[FULL] John Calipari's introductory press conference with the Arkansas Razorbacks 

Yes lol

and post game Cal. " We're just so dang young."

As an Arkansas fan I don’t care. I’ll take this hire all day. It was that or relegation to mediocrity for another decade.

​@@FlowStateEnergyI hate to be the person to give you bad news you will be in mediocrity with him.

@@FlowStateEnergynot saying it’s a bad hire for Arkansas standards but get ready for lots of media hype and letdown because of the coaching with the high rated recruits

💯.

I was just about to say that

As a Arkansas fan I'm with you. Can't believe this is real. Coach Cal in Red. Wearing a Razorback sweat shirt with the Nike swoosh. It doesn't seem real.

Yeah this ain’t right

He don’t even wanna be there bro

@@Cozzzyboyhe could have stayed at Kentucky dawg. Have fun with the Mormon dork

Do you appreciate not making it past the first weekend of the tournament for 5 years with the best talent in the country?

@@MGnKntkY The best talent in the country? Also the youngest talent in the country. If you think your freshman are going to beat 22 and 23 yr olds, you're as delusional as the rest of KY's fanbase. But, it falls on Calipari for not getting more physical grown men into the program

@@snapon29 THAT'S EXACTLY EVERYONE'S POINT! He hasn't done what he needs to do as a coach to win games. He has also stopped coaching like he used to. Don't try to tell KY fans about the coach we've watched for 15 years. Knowing basketball is what we do in Kentucky. We know Cal better than anyone.

​@snapon29 Umm...who is responsible for the team's age composition also every aspect of the team? Coach Cal was so behind on NIL ,the booster from Nashville that tried to go through Cal's people to offer a player an million dollar deal was ignored and the player and father approached the booster 6 months later because he was on the list for offering deals in the past, the booster told them then that he offered a million dollar deal and never got a phone call back from Cal's office. Needless to say the player and his father was pissed. I believe he tried to incorporate transfers into the equation Including Oscar Tsheibwe (Player of the year) and got bounced by St. Peter's). Look at the history and you'll realize his coaching ability is mediocre at best however his recruiting prowess is elite. When John Robic and Kenny Payne left the program (especially Robic) at that time the program fell to shambles (2019). Unless he grabs some elite assistants that can take over the scouting and coaching end of the job then Arkansas will likely have less wins on average than the last coach. If he jettisoned most of his current assistants and replaced them for elite guys he might be successful, but I'm pretty sure he's keeping the same cast so it's not going to be much different than the last 5-6 years at Kentucky (also he's adding Brad his son lol). Arkansas' last coach that flipped to USC was much better than Cal.

@@MGnKntkYbro u need to calm it down.

He's going to look even better losing in the first round of the tournament again.

​@@MGnKntkYlol built for March is what this man has said for years.

As a KY fan I agree he looks good in red.

He sure does, thank God Kentucky got rid of him. #BBN

He looks great in any color other than Kentucky Blue. The last five years have been abysmal with the exception of the play of a few stars. And in all reality he hasn’t recruited as good as he did 10 years ago 7 years ago. The last time Cal and UK beat a team that played their best game but UK was better . Was back in 2019 against auburn. Then two weeks later they beat em and went to the final 4.

I’m with you and this actually makes me kinda sad. Ky fans are harsh and I respect Coach Cal. I wish him the very best.

Wierd to see him in red

Yeah but last 7 or 8 years we reverted.

Someone knows their stuff here!! Every word is perfectly true, and if one watches enough tape of it it's all there to see. Facts here.

He has a championship and multiple title appearances. He won big games. Schools don't go to the final 4 every year lol. People are delusional if they think that

What are you talking about Kentucky was a big school that had fallen out of grace until he came along. There’s nothing but hard times ahead for UK

Im pretty sure Dasani is tears from children working in sweatshops

Blue of the blue water

Terrible water for a terrible coach

I can assure you we are celebrating better than we have in a very long time. C'mon Cal has been a national laughingstock for YEARS now. One tournament win in 5 years, numbers don't lie. Freshmen can't win in March. I'm sorry for your loss.

