John Calipari is leaving his job as the basketball coach at Kentucky to be the new head coach at Arkansas

John Calipari, a famous college basketball coach, said he is leaving Kentucky and will now be the head coach for the University of Arkansas.

During his 15 years at the University of Kentucky, Calipari led the Wildcats to seven Elite Eights, and four Final Fours and they won the national championship in 2012.

“This is a dream job. It was my dream job. Anybody in our profession looks at the University of Kentucky in basketball and says it’s the bluest of blue,” Calipari said Tuesday on social media. “The last few weeks, we’ve come to realize that this program probably needs to hear another voice.”

A message to #BBN: pic.twitter.com/TG344ipTfZ

— John Calipari (@UKCoachCalipari) April 9, 2024

Calipari, who is 65 years old, has won 410 games and lost 123 games in Lexington. He had a contract until 2028-29, but he doesn’t have to pay anything to leave early. He was supposed to get $33 million if the university fired him.

Calipari, who has been named the best college basketball coach three times, has been closely watched and questioned in the past few years. Kentucky lost to a team that was ranked number one. Oakland is the 14th-best team in the NCAA Tournament this year. They haven’t made it past the first weekend of the tournament since 2019. The Wildcats won their last SEC title in 2020.

Kentucky’s sports boss Mitch Barnhart said he’s thankful for John Calipari leading our team for 15 years and helping us win championships. We are thankful to John for all the ways he has helped the University and our state, both in sports and in other areas.

“We are 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 became the new coach for Arkansas on Wednesday after Musselman left to coach at Southern California last week.

Kentucky is proud to have the best-ranked basketball team. The 2024 recruiting class is ranked number 2, according to 247Sports. It’s not clear if those players will continue playing for the Wildcats after Calipari leaves.