Almost exactly one year ago to the day, Kentucky athletic director Mitch Barnhart and then-head coach John Calipari sat down for a joint interview on a local television station after the team’s second first-round exit from the NCAA tournament in three years.
Barnhart had already announced Calipari would return for another season but reports of a frigid bond between them remained.
“He’s been married 40-plus years. I’ve been married for 40-plus years,” Barnhart said during the March 29, 2024 interview. “We know how to manage relationships. And I think we’ve been together for 15 years, so we’re sort of, like, semi-married.”
But nine days later, the two sides had divorced.
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Calipari’s surprising departure for Arkansas set off a domino effect that rivals anything college basketball has seen over the past decade.
For the Razorbacks, Calipari was a big fish — a name brand with a national title — but he also hadn’t been to the Final Four in a decade.
Meanwhile, coaches with noted legacies such as Dan Hurley and Billy Donovan were floated as potential successors at Kentucky, which is why Wildcats fans threatened to revolt when they signed Mark Pope from BYU. Then BYU turned to an NBA assistant with minimal collegiate coaching experience, Kevin Young, to replace Pope.
At the outset, supporters of all three programs wondered what would happen next. Now they know: With Arkansas, Kentucky and BYU all headed to the Sweet 16, this was a rare chain reaction in the coaching carousel that has seemingly benefited everyone involved.
Despite dealing with injuries early in the season and an 0-5 start to SEC play, the Razorbacks finally hit their stride late. Upsets over 7-seed Kansas and 2-seed St. John’s on opening weekend of the NCAA tournament have given the impression that Calipari is, in fact, back. His replacement in Lexington, Pope, snagged eight wins over top-15 teams during the regular season and erased the bad taste from the program’s recent run of early NCAA tournament exits with this trip to the second weekend. And his successor, Young — who earned a commitment from the No. 1 recruit of the 2025 class, A.J. Dybantsa, shortly after he was hired — seems ahead of schedule with a Cougars squad that has made the Sweet 16 for the first time since Jimmer Fredette led them in 2011.
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Let’s take a look at how each of these dominoes has fallen over the course of this season.
To see Calipari in his Arkansas red blazer at last April’s introductory news conference after switching schools — but staying in the same conference — was akin to seeing Roger Clemens in a Yankees uniform, Jerry Rice with the Raiders or John Cena turning heel.
But it was well known Calipari needed a fresh start. Losses to Saint Peter’s (2022) and Oakland (2024) in the first round of the NCAA tournament had robbed him of the edge he once enjoyed as the king of the one-and-done era. But Calipari kept his charm. And he would need it at Arkansas.
The Razorbacks had been to the mountaintop and won a national championship in 1994, but a return to the title game a year later was the last time they had been within reach of another ring. That’s why Arkansas swiped right on an elite coach searching for redemption.
“[When] you talk about some of the best jobs in the country,” Calipari said then, “in basketball, this is one of them.”
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How he would restore the program to its former glory still remained a question.
With an NIL coffer full of cash thanks to his billionaire friends, Calipari started to answer by signing promising talent: D.J. Wagner had once been the top recruit in America. Johnell Davis had been a star for a Florida Atlantic team that reached the Final Four in 2023. And Boogie Fland, a five-star recruit and top NBA prospect, decommitted from Kentucky to follow Calipari to Arkansas.
But preseason injuries made it difficult for Calipari to even hold practice. Then Fland and Adou Thiero, the team’s top scorers, sustained major injuries. That’s why it took four months — and a few recoveries — before the team found its rhythm, following the 0-5 start to SEC play with a respectable 9-6 stretch to close the regular season (including a win over his former team and Pope). They bonded, Calipari said, through the adversity to eventually make this run to the second weekend of the NCAA tournament.
“To be where we are, still playing and still fighting and having fun,” Calipari said after his team’s second-round win over St. John’s. “I’m enjoying it. Like I said, I’m not going to let anything faze me in this.”
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Though Arkansas got the biggest piece of this coaching puzzle with Calipari choosing to leave Kentucky, his former school did not — at least initially — feel as fortunate.
As Kentucky searched for a head coach for the first time in 15 years, highly coveted targets declined. Baylor’s Scott Drew and Alabama’s Nate Oats released statements that they wouldn’t leave their schools while other big names (see: Donovan) never moved past the rumor stage.
That’s when the school turned to a familiar face: Pope, a captain on the Wildcats’ 1996 national championship team. But the backlash was real.
A prominent booster called Barnhart after he announced the hiring of Pope, who hadn’t led BYU past the first round of the NCAA tournament, and threatened to never write another check to the program.
“Give me his number,” Pope told Barnhart. “I’ll call him.”
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Pope converted that booster and so many others by acknowledging the skeptics and asking them to give him a chance. Plus, Pope wasn’t just a coach — his connection to Kentucky’s legacy helped lure thousands to Rupp Arena for his introductory news conference, which also featured dozens of former players.