Sad? 😂

Don’t be sad for us. We appreciate the things that Cal did with our program for the first few years. He’s a fantastic recruiter who cares more about the NBA than the NCAA. He wasn’t right for KY anymore. We’re thrilled with our new coach

Great guy, but is a used car salesman type coach. Sells a dream and takes no accountability when he loses big time games!!! Got to win in March and he hasn’t won much in a while.

@@DreamKrazy2028 Purdue went from losing to double digit seeds 3 yrs in a row to a Natl Championship appearance. Maybe just maybe Cal deserved the benefit of the doubt for what he did for Big Blue Nation in totality rather than being judged off some fluke games. Maybe it was time for a divorce though. Sometimes things have a lifespan and at a place like Kentucky, if you're not making deep runs on a regular basis in March, the fanbase turns on you.

@@snapon29Purdue is not a basketball school. It’s more known for academics. They don’t even have high recruits. Purdue getting to the title is already more than enough. Arkansas has also won a title and Muss brought in pretty good teams. If cal wins one just one at Arkansas he will be a legend there. I thought Kentucky really backed him for life but there’s much more pressure there

@@tainanking Purdue is a basketball school. What in the world are you talking about? 35 tournament appearances, 14 Sweet 16 appearances, 6 Elite 8 appearances, 3 Final 4's, 2 national championship appearances. That sounds like a basketball school to me. If you didn't remember, which you clearly don't, Gene Keady had Purdue going to tournaments on a regular basis from the 80s to the early 2000s. Read up on your history before you talk about things you don't know about

@@snapon29 it is not. lol

He's not wrong tho they didn't play the way they played all year the coach an only do so much the sure didn't play like they played bama, tenn, or Auburn, heak even Arkansas when they came to rupp because the hogs balled that game we just put played them

Kentucky didn't move on Coach Cal moved on

@@justinhicks1248Cal ran out of town in the middle of the night. He knew very well he wasn’t welcome in Lexington anymore. He’s trying to save face.

Facts

The f you talking about? He was at Kentucky for 15 yrs. You don't know ball

@@athoutx still only won 1 title same as doc rivers

@@athoutx dummy, what does him being in Kentucky 15 years have to do with him being the Doc Rivers (a coach who chronically underachieve) have to do with anything)

Lazy take. Cal has created his own success and built his name at multiple stops, Doc got gifted a super team in Boston to kick start his coaching career. They aren’t the same.

DEBUNK BY HIS LAWYER AND THE AD OF KENTUCKY.

He wasn’t told to hit the road. He wanted more NIL money and Kentucky AD told him no! And so he left

@@jenniferwhitaker2629 that's false. The Kentucky AD and Cals Lawyer already said it wasn't true. Smh

He had a life time deal. The whole state of Kentucky would be bankrupt if they woukd have fired him

He won a title. Should have a little respect.

@@xrpfuturemillionaireAD won that title. Cal just had a great seat for the NC game.

Bro you have MARK POPE now. Have fun

@@jonathanmorrison2225 Exactly, Cal did nothing to win that championship. We’re talking about the same coach that had Devin Booker sitting on the bench. His coaching can be considered nothing but pitiful at best.

@@xrpfuturemillionaireAs a Ky gal, I agree. He should!

Lol he might as well have said “they have guys who have 4 kids, a mortgage and work a 9-5” .. just a complete clown

That shooter they had.

​@@kdubau33445He said the truth clown.

@@Bob-te3le Gohlke was only 24. Still, older than "19 year old kids", but not to the extent that Calipari always sells things.

