Calipari to Arkansas

[Viper 3,132]

2 hours ago, AlaskanFAN said:

Oats buyout is $18 mil

For UK…

[Tiger 8,827]

2 hours ago, Dual-Threat Rigby said:

In any case, I would just like to avoid a potentially revived Kentucky, and I think Oats would be of the caliber to do that for them. I do understand your logic that they SHOULD be able to get someone of his ability anyway, and then you’d have two stud programs instead of one, though. 

Gotta say I disagree with ya here bro. Kentucky will always be Kentucky. We need Bama to take a step (or several) back

[TigerPAC 966]

so if and thats a big if, oats goes to UK.  does bammer try bucky ball?  all hypothetical i know

[Viper 3,132]

3 minutes ago, Tiger said:

Gotta say I disagree with ya here bro. Kentucky will always be Kentucky. We need Bama to take a step (or several) back

Yup I knew when they booted the elf from Bad Santa and got Oats, they were cooking with gas. Be more than ecstatic to see him move to Lexington. 

[TeamZero77 1,784]

Just listening right now on Finebaum's show and he led off with Pete Thamel from ESPN mentioning who Kentucky is rumored to be interested in. Thamel said the top name is Billy Donovan because he won 2 Natty's at Florida and was an assistant under Pitino at Kentucky so he already knows the program and area. Donovan is coaching the Chicago Bulls and Thamel said if this search runs long, you'll know it's Donovan and they're just waiting on his NBA season to end. 

He said if it's not Donovan, it will likely be Scott Drew that coaches Baylor. His buyout is small and he has won a Natty recently.

He said the names being thrown out by fans and podcasters like Nate Oats, Bruce Pearl, Jay Wright, Mick Cronin and Dan Hurley simply aren't true. The buyouts are really large for some of those coaches and Jay Wright has repeatedly said he won't coach college basketball again and if he wanted to, he would've never left Villanova. Thamel said the buyouts seem small compared to college football but in college basketball, no matter the school, AD's and boosters simply refuse to pay big buyouts like Nate Oats currently has. 

So Billy Donovan or Scott Drew according to ESPN.

[tigeraddikt 1,611]

5 hours ago, GTNupe11 said:

Are the Steven Pearl folks going to want him to stay and take over? 🤣

There are literally zero Steven Pearl folks that don’t appear on the front of the Pearl Family Hanukkah Card every December.

[TeamZero77 1,784]

If Billy Donovan does come back to Kentucky to be head coach, he will be hell to deal with in my opinion. The guy won back to back Natty's at Florida in 2006 and 2007 and also took them to another National Championship game appearance in 2000. Then he took OKC Thunder to the NBA Finals. 

The question will be does he want to recruit again and deal with NIL and the new transfer portal or does he want to stay with the Chicago Bulls.

[Viper 3,132]

18 minutes ago, TeamZero77 said:

Thamel said the top name is Billy Donovan because he won 2 Natty's at Florida and was an assistant under Pitino at Kentucky so he already knows the program and area. Donovan is coaching the Chicago Bulls and Thamel said if this search runs long, you'll know it's Donovan and they're just waiting on his NBA season to end. 

Yup I mentioned this earlier.

[Viper 3,132]

19 minutes ago, TeamZero77 said:

He said if it's not Donovan, it will likely be Scott Drew that coaches Baylor. His buyout is small and he has won a Natty recently.

He said the names being thrown out by fans and podcasters like Nate Oats, Bruce Pearl, Jay Wright, Mick Cronin and Dan Hurley simply aren't true. The buyouts are really large for some of those coaches and Jay Wright has repeatedly said he won't coach college basketball again and if he wanted to, he would've never left Villanova. Thamel said the buyouts seem small compared to college football but in college basketball, no matter the school, AD's and boosters simply refuse to pay big buyouts like Nate Oats currently has. 

So Billy Donovan or Scott Drew according to ESPN.

UK gave thought to shelling out 33M to fire Cal. Doesn’t matter what you are being fed…UK will go after whoever they want and make them tell them no, regardless of buyout.

They would be idiots if they didn’t ask Oats for an interview. And we know UK aren’t idiots.

