John Calipari announces he’s leaving Kentucky after 15 seasons

After multiple outlets reported Sunday night that Kentucky men’s basketball coach John Calipari was in talks with Arkansas about its coaching vacancy, Calipari announced he was stepping away from the Wildcats’ program on Tuesday. In a video posted on X, the site formerly known as Twitter, the 65-year-old Calipari said he and his wife, Ellen, had spent a lot of time over the past few weeks reflecting on their 15 seasons in Lexington.

“This is a dream job, it was my dream job,” Calipari said. “Anybody in our profession looks at the University of Kentucky in basketball and says that is the bluest of blue. The last few weeks, we’ve come to realize that this program probably needs to hear another voice. … We’ve loved it here, but we think it’s time for us to step away, and step away completely from the program.”

Calipari did not mention Arkansas by name, but indicated that he is exploring his options to continue coaching.

“There have been opportunities that have been presented to us and we’re discussing them as a family,” he said. “I love coaching. I love coaching young people.”

Calipari, who was hired away from Memphis in 2009 to replace Billy Gillispie at Kentucky, led the Wildcats to four Final Fours in his first six seasons, including the school’s eighth national title and first since 1998 in 2012.

While Calipari continued to attract elite talent to Lexington - the Wildcats have had 35 first-round NBA draft picks during his tenure, including No. 1 overall picks John Wall, Anthony Davis and Karl-Anthony Towns - his teams haven’t enjoyed the same NCAA tournament success over the last decade. Kentucky, which hasn’t been to the Sweet 16 since 2019, was upset in the tournament’s first round by a double-digit seed for the second time in three years last month.

Five days after the third-seeded Wildcats’ loss to No. 14 seed Oakland on March 21 led to questions about Calipari’s future with the program, Kentucky Athletic Director Mitch Barnhart issued a statement on X that Calipari would be back.

“As we normally do at the end of every season, Coach Calipari and I have had conversations about the direction of our men’s basketball program and I can confirm that he will return for his 16th season as our head coach,” Barnhart wrote.

After Calipari posted his goodbye video on Tuesday, Barnhart thanked the Hall of Famer for his time at Kentucky, which included a record of 410-123.

“We’re appreciative of John Calipari leading our program for the last 15 years, adding to the legacy of championship success at Kentucky,” he wrote. “We’re grateful to John for his many contributions to the University, and our state, both on and off the court.”

Barnhart added that the school is “working diligently to hire a proven, highly dedicated coach who embraces the importance of this program to our fans and the state of Kentucky.”

Calipari, who spent parts of three seasons as the coach of the NBA’s New Jersey Nets in between stops at Massachusetts and Memphis before arriving in Lexington, agreed to a lifetime contract with Kentucky in 2019. Under the terms of the deal, he would have been owed $33 million had Kentucky dismissed him. There’s no buyout for Calipari leaving for another job.

Arkansas went 16-17 and missed the tournament this season, after which Eric Musselman left the program to become the head coach at Southern California. After replacing Mike Anderson in 2019, Musselman led the Razorbacks to consecutive Elite Eight appearances in 2021 and 2022 and a Sweet 16 berth in 2023.