@@JJ-xn7mrHe’s still 100% right. The very reason we lost that game was because Reed, Dillingham and Ivisic all choked. Especially Reed and Dillingham. I could spot their anxiety on my tv a mile away. Being young makes a huge difference. That’s why employers often want employees with experience. If you can recall Ky’s last game, you’ll know Reeves and Mitchell were the only two who stayed chill and scored! That’s because they have the experience and didn’t allow the pressure to hold them down like the freshmen all did. I told my family well before the game was over how obviously nervous Reed was. Then, Dillingham didn’t make any of the shots he typically could with ease. It wasn’t until the next morning I watched the press conference and Cal spoke about them being freshmen and how nervous they were. He was right. I agreed with him completely and I wasn’t even there to see it close up. Their faces and body language screamed, “I’m scared!” Performance anxiety is no joke and especially for freshmen. It’s simply a fact and what Cal said is relevant whether he was off by 2 years or not. We had a team full of young players who couldn’t handle the pressure even with their physical talent. They would all benefit from another college season or two before going to NBA. I guess they’ll learn to get it under control or they’ll be chewed up and spit out.

Yeah he said Kentucky was his dream job and he wanted to retire from Ky but he couldn’t get the job done so it was best he moved on.

It was his dream job, but he wasn't producing dream results.

Oh stop - he looks fine. He's been wheeled around in front of media all day, sure he's exhausted.

Lol ​@@RonJames76

We are well aware of snakes in Arkansas, we just hired the best coach available. No sour grapes. Just go hire a coach.

😭😭😭

He’s about to take them to the first round of March Madness just to lose to a seed 10 numbers below them.

@@aaronlovell6026As a born and raised Ky gal and huge UK fan, I agree with you. I get fans being disappointed in losing but I don’t see how people don’t comprehend what he told us many times, “The boys will always come before the program.” As a parent, I respect that so much and I think it was blatantly obvious he kept that word year after year. Our young team choked that last game(and others but mostly the last one)and I said it before I even saw Cal speak about their “freshman anxiety” in the post game press conference. I told everyone I talked to that night, “They’re so nervous.” Especially Reed and Dillingham. Ivisic too. Why is it Reeves and Mitchell were the only two who kept their cool and scored? They didn’t have the nerves, performance anxiety, the others had going on. They had been there and done that already. Experienced players. Now, with all that said, that’s a big part of why Ky fans were mad. They wanted more than the One and Done teams. They wanted those awesome players but also wanted to win. It’s hard to do both AND be like Cal and care about the players as individuals. He encouraged them to go pro and make their dreams come true. Just my opinion. It sucks seeing him in that red shirt. It was a gut punch when I first saw it. I do hope he does well. I want Ky to do better of course, lol but I also want Cal to have success. Maybe these Ky fans can sit down and eat their words then.

Your not wrong here. He thought it was going to be just another year of I'm out in the first round but I'm still king and can continue to not teach defense. He didn't expect the posse to light the torches but they did. He couldn't even hold back that same disrespectful energy with his new place, while not energetic enough to teach. He's GOT TO let you know who's boss. Put that on the court, not the mic.

You can't win with freshman anymore. Boo hoo. Stop crying and get with the times. That goes for Cal too. Get with the times and start playing the transfer portal game

@@snapon29 Seems like he just wants a coach that can win games in the tournament, ya douche. Cal is blaming everyone but himself for his failures.

You may be right but that’s not what I think. I really do believe it’s what he talked about here. He didn’t get along well with the administration, Mitch. They didn’t see eye to eye or have the same goals(as you mentioned). Coach Cal is all about winning but he told us Ky fans many times, the boys come first, over the program. I genuinely feel he did his best to keep his word in that aspect too. Much of my family disagrees but that’s what I think. He said he loved Ky and his wife did. I think he just didn’t feel he could do what he wanted to do with Mitch Barnhart against him. They weren’t on the same page. Also, he got into an argument with the Crafts and others over the years and think he wanted a clean slate.

Cal walked away he didn’t get fired

Somebody’s else’s trash is one’s treasure 😄

​@@BigYatesCal ran away to a place with lower expectations.

@@MGnKntkY The expectations will be high at Arkansas thanks to the success Muss had with the Elite 8 appearances. Nothing short of a Final 4 will be a failure after a couple yrs. Cal has won championships and that's likely the expectation of the fanbase

@@snapon29 Championship. He has won one championship. That was 12 years ago. The past 5 years he has won one tournament game. Last season he lost three home games in a row af Rupp (never done before at KY) and lost to UNCW and Oakland. Us KY fans know Cal inside and out, and that's why we're just fine with him leaving.

