The candidates to replace John Calipari at Kentucky with Rick Pitino, Dan Hurley not expected
𝓰GLENDALE, Ariz. — Arguably the biggest job in college basketball was open on the night of the national championship game, setting the sport abuzz.
John Calipari is planning to take the job at Arkansas, leaving Kentucky after 15 seasons with one national championship an🍷d four Final Four a🦂ppearances.
It is expected to be a five-year deal ꦫworth reportedly just south of $8.5 million per season.
After Eric Musselman left Arkansas for USC, the SEC school attemꦦpted to pivot to Jerome Tang of Kansas State and Chris Beard of Ole Miss, but both coaches opted to remain at their respective schools.
It led to this stunning turn of events.
Everyone now wants to know who will replace Calipari, a coaching giant in the sport who has produced a first-round pick in 16 straight sea🍌sons, in Lexington.
St. John’s coach Rick Pitino’s name has been thrown out there as a long-sh൩ot possibility, although that is not expected to happen, according to multiple sources close to the situation.
Pitino, 71, is focused on making St. John’s a winner and adding up to fi🍌ve impact transfers to a core that includes sophomores RJ Luis and Zuby Ejiofor and freshmen Brady Dunlap and💖 Simeon Wilcher.
Pitino, of course, coached at Kentucky from 1989-𓂃97 and won it all in 1996.
But the reason he took ♊the St. John’s job in the first place was to be able to stay in New York after coaching at Ion༺a University for three years.
Pitino has said St. John’s will be his last job.
Kentucky is expected to make a run at a number of high-profile coaches, from Dan Hurley at Cওonnecticut to Scott Drew at Baylor.
It could try to swing for the fences with big names like Jay🌊 Wright and Billy Donovan, the current Bulls’ coach.
Donovan worked as an assistant under Pit🎃ino at Kentucky from 1989-94 and won back-to-back NCAA titles at Florida in 2006-07.
Wright, who retired in 2022 from Villanova, told 💛The Post he’s not interested in returning to coaching.
Asked about the potential of leaving UConn after winning his second straight national cha𒅌mpions⛦hip Monday night, Hurley said:🧔 “I don’t think that’s a c൩oncern. … You should have [my wife] answer that.”
He later added: “I’m not going in the portal.”
Said Connecticut athletic director David Benedict: “Kentucky can call. Yes, we will do everything we can to keep him and I think he knows that. We just got done winnin𝄹g a second national championship. The pieces are in place to continue to do that. Nothing against Kentucky, but we’re winning.”
The candidate that makes the mos💟t sense is Drew, one of the game’s big coaching stars.
Kentucky athletic dir🐻ector Mitch Barnhart is said to be a fan of Drew, who led Baylor to the 2021 title and has led the Bears to 12 20-win seasons in the last 13 years.
Alabama’s Nate Oats was expected to be a candidate, but he announced on Monday night he was staying put and was focused on continuing to coach the Crimson Tide after leading the school 🌄to its first Final Four berth.
Oats does h🌼ave an $18 million buyout, which was seen by some as making him 🌱an unlikely hire.
It is significantly higher than Drew’s buyout of $4.5 million♐. Another potential name to watch is Bruce Pearl of ᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚAuburn.
Pe𒁃arl has the kind of big personality that would appeal to Kentucky’s rabid fan base and has won big at the SEC school, reaching the Final Four in 2019 and winning 27 games this year.
It will be interesting to see h🉐ow Calipari fares at Arkaꦇnsas.
For all of his success at Kentucky, he has struggled the last five years despite the annual additions of fi✱ve-star, one-and-done recruits.
The Wildcats last advanced past the first weekend of the tournament in 2019, didn’t even reach the dance in 2021 and suffered dismal, opening-round upset losses two of the last three years, falling to No. 14 Oakland this March and No. 15 Saint Peter’s in 2022.
Calipari hasn’t adjusted well toꦜ the transfer-portal era, losing with younger teams when so many successful programs have gone ol🎐der.
Calipari had the secon🌄d-ranked recruiting class in the country for next year, a group that included five-star guard Boogie Fland of Archbishop Stepinac.
It is🌠 uncertain if all of those players will follow him to Arkansas, which currently has n🌱o players on its roster or committed recruits for next year.
After the recent 𒆙loss to Oakland, there was speculꦦation Calipari’s job was tenuous.
But Barnhart quelled that somewha🦋t when he announced Calipari would be returnin♔g.
ꦉKentucky would have owed him over $33 million had♒ it fired him.
Ultimately, the sides parted ways. Calipari has a new job and Kentucky is free to replace him witꦜhout paying that onerous sum he was due.