“The expectations at Kentucky are higher than anywhere else,” Pope told ESPN. “That’s the standard and that’s the history of Kentucky. If you don’t hang a banner, then you haven’t had a successful season. And I love that.”
To reach his goal, Pope plucked players from the transfer portal who had experience but wanted a chance to win big for a storied program. Former San Diego State standout Lamont Butler had gone to the Final Four in 2023. Andrew Carr (Delaware then Wake Forest), Amari Williams (Drexel) and Koby Brea (Dayton) all had first- or second-round NCAA tournament experience. And Otega Oweh had been a high level player at Oklahoma.
That collective ambition and experience led to immediate results.
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On Nov. 12, Pope led this crew to a 77-72 victory over Cooper Flagg and now-championship favorite Duke in the Champions Classic, uprooting any lingering concerns about the hire. Now with the program’s first run to the Sweet 16 in six years, it’s clear that a new era has dawned for Kentucky.
But while all of this was happening in Lexington, Pope’s replacement in Provo was charged with selling his vision to a room full of boosters.
Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, Chris Paul and other NBA stars had high praise for Young, who was an assistant for the Phoenix Suns when BYU hired him but lacked the same street credibility at the college level. But that might have ultimately helped him in a landscape that is determined by NIL deals and financial transactions.
“I honestly don’t even think twice about it,” he told ESPN about the impact of NIL on the sport. “It is what it is. It’s always been there for me [in the NBA], so I think, again, that’s a major advantage for me. I don’t get caught up in any of that.
“I’m like, ‘All right. Yeah. Cool. What’s the number? What are we working with?’”
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For Dybantsa, the top recruit in America, that number was reportedly $8.5 million. Though the dollar figure captured all the headlines, Young’s ability to lure an elite prospect was the byproduct of the trust he had earned from the flagship school of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and his genuine connection with the program’s top supporters.
The latter group meets with Young regularly. They attend practice and mingle at private dinners before home games. They feel attached to Young in a way that has helped him attract top recruits such as NBA prospect Egor Demin — a 6-foot-9 point guard from Europe — and top-100 recruit Kanon Catchings a year before Dybanta’s arrival.
But all of this didn’t immediately translate on the court. Young looked like a first-year head coach in the first three months of the season, as the Cougars started 15-8 and 6-6 in the Big 12. But once he began to adjust to the college game, especially the Big 12’s physicality, the Cougars soared. Since Feb. 12, they have been the best offensive team in the country — better than 1-seeds Florida, Duke and Auburn.
Though the Dybantsa signing made BYU look like a powerhouse in the making, this run to the program’s first Sweet 16 appearance in 14 years signaled an equally important consideration: BYU, it appeared, hired the right guy.
No matter what happens next, those connected to Arkansas, Kentucky and BYU should leave the NCAA tournament with optimism. Because all three programs — for different reasons — are building foundations for fruitful tenures under new leadership.
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But it’s also not out of the realm that each of these teams could advance to the Elite Eight and turn good stories into great ones.
BYU has lost only one game since Feb. 8, and the Cougars have the offensive juice to play a first-team-to-100 style against Alabama on Thursday. Kentucky swept its Sweet 16 opponent, Tennessee, during the regular season (though it’s worth noting injured star Jaxson Robinson scored 17 points in the first meeting). And Arkansas? The Razorbacks have already sent a pair of higher seeds in Kansas and St. John’s home — and both the Jayhawks and Red Storm were better defensive teams than Texas Tech, which Arkansas faces Thursday.
It rarely works out this way in the coaching carousel. Usually, some school is disappointed. But in this scenario, there is no bitterness because this trio of Sweet 16 appearances doubles as proof that you can part ways with a coach and all parties can end up better for it in the end.
During that TV interview with his former athletic director before he left Kentucky, Calipari said he wanted to exit the program knowing he’d left it in good condition.
“Make it future-proof,” he said a year ago. “That everything is in order. Come in and coach and recruit. You’ve got what you need here.”
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In this scenario, all three schools should feel that way right now.
Three-year-old Michelle “Shelley” Newton poses for the camera in a sailor’s outfit, smiling wide, showing the gap between her two front baby teeth in an undated missing persons flyer from the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office.
“Michelle was taken by her Mother,” it reads.
Now, Michelle, 46, is on a path to healing. Her mother is facing one charge.
The toddler’s vanishing took place in spring 1983, after her mother Debra Newton claimed she was “relocating to Georgia” from Louisville, Kentucky, “to begin a new job and prepare a new home for the family,” according to a Monday news release from the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office.
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CNN affiliate WLKY spoke to Joseph Newton, Debra’s husband and Michelle’s father, in 1986 after three years of searching for his daughter. He said the plan had been to move to Georgia. Debra took Michelle early, he added.
When he got there, he said they were gone.
Sometime between 1984 and 1985, a “final phone call” occurred between Debra and Joseph Newton, according to the sheriff’s office. Then, “both mother and daughter vanished.”
