All Hogs

Calipari Can't Ride Past Success Much Longer for Razorback Fans

While track record was good, story raises timeline of when things changed for Hogs' coach with resources, but not SEC wins
Andy Hodges|
Arkansas Razorbacks coach John Calipari during the second half against the Ole Miss Rebels at Bud Walton Arena.
Arkansas Razorbacks coach John Calipari during the second half against the Ole Miss Rebels at Bud Walton Arena. | Nelson Chenault-Imagn Images

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Arkansas Razorbacks

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Arkansas coach John Calipari had to know things weren't going to be easy this week. After an 83-65 loss to Missouri on Saturday and zero SEC wins, he couldn't expect to ride past success for long.

Razorback fans don't take losing coaches well when they start losing. They've had championship coaches that didn't win one with the Hogs before.

Football coach Lou Holtz couldn't ride a shocking Orange Bowl blowout of Oklahoma into long-term success. He was gone six seasons later and it wasn't his choice. He ended up winning a national title with Notre Dame.

Danny Ford won a national title at Clemson in 1981 and won 74.4 percent of his games from 1978-89. He got fired in the wake of NCAA issues and it essentially ended up being an unplanned swap with Arkansas for Ken Hatfield after the 1989 season.

Ford lasted five seasons with the Razorbacks, had a 26-30-1 record. He got fired two seasons after guiding the Hogs to their first SEC Championship Game.

Nolan Richardson is the only coach to win a national title in either sport at Arkansas (and don't start yelling about the 1964 football team because four votes for a title doesn't make it legit).

In a story by John Goodman at Hoops HQ, there was a season that seemed to change Calipari at Kentucky and he really hasn't been the same since.

Has another championship coach ridden past glory into a job with the Hogs he's not really into? Goodman's story has one interesting observation from someone with Calipari at Kentucky.

A source that worked with Calipari in Lexington pointed to the Covid pandemic stuff in 2020. It changed a lot of things for everyone, but the Wildcats weren't the same for a few years.

While he still recruits well and prepares players for the NBA, the story says, he can't arrange the pieces these days or come up with anything modern on offense to take advantage of the talent he recruits. That's been a question you don't have to be a basketball expert to see, by the way. He's still juggling.

These things come up when a coach can't seem to figure out a way to win an SEC game. He took the job at Arkansas and has basically disappeared except for social media glimpses at major league baseball games and other things.

While he talks the talk, there's not a whole lot of evidence of him trying to be a part of the state. Sorry, but a couple of practices in Pine Bluff and Hot Springs isn't getting out and becoming one of the folks.

If Calipari walked into the door at nearly every place in Northwest Arkansas, half the restaurant wouldn't know him if he wasn't wearing what he coaches in. Other coaches are seen at restaurants and some out shopping on a fairly routine basis.

This year's team isn't producing on the floor. By all accounts, none of them are problems off the court but something is not clicking once the games start. At times they look like the Keystone Kops on offense and can't get out of their own way.

Now this is starting to get pointed out by the national media and you have to wonder how long Calipari is going to want to put up with it. Despite what some folks think, he's probably got more than enough to carry him through retirement.

It's a challenge he's got to address. And fast. Razorback fans are about out of patience. That's even coming up in the media these days, too.

None of it will matters if he rips off a bunch of wins the rest of the way. Somehow, though, it's hard to imagine that happening.

HOGS FEED:

• As outside noise increases, Calipari, staff trying to block out chaos

• Where Hogs' Jackson projected to be picked in 2025 NFL Draft

• National podcaster asks question you know was coming on Calipari

• SEC rival predicted to poach in-state prospect away from Hogs, again

• Silent assassin ready to impact Razorbacks this year

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Andy Hodges
ANDY HODGES

Sports columnist, writer, former radio host and television host who has been expressing an opinion on sports in the media for over four decades. He has been at numerous media stops in Arkansas, Texas and Mississippi.

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