The 2024-25 basketball season hasn't been stellar for the Arkansas Razorbacks (11-7, 0-5 SEC), and it's been made worse by anonymous coaches piling onto first-year head coach John Calipari and his staff.
A story written by Jeff Goodman on Monday included quotes from several anonymous coaches, and they didn't hold back. The quotes referred to Calipari and his staff as "archaic," "outdated" and insinuated the game has passed him by.
Goodman went so far as to say it's possible Calipari had "lost his fastball."
While on a Zoom press conference Tuesday previewing Arkansas' next contest against the Georgia Bulldogs, Arkansas associate head coach Chin Coleman was asked if the staff had any comment on their peers' quotes.
"Definitely not true," Coleman said. "He’s one of the most innovative coaches to ever coach. To say he’s archaic, you’re fishing, in my opinion, but everybody’s entitled to their opinion. I’m blessed to work for a Hall of Fame coach. The best coach in the business."
The comments come as Arkansas is in the midst of a five-game losing streak to make the Hogs still winless in SEC play. The Razorbacks have dealt with injuries, and that problem was exacerbated by Calipari's decision to only have nine rotational players on the roster this season, a decision that has mostly backfired this year.
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Still, despite the rough stretch the Razorbacks are in right now, Coleman said the staff believes Calipari is still the right man for the job.
"I just know how great Coach Cal is and how much he cares about these players," Coleman said. "I know we’re in a little bit of a bad pass right now, but we’re going to try our hardest to get out of it, and we’ve got the best man for the job."
Outside of a close 78-74 loss to LSU this season, Arkansas has been largely uncompetitive in its SEC games this year. The average margin of defeat for the Razorbacks in their five conference games is 12.2 points, and they have been out rebounded in every single contest so far.
The SEC as a whole is on a different level this season, and that fact has been lamented by coaches not just at Arkansas but across the league this year. It only gets more difficult for Arkansas, which will host the Georgia Bulldogs on Wednesday night at Bud Walton Arena.
Coleman said they're expecting yet another battle in that game.
"I think that they have a winning attitude right now," Coleman said of the Bulldogs. "They’ve had the opportunity to have some big wins in this league already so I think that they’re playing with a sense of confidence. And confidence is dangerous."
Tipoff for Wednesday's game is at 8 p.m. CT and the game will air on the SEC Network.