Scott Drew will be around 3rd or 4th on their list. Doubt 2 or 3 guys tell UK no thanks.

[Viper 3,132]

17 minutes ago, TeamZero77 said:

Then he took OKC Thunder to the NBA Finals. 

Nope. Donovan’s Thunder choked away a 3-1 series lead against the Warriors in the 2016 WCF. That’s the series Klay Thompson went beast mode and became “Game Six Klay” by hitting 11 threes in Game 6.

Then Durant left for the Warriors and Donovan never saw past the 1st Round again.

[casatiger 514]

10 years out of the college game seems like 50 considering the changes over the last 3-4 years.   

[Tiger 8,827]

I can't imagine any coach would rather coach in college if there's an NBA job already there for him. Coaching in college is a total ****show right now

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,673]

5 hours ago, Tiger said:

Gotta say I disagree with ya here bro. Kentucky will always be Kentucky. We need Bama to take a step (or several) back

I get the opinion, but Alabama is at their relative peak. They’ve had the lottery talent, the all world college guys, and Auburn is still basically equal to them. There’s a ceiling to Alabama. 
 

The fact that we or really anyone in the SEC can claim to be better than Kentucky over the last 5 years is proof that Kentucky has not operated at the general world’s expectations of them. What Kansas has been to the Big 12 over the last few years - still being the league leader while dealing with multiple elite contenders - that should be the BASELINE for Kentucky. If they do get a Hurley, if Donovan still has the juice he used to have, or if they get Oats, you’ll see…

[AUGoo 2,664]

11 hours ago, gravejd said:

Wow, i didn't see this one coming. Thats a hell of a hire by Arkansas after losing their coach to USCw. They needed a splash type hire and they got it! I don't know what the ceiling is for Cal's teams at this point. I'm not convinced the load up on 1 year players formula is one that can bring a school championships in this day and age, but Cal will field super talented teams, win a lot of games, and keep them in the news constantly and thats not a bad situation for arky IMO.

Now what dominoes will fall as Kentucky goes looking for a coach? Oats is a possibility i'd have to think.....I would say any school with a coach they really like should be a little worried. That Kentucky bball money goes deep!

No.

He won’t.

He ain’t coached anybody up in years.

Arkansas ain’t the draw for talent that UK is.

Unless Walmart is paying for players well, He’ll fall on his face.

If he does get talent, they’ll be uncoached.

No one has done less with more in NCAA history.

[AURex 2,000]

Cal just walked away. If he had been fired or if another team had lured him away, UK would have enjoyed a $33 Million buyout.

But Cal just walked away. Not fired. No buyout. He just walked away.

UK saves a bunch of money, but who do they hire to replace Cal?

And the pigs get a coach who *might* be able to lure top 5 recruits, although maybe with limited ability to actually build a functional team. Arkansas has had some great teams in the past. Not Cal-type teams, but this is a different age. Can Cal give the pigs a boost to regain the respectability of Nolan Richardson and other Arkansas greats?

I think #1 on Kentucky's list is Scott Drew -- low buyout, younger guy who has had success. But would he leave Baylor for the pressure-cooker that is UK? I dunno. IMO, UK now has a real problem on their hands. Who wants to step into this Blue Nation with the expectation to win, win, win championships.?

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 9 by AURex

[Duder 238]

UK AD has said Cal didn’t clear speaking to Arky with him. This is about to get ugly 

 

Pearl was never a candidate. Oats shot it down. So would Hurley leave the juggernaut he created at UConn for a school with a stable football program and SEC money?  Drew and Donovan could be interesting 

[Viper 3,132]

16 hours ago, casatiger said:

10 years out of the college game seems like 50 considering the changes over the last 3-4 years.   

I don’t believe Donovan has forgotten how to speak with entitled kids. He still gets daily practice. 

[JerryAU 1,670]

4 hours ago, Duder said:

UK AD has said Cal didn’t clear speaking to Arky with him. This is about to get ugly 

 

Pearl was never a candidate. Oats shot it down. So would Hurley leave the juggernaut he created at UConn for a school with a stable football program and SEC money?  Drew and Donovan could be interesting 

UK owed Cal $33million if they fired him.  It appears Cal walked away and, in the process, relinquished a $33million buyout. 

