The University of Connecticut men’s basketball program is now firmly atop the college basketball hierarchy as they recently secured their second consecutive National Championship.
But while UCONN is soaking in its dominance every other program in the country is scrambling to figure out ways to close the gap.
And this Hall of Fame college basketball coach sent one Blue Blood into total chaos with this paradigm-shifting move.
Hall of Fame coaches rarely make this type of decision
On Monday night, the University of Connecticut Huskies won a decisive victory over the Purdue Boilermakers, making them National Champions for the second year in a row.
Only a small handful of basketball programs have achieved this lofty goal, which means now is a time to celebrate if you are a Huskies fan.
However, for the other hundreds of Division 1 programs that did not win this year, now is a time to make some changes.
As far as March Madness upsets go, few shocked the basketball world quite like the fourteen-seed University of Oakland’s massive upset of longtime college basketball powerhouse the University of Kentucky, which was the third seed in their region.
Despite this crushing defeat, when asked about his future with the program in his post-game press conference, Kentucky head coach John Calipari voiced his desire to return to the program despite the fact that Wildcat fans have grown increasingly frustrated by the fact that he has yet to win the school a second National Championship since his first in 2012, and has not returned the program to the Final Four since 2015.
“That is a commitment that I give to the fans,” Calipari said. “Now let’s come together and let’s go do something special. We can do it. We’ve done it. Let’s do it again.”
But while it may have been true at the time that he wanted to return to Lexington for another season, the reality that he’d be walking into a situation in which anything short of a Final Four would be deemed another failure and likely lead to his firing, apparently gave Calipari pause.
So much so, in fact, the University of Arkansas was able to swoop in – thanks almost exclusively to deep-pocketed doors like the billionaire heirs to the Walmart and Tyson Foods empires, as well as Dallas Cowboys billionaire Jerry Jones – and offer Calipari a golden parachute that would allow him to avoid what seemed like an inevitable fate in Kentucky to become the Razorbacks’ hero.
According to ESPN, “John Calipari is finalizing a five-year deal to become the next men’s basketball coach at Arkansas, sources told ESPN on Sunday night, a blockbuster move that will shake up the SEC and college basketball landscape.”
“Calipari’s contract is expected to have an overall base salary of slightly less than the $8.5 million he’s making at Kentucky, sources told ESPN,” the report added. “However, the deal is expected to be incentive-laden with the ability to pass that number.”
Although the Arkansas Razorbacks had a disappointing season this year, ending the season with a dismal 16-17 record, the Razorbacks have had enough success in the past to give a Hall of Fame coach like Calipari reason to believe he can turn things around.
Most notably, Arkansas won the 1994 National Championship under former Hall of Fame coach Nolan Richardson, who also led the program to six Sweet 16, four Elite Eight, and three Final Four appearances during the program’s most successful run in the 1990s.
And the three seasons prior to their 2023-24 debacle, saw the Razorbacks also advance to three consecutive Sweet 16s, as well as Elite Eight consecutive appearances between 2021 and 2022.
A major college basketball shakeup
Calipari’s move to Arkansas will undoubtedly breathe new life into Arkansas’ program, as he undoubtedly remains one of the best recruiters in the sport, and will be able to bring instant credibility to the program as a National Champion and Hall of Famer.
As for Kentucky, they were undoubtedly caught off-guard by Calipari’s more – in their minds, they fire coaches, coaches don’t fire them.
And reports immediately indicated that the program’s deep-pocketed boosters wanted to target UCONN head coach Dan Hurley, but on the heels of back-to-back National Championships and with the Huskies setup to only continue their domination of college basketball moving forward, that idea never really had any basis in reality to begin with.
According to reports as of Thursday morning, Kentucky has thought better of making fools of themselves with a pursuit of Hurley, and have moved on to targeting Baylor head coach Scott Drew, who reportedly now has an offer in hand to replace Calipari in Lexington.
Drew has spent over 20 years at Baylor, taking over a program in total turmoil after the Bears previous head coach, Dave Bliss, resigned in disgrace due to total chaos within the program – one player murdered another, an NCAA investigation turned up major drug use amongst players, coaches paying players under the table, and more – leading to the harshest “non-death penalty” sanctions in NCAA history.
But despite the program being under probation for the first seven years of his tenure, Drew has built Baylor into a perennial contender, taking a program that had made just four NCAA tournament appearances ever prior to his arrival to the Big Dance in 12 of the past 17 years, including five Sweet 16s, three Elite Eights, and the 2021 National Championship.
Needless to say, considering the fact that they’re losing a Hall of Fame coach in Calipari, Kentucky could do far worse than replacing him with Drew.
So while many have speculated that Kentucky could take a step back, odds are they’ll be right back in the mix of things, if they can get a deal done with Drew.
Nevertheless, with John Calipari now at Arkansas, yet another major shakeup is upon college basketball.
And only time will tell how it all shakes out.
US Political Daily will keep you updated on any developments to this ongoing story.
