"I’ve talked at length about it": John Calipari did not want to discuss his Kentucky move at 2024 SEC Media Day
Although John Calipari wanted to talk ball at the SEC Media Day in Birmingham, he wanted no part of his program switch this summer. After gripping the reins of the Kentucky Wildcats for 15 years, the most winningest active Division I coach moved to Arkansas with the Razorbacks.
So, when asked about his shift on Tuesday, after more than six months, Calipari denied reflecting on it.
“Here’s what I would say to everybody, I’ve talked about why I did what I did, I’ve talked at length about it,” Calipari said. “So, what I want to do today is talk about the SEC. This league has gotten ridiculously hard. I want to talk about my team, my roster. But I’ve talked about all that (Kentucky) stuff. You can look it up and see what I’ve said—it’s going to be saying it over again.”
Even though he called coaching at Kentucky his "dream job," Calipari felt that Kentucky needed a different captain at the wheel. That is why he decided to step away from the program.
"This program probably needs to hear another voice. That the university as a whole has to have another voice giving guidance about this program," Calipari said in a video that he tweeted on Apr. 9. "We’ve loved it here. But we think it’s time for us to step away and step away completely from the program.”
Calipari had not decided on Arkansas then and was evaluating offers with his family.
John Calipari likes his successor in Lexington
When asked about Kentucky’s decision to hire Mark Pope, John Calipari had nothing but praise for the program’s 1996 NCAA champion.
"I think they hired a perfect guy for that job," Calipari shared on Tuesday. "And part of it is because he played there, graduated from there. He has a heart for the place, and he has an idea of what that is.”
Four Wildcats players from the previous season followed Calipari to Fayetteville, while the remaining squad entered the transfer portal. With no returning players, Pope's first Kentucky roster is crafted purely out of the recruiting cycle and transfers.