It's a little odd that Arkansas has made no public announcement.  

[WillMunny 1,378]

I wonder how many "no" responses the UK AD must get before he calls Bruce.  Hopefully a lot, but even UK publications are calling for Bruce to be seriously considered.

I think Bruce would be crazy to turn it down if offered.  He's definitely a championship coach, but with no championships.  And he could recruit the guards to UK that he hasn't been able to recruit to AU.

I have a bad feeling about this...

Edited April 10 by WillMunny

[casatiger 514]

If it goes past Scott Drew I'll be shocked.  

[keesler 5,924]

3 hours ago, WillMunny said:

I wonder how many "no" responses the UK AD must get before he calls Bruce.  Hopefully a lot, but even UK publications are calling for Bruce to be seriously considered.

I think Bruce would be crazy to turn it down if offered.  He's definitely a championship coach, but with no championships.  And he could recruit the guards to UK that he hasn't been able to recruit to AU.

I have a bad feeling about this...

UK isn’t trading one 65 yr old coach for another 65 yr old coach, especially after neither one has been able to advance out of the 1st weekend of the tourney in the last 5 yrs.  UK wanted Cal canned for doing no better than he has in postseason games. 

[KansasTiger 3,248]

3 hours ago, WillMunny said:

I wonder how many "no" responses the UK AD must get before he calls Bruce.  Hopefully a lot, but even UK publications are calling for Bruce to be seriously considered.

I think Bruce would be crazy to turn it down if offered.  He's definitely a championship coach, but with no championships.  And he could recruit the guards to UK that he hasn't been able to recruit to AU.

I have a bad feeling about this...

UK boards are under the impression that BP should be next up after Drew. They also seem to unanimously agree that BP would jump at the opportunity, and that he wants it so bad that maybe he even takes a short term deal just to get the chance to coach there (UK arrogance?).

I'm not sure I ever got that same impression of BP's desire for UK, but I might be missing something.

Their boards seem less uniform if their AD Barnhart would accept a coach with a show cause on his resume. And half their board thinks he's a sleezy cheater.

Edited April 10 by KansasTiger

[TuscaloosaTiger 284]

On 4/8/2024 at 9:13 PM, AUGoo said:

No.

He won’t.

He ain’t coached anybody up in years.

Arkansas ain’t the draw for talent that UK is.

Unless Walmart is paying for players well, He’ll fall on his face.

If he does get talent, they’ll be uncoached.

No one has done less with more in NCAA history.

Calapari is likely a very good hire for Arkansas. Prior to moving to UK he took Memphis to a Finals game against Kansas. If Memphis had been successful with a strategic foul at the end of the game, they would have won the championship that year.  So he will know the talent-rich Memphis landscape and should be successful recruiting there. He also likely will have fewer players who are one-and done at Arkansas and that should help him build some team chemistry and leadership, which was missing at UK. He also will have a large NIL budget to recruit and hang on to players. I'll be surprised if Calapari doesn't do well at Arkansas.

[arktiger1975 518]

1. Hurley ain't going to Kentucky.

2. Calipari pretty much had to get out of Lexington the first chance he gets, he had essentially lost the confidence and support of the fanbase there.

3. I believe Scott Drew is the most likely hire at UK. A lot of UK fans don't think he is good enough for Kentucky, but I think he would do well there.

[arktiger1975 518]

6 hours ago, TuscaloosaTiger said:

Calapari is likely a very good hire for Arkansas. Prior to moving to UK he took Memphis to a Finals game against Kansas. If Memphis had been successful with a strategic foul at the end of the game, they would have won the championship that year.  So he will know the talent-rich Memphis landscape and should be successful recruiting there. He also likely will have fewer players who are one-and done at Arkansas and that should help him build some team chemistry and leadership, which was missing at UK. He also will have a large NIL budget to recruit and hang on to players. I'll be surprised if Calapari doesn't do well at Arkansas.

The move to Arkansas will likely also reenergize him. He will want to prove he isn't washed up, and it wouldn't surprise me if he has at least 3-4 good years there. A fresh start was very much needed by him, things has gotten really stale under him at UK.