You’re thinking along the same lines as some of my relatives(we’re all Ky fans and they live there)but I disagree. Guess we’ll see! Like he kept reiterating, administrations have something to do with the tournament wins also. He wasn’t getting along with Mitch and had a falling out with the Crafts and his right hand man, John Robic(who I feel helped him greatly those first years), etc…So when there’s that much discord, it’s difficult I’m sure to pull a big win together. I’ve also heard the rumor some of his coaches had gotten very lazy and he wasn’t thrilled about that either. That part is just a rumor though. Like I said, I guess we’ll see how things go over the next few years.

@@BS-dq1kz I definitely see your side of things as well. There is more to every story than what is on the surface. I know that Calipari was probably having turmoil within the coaching system at UK before even considering leaving, but I feel that it is still your job to go and lead those kids to a win every game day. As an ex-D1 football player myself, one of the most reiterated things by recruiting staff's, coaches and team management officers is not letting the 'outside noise' get in the way of your playing, no matter how close to home it may hit. Again, totally respect your take on this and think it holds a lot of value, though. I hope he does well at Arkansas, he definitely handled his departure from UK with the utmost class and respect for the program, which says a lot because nowadays people will hop on a PJ and update the team from 30,000ft up.

I thought the same thing lol...

UK Basketball only has the best of everything

@@phillipjohnson8241 Not really. We're just the winningest program in history. Our facilities are not even close to the best.

Except when it matters. He has already stated at Kentucky that he isn’t concerned with tournaments or championships, just getting kids to the nba. Your program will suffer from it.

I was thinking the same thing! Cal looks nervous

There was actually rumor he was second guessing the decision! Looks like they tried to hurry it up to solidify his decision

There was actually rumor he was second guessing the decision! Looks like they tried to hurry everything up to solidify his decision

Go away. He had been pulled all over the place all day. Cope harder. Nothing objective about this post.

Oh yeah he is a salesman alright. Unfortunately for him he can’t coach.

He dont wanna be a nba coach we saw how it worked last time

Not everyone in Kentucky wanted him to go. I love Cal. We just have the most toxic fanbase/ local media in the country. Can't blame him for leaving.

@@dubsack270BBN Oh stop. He hasnt made a Sweet 16 Appearance in 6 years. Hes routinely getting knocked out of the 1st round by more experienced teams, and hes a terrible game coach.......which has been displayed MANY times. Hes refused to adjust to the transfer portal. Thats on HIM. And then he had the nerve to throw the freshmen under the bus because they're "freshmen". Even though he famously only uses.....FRESHMEN!! Hes been given more chances than anyone else would have been given. Stop covering for the guy. He simply wasnt living up to what he was getting paid. Facts

He couldn’t even make Oakland pay with the greatest recruiting class he’s had this year. 😂

And those recruits did NOTHING for us tourney wise.

How many first rounders ?

Fr is he really that great of a coach tho

Nah great talker though!! 😂

Hunter Yurachek is from Virginia his bachelor’s scholarship was in North Carolina and his master’s at Richmond in Virginia. He’s from the East Coast and spent 13 years of his career in the East Coast, four in the Midwest, and two in Houston, before his seven years, here. He is the University of Arkansas Athletic Director, but he is not an “Arkansas scholar.” And while I’m sure you feel cool and sophisticated about yourself for being a grammar Nazi, that’s not something that actually matters.

3:30 half smirking with arms folded on the table.. seems like his heart isn't in it

Yes!! Arms folded and half smirking 3:30

Not sure but seems like an epic Schmuck

Not experienced ones

You are missing the point. It doesn't matter if he has good players, he doesn't know how to coach them. I had elite talent this year and they couldn't play a lick of defense. 3 7-footers not playing with their backs to the basket. It's a joke and it's been going on for 10 years. The Hogs will win games but not when it matters.

And all Cal cares about is getting them to the nba.

Ya he will… and they’ll be gone the next.

But a bad coach