Calipari Assembles Staff with Lots of Experience, Unique stories

Arkansas fans still hold out hope Brewer, Payne may join also

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The Arkansas Razorbacks appear to have assistants in place just in time for the latest round of recruiting to open up.

New head coach John Calipari has reportedly brought much of his Kentucky staff to Arkansas in addition to his son who was coaching at Vanderbilt last season. Orlando Antigua, Chin Coleman and Chuck Martin are specifically listed as assistants while Bruiser Flint is listed as a special assistant and Brad Calipari will reportedly work in a player development role.

Depending on how their official titles are formally coded, the staff could be full or it could have at least two more openings. This is important because Arkansas fans have been adamant that Ronnie Brewer be retained on staff and have held out hope that Kenny Payne might rejoin his old boss as well.

Former Arkansas coach Eric Musselman had five assistant coaches on his staff last season. Brewer was on that list and was tasked with recruiting coordinator duties. Musselman did have a special assistant to the head coach who was not considered one of the five assistants. If Flint fills this role, it allows for at least one more spot to fill that could go to one of those fan favorites.

There are also other random roles outside of official assistant coach duties where Brad Calipari's job description might officially fall. If this is the case once the university officially recognizes the hirings, it would leave room for both Payne and Brewer to still be on the table.

Meet the Assistants

Orlando Antigua

• Nickname: Hurricane
• First Hispanic, non-black player to ever play for the Harlem Globetrotters
• Born in the Dominican Republic
• Was once shot in the head at age 15 during a Halloween night incident as a bystander while living in New York
• Student Council president in high school
• Played basketball at Pitt
• In addition to Calipari at Memphis and Kentucky, has worked under Jamie Dixon and Brad Underwood

Chin Coleman

• Grew up in Chicago
• Played at Weber State and Lamar
• Dominated as a high school level coach at the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League and in Illinois
• Since 2011 has been an assistant at Colorado State, Nebraska, Bradley, Illinois-Chicago, Illinois and Kentucky
• Respected specifically for his work in developing guards

Chuck Martin

• Born in Puerto Rico
• Has worked as an assistant at Seton Hall, UMass, Drexel, St. John's, Memphis, Indiana, South Carolina, Oregon and Kentucky
• Was head coach at Marist for just over four seasons where he went 47-117
• In addition to Calipari, worked under Dana Altman and Frank Martin
• This is his third school with Calipari
• Joined Calipari last season as Kentucky's recruiting coordinator

James "Bruiser" Flint

• Was an All-Atlantic 10 player at St. Joe's and is in the Hall of Fame there
• Was an assistant at Coppin State, UMass, Indiana and Kentucky
• Took over for Calipari as head coach at UMass for five seasons and was also head coach at Drexel for 15
• This is his third school with Calipari
• Expected to be heavily involved in game planning, scouting and general X's and O's for Calipari
• Considered a strong recruiter

HOGS FEED:

• Hogs' Rashod Dubinion dying breed in transfer portal world of college football

• Arkansas fans hurting themselves with Hog call drama; tradition needs adjustment

• Calipari looks to take his players-first philosophy to Arkansas

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