"I don't beg the recruits": Arkansas HC John Calipari reveals thought process while looking for talents 

John Calipari became the new coach of Arkansas this offseason after former coach Eric Musselman departed for South Carolina. Calipari, who resigned from Kentucky, brings over three decades of coaching experience at the college level to the Razorbacks.

However, when the three-time National Coach of the Year arrived in Fayetteville to meet his new team, to his surprise, he found the locker room empty. Almost all of the players from Musselman's team had decided to transfer to other programs or graduated.

Starting from scratch, Calipari was happy to choose his own team. While he was busy trying to recruit top prospects to join his roster, he shared that he was not going to ask any current players to stay if they did not want to be there (via Sports Illustrated):

"I don't even beg the recruits I'm recruiting," Calipari said. "They've gotta want this as bad as I want them. They've gotta want me and us, our staff. With a player that's been here, if they don't wanna be here, would you want them here? No?"

Only one player from the 2023-24 roster decided to return to the team, 6-foot-10 power forward Trevon Brazile, who tried his luck with the NBA draft. Upon hearing of his return, coach Calipari asked to get on a phone with him to see where his mind was.

"We talked, talked to his dad, sat down, that's what he wanted to do," Calipari said. "I said, 'Well let's go do this.' I told him my plan for him, what we try to do.

"[Brazile's] standing there and he's laying on his back. I said, 'You're better than I thought you were.' He looks at me and says, 'I told you,' but that's the confidence that I want him to feel. He's talented, but he's got to get into wars and be those situations," he added.

John Calipari's Arkansas' new signings ahead of 2024 season

After 13 players from the previous season left Fayetteville, Calipari had no choice but to reload his roster with new players. Arkansas landed six players from the transfer portal including DJ Wagner, one of the top-ranked players from the 2023 class. Two more players from Kentucky – Adou Thiero and Zvonimir Ivišić – joined the Razorbacks.

Furthermore, Arkansas signed six high school athletes for their 2024 class. Three of them signed in April 2024, during the late signing period, while the other three signed over the summer. The three athletes who signed in April had originally committed to Kentucky when Calipari coached there, but they decided to join Arkansas when he moved.

Incoming transfers

• DJ Wagner
• Adou Thiero
• Zvonimir Ivišić
• Jonas Aidoo
• Johnell Davis
• Melo Sanchez

2024 recruiting class

• Karter Knox
• Johnuel "Boogie" Fland
• Billy Richmond
• Ayden Kelley
• Jaden Karuletwa
• Casmir Chavis