John Calipari Leaves Kentucky for Arkansas; What It Means for Texas Longhorns in SEC

AUSTIN -- The Texas Longhorns will be officially heading to the SEC on Monday, July 1, as life will change for good for the university and its respective athletic programs.

The SEC attention has understandably shined brightest on Texas football ahead of an arrival in the toughest conference the sport has to offer, but Texas men's basketball now finds itself heading into a chaotic new world as well after events of the past few weeks culminated into a nuke-sized news bomb on Sunday night surrounding Kentucky Wildcats head coach John Calipari.

After 15 memorable seasons in Lexington, Calipari is heading southwest to Fayetteville to become the new head coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks. ESPN insider Pete Thamel reported that Calipari has agreed to five-year deal with the program, replacing Eric Musselman after he left for the USC job.

Feb 27, 2024; Starkville, Mississippi, USA; Kentucky Wildcats guard Reed Sheppard (15) talks with coach John Calipari. | Petre Thomas-USA TODAY Sports

While the Longhorns still don't know their official SEC hoops schedule yet, they'll likely play every conference foe at least once during the regular season, unlike football.

So how does Calipari's move to Arkansas impact Texas?

For starters, it certainly won't affect Longhorns coach Rodney Terry, and that's not a knock on him in what should be a historical coaching search. Terry hasn't been rumored to be among the names in contention for the now-vacant Kentucky job, and don't expect that to change. He's described Texas as his dream job, but more notably, the other names likely to be in the running have established a championship pedigree that Terry is still hoping to build at Texas.

However, if the Longhorns can perform at an elite and consistent level over the next few seasons in the SEC, Terry could potentially have to ability to command a new extension that comes close to whatever huge number Calipari signs on for at Arkansas.

But first, he'll have to navigate his first season in the conference, which could now feature multiple first-year coaches in the 2024-25 campaign.

USA Today revealed its 12 coaching candidates to replace Calipari divided up into three tiers. The "top tier" represented the most-likely hires and included two current SEC coaches in Auburn's Bruce Pearl and Texas A&M's Buzz Williams. Pearl's potential departure would subsequently open up the Auburn job, thus giving the SEC another new coach. The same goes for Williams.

Alabama's Nate Oats has already reaffirmed his commitment to the Tide after making it to the Final Four.

Already set to experience tons of changes on the hardwood, the Longhorns will now have to navigate a new-look coaching landscape in the SEC instead of matching up against programs Terry has likely gotten familiar with from afar in Musselman-led Arkansas and Calipari-led Kentucky.

Of course, Terry and his players would say that anything outside of Texas' control isn't worth worrying about, but all the changes this wild offseason will bring will be hard to ignore.