When John Calipari made honest admission about how leaving Kentucky for Arkansas wasn’t in his plans

Arkansas coach John Calipari had a memorable run during his first year in charge of the Razorbacks leading his team to the Sweet 16 of the Big Dance after bumping coach Rick Pitino's St. John's Red Storm last week. The No. 10-seeded Razorbacks' memorable run came to an end when the No. 3-seeded Texas Tech Red Raiders mounted a comeback to win 85-83 in overtime on Thursday evening.

Many were surprised when Calipari left Kentucky for Arkansas, and it's fair to say he wasn't expecting it either. During a June 2024 segment of the "Dan Patrick Show," the charismatic Calipari revealed that he was not planning on leaving the Wildcats after 15 years in charge (0:23).

"I've been at different jobs. I was at UMASS eight years, Memphis nine years, 15 years at Kentucky," John Calipari said. "It's dog years now and I loved it and it was a great run. We helped a lot of families, won a lot of games, won a lot of league championships, Final Fours, Elite Eights, national titles, Sweet 16s. I mean, they needed to hear another voice. I wasn't planning on this."

When John Calipari revealed why he chose Arkansas

During the "Dan Patrick Show," John Calipari further revealed why he chose to take the Razorbacks job, despite the team not being historically among the elite basketball sides in the country (0:55).

"When it came along, it's kind of like being at ESPN and other opportunities come along and you say, 'Wait a minute. I gotta take advantage of this now. Let me look.' And over a two or three-day period I'm like, 'They're in the SEC too! They've got great facilities. They've got a great fanbase,'" Calipari said.

"It's a great building, seats 20,000, great home court. Pretty good support as you would know in this corner of Arkansas. And then lastly, I got to hire my son. He's not one of my top three guys but he's in, he's on court and can go out and recruit a little bit and get started.

"So, a lot of good reasons and I'm excited about it. Let me help another 30-40 families then I'll go into doing a podcast."

John Calipari led the Arkansas Razorbacks to a 22-14 record in his first season in charge. That included a famous win against his former team, the Kentucky Wildcats, at the Rupp Arena in February, where he was booed all night by the fans who used to chant his name. Calipari also masterminded the Razorbacks' run to the Sweet 16 to cement a memorable first season in charge.