This isn’t the first big gamble for Calipari

When John Calipari graduated from Clarion (Pa.) University in 1982 he took a huge gamble, but the man knew what he wanted.

He became a volunteer assistant at Kansas. The lowest man on the totem pole, even serving food at team dinners.

Just six years later, at the age of 29, he became the head coach at UMass and he’s never looked back. The Minutemen had suffered 20 consecutive losing seasons, but that changed after Cal’s first season when they went 10-18. By his fourth season, they were starting a run of five consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances.

With an on-the-floor record of 189-70, he became the head coach at Memphis in 2000, where in nine seasons he was 214-68 — and let’s just get this out of the way one last time: His teams at UMass and Memphis had to vacate wins, but the NCAA cleared him of any wrongdoing.

When Kentucky called, the Tiger fans were brokenhearted. One booster reportedly offered him a blank check to top Kentucky’s offer.

At Kentucky, after three early departures from the NCAA Tournament, a large number of fans wanted him gone despite four Final Four appearances and a national championship in 2012.

On Tuesday, he made a farewell video to Kentucky, which didn’t try to keep him. He was wearing Kentucky blue and gave a heartfelt goodbye, saying he and his wife, Ellen, had made lifelong friends.

Ellen must be close to being the perfect basketball coach’s wife. In their 38 years of marriage, she’s given him the time to work long hours and build a career.

He is not the first to say so long to Kentucky, but he’s the school’s first basketball coach to join an SEC rival.

This morning Cal will be approved as the new head coach at the University of Arkansas, which faces a similar situation Cal had when he took the UMass job. No players. This time literally.

In his farewell, he said Kentucky was a dream job. It had been his dream job, but it was time for the Wildcats to hear a different voice.

In January The Associated Press released a poll of the greatest basketball programs in the past 75 years and No. 1 was Kentucky, which has the most wins in history and is second only to UCLA in national championships. The Bruins have 11, their last coming in 1995 when they upset Arkansas.

For years Kentucky fans left their season tickets in their wills, when a new policy wouldn’t allow that they put them in the names of their youngest grandchildren.

There are legions of diehard Kentucky fans who have never seen a game in person.

In 1985 when then Arkansas coach Eddie Sutton said he would have crawled to Kentucky, there were two reasons. One, he was mad at Athletic Director Frank Broyles and the other was because most coaches would have crawled to Kentucky.

In 2019 Cal was given a 10-year fully guaranteed contract. It was called a lifetime contract because he planned to do the 10 and retire.

Five years into that agreement he had not been past the second game in March Madness and the Big Blue Nation wasn’t full of sadness, they were angry and wanted a change.

That maybe why Cal asked for a five-year deal with Arkansas. He gave himself an expiration date if he wants it.

Ethan Westerman of Hawgs Sports Network looked it up. Cal has coached against Arkansas 25 times and is 16-9.

He coached his first win on Dec. 7, 1988, against New Hampshire, and his last loss for Kentucky was last month.

It was just loss No. 122 at Kentucky, where he won 410 games. In 2020, the Wildcats were 15-3 and SEC champions.

Arkansas’ last SEC championship was in 2000 and its fans are ready for a new trophy.