"I wish the best for him": Kentucky HC Mark Stoops extends olive branch to Arkasnas' John Calipari despite "blip" in their relationship

Coach John Calipari is preparing for his debut season with the Arkansas Razorbacks and received well-wishes from one of his previous adversaries. The former Kentucky coach has had a frosty relationship with Wildcats football coach Mark Stoops because of past comments.

During the SEC Media Day on Thursday, Stoops was asked about Coach Calipari and gave an encouraging answer:

“With coach Cal, I wish the best for him. Really. He and I have had a really good relationship for a long time. There was one little blip on there, but we’re both big boys, we’re both friends and have spoken.

“I’m sure he’ll be successful at Arkansas and wish him nothing but the best. Matter of fact, his son, just saw Brad in Lexington a couple weeks ago, he was there recruiting or doing something and spent some time talking with him. So they’ll do very well.”

The 'blip' that Mark Stoops mentioned refers to an incident from 2022 when John Calipari claimed Kentucky was a basketball school. A triggered Stoops tweeted:

"Basketball school? I thought we competed in the SEC? #4straightpostseasonwins"

The football coach also defended his team in a press conference later, saying:

“When you start talking about my program and others that we compete against — me, I don’t do that. I stay in my lane. So that’s in defense of my players, in defense of the work that we’ve done. And believe me, we want to continue to push.

"But don’t demean or distract from the hard work and the dedication and the commitment that people have done to get to this point. I don’t need to apologize for that, and I won’t.”

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A look at John Calipari's Arkansas roster for the 2024-25 season

When John Calipari took over as the head coach at Arkansas, the team was in disarray. All players had entered the transfer portal following Eric Musselman's exit. However, in the months since then, coach Calipari and his team have added Jonas Aidoo, Johnell Davis, D.J. Wagner, Zvonimir Ivišić, and Adou Thiero from the transfer portal.

They also welcomed back Trevon Brazile and Lawson Blake, who chose to return and play under the new coach. John Calipari also managed to convince his former Kentucky recruits, Boogie Fland, Karter Knox and Billy Richmond III, to decommit and join him in Fayetteville.

While winning a championship is the goal of every coach, it is unlikely that Calipari will be able to achieve such results with just a few months of practice with the new roster. It remains to be seen how he will plan his season after continuous disappointments in Kentucky in the previous years.