On the first day of February — a Saturday — Arkansas coach John Calipari will become the third former Wildcat boss to coach at Rupp Arena as an opponent when his Razorbacks face Kentucky.
It’s going to be surreal to witness Calipari, who will turn 66 on Feb. 10, entering the floor from the visitor’s dressing room on the other side and greet first-year Kentucky coach Mark Pope and others.
It’s the memorable date the rabid Big Blue Nation has been waiting for since Coach Cal departed UK after 15 years for Arkansas in April, stunning the college basketball world. While it has been reported Calipari had disagreements with the UK administration, the hungry Wildcat fans, for the most part, weren’t too pleased with his team’s performance in recent years, especially after the shocking first-round knockouts in the NCAA Tournament in 2022, losing to Saint Peter’s, and 2024, dropping to Oakland.

The other former UK coaches Rick Pitino and Tubby Smith didn’t have successful debuts as opponents at Rupp Arena. First-year coach Pitino and his Louisville Cardinals dropped to the No. 6 Wildcats, then coached by Smith, 82-62 in 2001. Twenty years later, Coach Smith and his High Point team lost to Kentucky in a 92-48 blowout on New Year’s Eve in 2021.
As for the upcoming UK-Arkansas showdown, I’m kind of expecting a mixed reaction from the demanding fans at Rupp Arena when the Hall of Famer arrives on the floor. Although I believe he should get a nice round of applause or perhaps a standing ovation for something he did at Kentucky, I don’t think that will happen this time. Perhaps in 10 years when Coach Cal returns whether he is coaching or not.
As you’ll recall, he sure guided the Wildcats to glory times during the pre-COVID years as well as doing charity work for the flood victims in eastern Kentucky and the tornado victims in western Kentucky. Looking back, staying 15 years at one place like Kentucky may have been too long in modern times as some coaches and schools often need a fresh start.
Many of Calipari’s high-profile coaching peers like Coach K, Jay Wright, Tony Bennett, Jim Larranaga and Jim Boeheim have recently stepped down or retired from their positions. They simply didn’t want to deal with the changing landscape of college basketball due to NIL and transfer portal.
But Calipari isn’t ready to settle down yet even though his unranked Razorbacks are struggling in SEC action, and the coach, fair or not, is facing a lot of heat. In addition, this week’s announcement that injured star freshman Boogie Fland is likely out for the season certainly made the Calipari situation more difficult.
Arkansas also has several current players from UK’s 2023-24 roster – Adou Thiero, D.J. Wagner, Zvonimir Ivisic and Kareem Watkins. Calipari’s assistant coaches at Kentucky are with him, too.
Before the No. 9 Wildcats worry about their Feb. 1 date, they have a couple of tough games in Tennessee to deal with. On Saturday afternoon (2:30 pm ET), Vanderbilt welcomes UK in the Music City before a sellout crowd of more than 14,000 at Memorial Gymnasium while Tennessee is hosting Kentucky on Tuesday night (7 pm ET) in Knoxville. Both games will be seen on ESPN.
Vanderbilt, which dropped at No. 4 Alabama 103-87 on Tuesday, is led by junior point guard Jason Edwards, a North Texas transfer who is averaging a team-high 17.3 points while starting 10 of the team’s 19 games. The top rebounder is 6-foot-7 junior Devin McGlockton, a transfer from Boston College, with an average of 8.2 rebounds.
Last week, the Commodores (15-4 overall, 3-3 SEC) upset No. 6 Tennessee 76-75 in Nashville.
Meanwhile, the Vols, who defeated No. 14 Mississippi State 68-56 Tuesday night in Knoxville, are led by senior guard and preseason All-SEC Zakai Zeigler and fifth-year guard Chaz Lanier, whose 18.4-point average ranks No. 2 in SEC scoring. Tennessee is 17-2 overall and 4-2 SEC.
As for the Kentucky-Arkansas showdown (9 p.m. on ESPN), it’s going to be a very emotional night for Calipari’s coaching staff and players as well as the Big Blue Nation.