Arkansas shocked the college basketball world late Sunday night with the reported hiring of Kentucky's John Calipari as the 14th head men's basketball coach in program history, and news trickled out shortly after that he is expected to receive big-time NIL funding with the Razorbacks.
Calipari has well-known relationships with members of the Tyson family (Tyson Foods), and specifically Arkansas booster John Tyson, per Field of 68's Jeff Goodman, who also reported that Calipari could receive north of $5 million annually in NIL funding. John Fanta, also of Field of 68 and Fox Sports, reported that the level of support by Arkansas donors for NIL funds is "massive" with the hiring of Calipari.
At Kentucky, Calipari made $8.5 million annually, which ranked second nationally. According to the 10-year extension he signed in 2019, Calipari owes Kentucky no buyout with his reported departure to Fayetteville. According to ESPN, Calipari is expected to make slightly less than $8.5 million annually, but the deal is expected to be incentive-laden with the ability to pass that number.
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The setup with Kentucky was about as good as it gets for Calipari, aside from fan support. Matt Jones of Kentucky Sports Radio reported Sunday that Calipari "didn't think he had support and didn't feel wanted" by the Wildcats following a first round NCAA Tournament departure in an loss 80-76 loss to 14-seed Oakland.
While nothing was ever official, rumors circulated that former Arkansas head coach Eric Musselman had been losing NIL support following a 16-17 overall record in 2023-24, which marked the first losing season for the Hogs since 2009-10. Andrew Hutchinson of Best of Arkansas Sports recently reported that those rumors were false.
Musselman is now at USC, and the Razorbacks have made arguably the most shocking college basketball hire in recent memory. Calipari had six commitments in the 2024 recruiting class with the Wildcats, including four five-stars in Jayden Quaintance, Johnuel Fland, Karter Knox and Bill Richmond.
Calipari has his work cut out for him with the Arkansas roster, which is currently projected to have just two scholarship players on it in 2024-25 — returning forward Trevon Brazile and incoming freshman Isaiah Elohim. The Razorbacks currently have six players from the 2023-24 team in the transfer portal.
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