I think it's a good deal for Arkansas. Calipari will bring improved talent in and he is an excellent coach. I think it's a good deal for UK as well. It was time for them to part ways. The expectations at UK, year in, year out, are unrealistic. Great basketball program but you can't win the NCAA every year.
Musselman had no problem bringing top tier talent in - both freshman and transfers.
That UK fans expect the NCAA 'ship every year is a bit of a common misconception.
We expect to be competitive enough to realistically be in the conversation. It's the same expectation as Duke, UNC, Kansas..
We also expect to contend for our conference tourney championship every year.
Both the SEC and NCAA tourney results in the last 5 seasons had been despicable- among the worst in the program's contemporary history.
There are a lot of variables behind the scenes that led to this end too. The staff as a whole had become bloated, lazy, and ineffective - and he's taking it to Fayetteville with him.. PLUS his son. That always works out well lol.
He'll still reel in the young talent, but if he remains staunch in his position that he is unwilling to change and adapt to trends in the game, it will keep passing him by.
I don't hate the guy. I was a fan of his going back to UMASS (when we were kicking his ass in the 90s) and then at Memphis. I wanted him when Tubby left..
After 15 years though I think we had grown mostly immune to his "Cal-speak". It's been entertaining to observe another fan base lapping it up.