John Calipari is reportedly leaving Kentucky to take Arkansas’ head coaching position. ESPN analyst Jay Williams placed some of the blame on a demanding Wildcats fanbase.
According to Kevin Bobra of Athlon Sports, Williams believes Kentucky supporters took Calipari’s run for granted after recent NCAA tournament rough patches.
“There are a certain juncture of Kentucky fans who have been spoiled by the success happening at Kentucky,” Williams said. “I know that former players and fans say, ‘Well, we don’t care about being relevant. It’s about winning chips.’ But John Calipari is one of the best to do it in the game, and they ran him out of Lexington.”
Calipari has gone 410-123 during 15 seasons at Kentucky. He took the program to four Final Fours and won the 2012 national championship.
However, Kentucky fell in the first round to No. 14 Oakland this March, two years after losing to No. 15 Saint Peter’s. Calipari hasn’t led the Wildcats out of the second round since 2019.
The latest upset sparked speculation over his future, but Kentucky confirmed his return weeks ago. He now appears to have found a new SEC position.
Calipari would leave Lexington a distant second in wins behind Adolph Rupp with six regular season and conference tournament titles each.
“They may not like to hear this,” Williams said. “They ran the second all-time winningest coach in Kentucky basketball out of Kentucky,”
Williams also said on Monday’s Get Up that he was “shocked” and “floored” by Calipari’s exit. However, he called it a “win-win” for both schools because Kentucky can start fresh without paying the coach’s hefty buyout.