Singes by Diggs, Aloy and Souza took the lead back, 3-2, in the bottom of the fifth as both teams started to get into the mound staffs. The Rebels tied things up the following inning after Judd Utermark lead off with a double and scored on a by Trenton Lyons single off reliever Parker Coil.
The Hogs did have to face the tying run at the plate when Will McEntire finished off the game on a called check swing. The Razorbacks, now 27-3 on the season and 11-1 in the SEC, will host San Jose State in a pair of midweek games. The first one will be at 6 p,m, on Tuesday and 3 p.m. on Wednesday. Both games will air on ESPN+.
