Calipari, in his first season at Arkansas, was 410-123 in those 15 seasons at Kentucky, leading the Wildcats to their eighth national championship in 2012. He resigned last April and signed a five-year contract with Arkansas.
There were definitely more boos, but some applause and cheers as well in Calipari’s first time back in Lexington.
In his first season with the Razorbacks, Calipari has struggled to regain the success he enjoyed at Kentucky, especially in the Southeastern Conference, where Arkansas lost six of its first seven conference games this season.
“We needed to win a game so it didn’t matter who it was against,” Calipari said.
The Hall of Fame coach is the winningest active coach in men’s college basketball and has an 867-271 mark during his stops at Massachusetts, Memphis, Kentucky and now Arkansas. He was 248-26 at Rupp Arena and led the Wildcats to a 93-77 win over Vanderbilt in his last home game at Kentucky last March 6.
Despite the early success, Calipari struggled his last two years, especially in the postseason where the Wildcats were eliminated early in the SEC Tournament and in the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament. His last game as Wildcats coach was an 80-76 loss to Oakland in the NCAA Tournament.
Former Kentucky coach Tubby Smith, who led the Wildcats from 1997-07, where he went 263-83 and guided the Wildcats to a national championship in 1998, also was in attendance. Smith was inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame in 2013 and had a jersey retired in his honor in 2021. He concluded his coaching career in 2022 at High Point.
Former Louisville coach Kenny Payne, part of Calipari’s staff for 10 seasons at Kentucky, joined Calipari at Arkansas. Former Kentucky players Adou Thiero, D.J. Wagner and Zvonimir Ivisic followed Calipari to Arkansas, along with Calipari’s son Brad who is on the Razorbacks staff.
Mark Pope took over for Calipari at Kentucky and has led the Wildcats to a 15-5 record in his first 20 games.
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