Former Arkansas Coach Makes Bold John Calipari Prediction

The Arkansas Razorbacks men’s basketball program received a huge shot in the arm this season when they hired John Calipari to become their next head coach. Eric Musselman departed this offseason, opting to take the head coaching job at USC, opening the door for the Razorbacks to bring in Calipari.

Excitement is high in Fayetteville, as John Calipari has hit the ground running when it comes to making changes to the roster. Arkansas has been one of the winners in the transfer portal this season, adding several talented players.

They are losing two key players from last season’s team, Tramon Mark and Khalif Battle. But reinforcements are on the way in droves. Following John Calipari from Kentucky are Zvonimir Ivisic and Adou Thiero. Boogie Fland, a five-star recruit who originally committed to the Wildcats, is heading to Arkansas as well.

Joining them are Johnell Davis from Florida Atlantic, Jonas Aidoo from Tennessee and two more freshmen in Billy Richmond and Karter Knox. The Razorbacks will start the season ranked and should make some noise during the 2024-25 season.

Former Arkansas head coach Nolan Richardson, who led the team to a National Title 30 years ago, believes that it won’t be long until John Calipari ends that drought. While speaking to ESPN earlier this week, Richardson said he believes the support and things you need to win a title are available to the team.

“I don’t see why it wouldn’t be a job where [Calipari] could come in and win a national championship,” Richardson said. “I can see that they can. I don’t know another coach who could do it better than Calipari because of his recruiting.”

Going from the rival blue of Kentucky to Arkansas certainly will have its challenges. But Richardson believes that the fan base and school have opened their arms up to John Calipari and are giving him all the support he needs.

“He’s got their support,” Richardson told ESPN. “Fayetteville is probably to me the greatest job on the Earth as far as the fans are concerned. A lot of times, the fans, they’re for the coach who is the coach at the present. They’re all in the present mind. If you come in and do a good job, you’ve got all the fans behind you. You’ve got 20,000 in the arena. Arkansas has got tremendous facilities. It has tremendous support. A bad night in Arkansas is 17,000 people. That’s unheard of.”

Given the track record of John Calipari, no one is going to be betting against him finding success with the Razorbacks. In this age of college basketball, he still holds an aura when it comes to recruiting that Arkansas will benefit from.