A custodial-interference indictment warrant soon followed.
“Wouldn’t you want your child back? At least to see her grow up?” Joseph Newton asked WLKY nearly four decades ago.
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Police at one point thought it was possible Michelle was in Clayton County, Georgia, a suburban county almost 20 miles south of downtown Atlanta, according to the flyer.
Despite no signs of Michelle or her mother and Debra’s inclusion on the FBI’s “Top 8 Most Wanted parental-kidnapping fugitives,” Michelle’s case was dismissed in 2000 when “the Commonwealth” of Kentucky could not reach her father, the release said.
Five years later, Michelle, who would have been in her 20s, was removed from national child missing databases, according to the sheriff’s office.
The undated missing persons flyer says Michelle’s entry in the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children system and Debra’s warrant for custodial interference were recalled in 2005 “due to inaccurate information.”
The case was reindicted in 2016 after a family member “prompted detectives to reexamine the case.”
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Earlier this year, 66-year-old Debra Newton had been spotted in Marion County, Florida, going by a different name.
When a Crime Stoppers tip identified the woman as a possible match, a US Marshals Task Force detective compared a recent photo to a 1983 image of Debra, and a Jefferson County detective “confirmed the resemblance,” the release said.
Authorities collected DNA from Debra’s sister in Louisville, and it showed a “99.9% match” to the woman in Florida.
When police arrived at her door, Michelle told WLKY that officers officially broke the news, “You’re not who you think you are. You’re a missing person. You’re Michelle Marie Newton.”
Michelle, who had been living under a different identity, called the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office upon discovering her true family history, according to the release.
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On the other side of that phone call was a reunion with family she hadn’t seen in decades, including her father.
“She told us she didn’t realize she was a victim until she saw everything she had missed,” Chief Deputy Col. Steve Healey said.
“She’s always been in our heart,” Joseph Newton told CNN affiliate WLKY. “I can’t explain that moment of walking in and getting to put my arms back around my daughter.”
“I wouldn’t trade that moment for anything. It was just like seeing her when she was first born. It was like an angel.”
The resolution of a case spanning more than 40 years reflects a legacy of “extraordinary” detective work from the sheriff’s office, Healey said in the release, including its long-held philosophy that “no family seeking help is ever turned away.”
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Healey says it also proves the importance of one courageous tipster. “People think calling in tips is ‘snitching.’ It isn’t,” he said. “You’re helping victims. You’re helping families. This case proves that one phone call can change a life.”
A family member of Debra’s traveled to Kentucky and posted her bond.
She has been arraigned on a felony charge of custodial interference, according to the Commonwealth’s Attorney Office in Jefferson County. Felony custodial-kidnapping charges carry no statute of limitations in Kentucky.
CNN has reached out to the Louisville-Jefferson County public defender’s office for comment on Debra Newton’s legal representation.
Debra Newton voluntarily appeared in court for her arraignment in Louisville, the release states.
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Both Michelle and Joseph Newton were in attendance.
Michelle doesn’t appear to be taking sides. She told WLKY: “My intention is to support them both through this and try to navigate and help them both just wrap it up so that we can all heal.”
One week ago, I wrote that Kentucky needed to show us something against Gonzaga. Unfortunately, it did, in a bad way. The Cats’ 35-point loss to the Bulldogs was their fourth to a ranked team this year. It was a performance so abysmal that the team got booed off the floor at halftime. Ever since, BBN has been in a tailspin, uncertainty about the program’s short-and long-term future hanging over the Bluegrass like a thick fog.
Kentucky has already gotten back in the win column, beating NC Central by 36 on Tuesday night; however, the true test of whether or not the Cats have reached rock bottom is Saturday vs. Indiana. The Hoosiers are 8-2, losing to Minnesota and Louisville last week. They rebounded from the 87-78 loss to the No. 6 Cards by routing Penn State 113-72 on Tuesday, thanks in large part to 44 points from Lamar Wilkerson, who picked Indiana over Kentucky out of the transfer portal this past April.
Both Kentucky and Indiana fell out of the AP and Coaches Polls this week, hovering near each other in the group of “others receiving votes.” KenPom ranks Kentucky No. 20 and Indiana No. 21. It gives the Cats a 4-point edge in Saturday’s game, while BetMGM goes a half-point higher at 4.5.
Thank goodness this one’s at Rupp because it’s a must-win, in more ways than one.
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Resume
Let’s start with the most basic: the schedule. It may feel premature to start worrying about the NCAA Tournament, but we’re 10 games in, one-third of the way through the regular season, and Kentucky still doesn’t have a good win, going 0-4 in said opportunities. The highest-ranked team the Cats have beaten so far is Valparaiso, which ranks No. 191 in the NET rankings. All of Kentucky’s wins are in Quad 4, all of its losses in Quad 1. Quad 1 losses don’t hurt you a ton, but at some point, you have to pick up some meaningful wins to offset them.
The Cats have two more chances to pick up a Quad 1 win before SEC play begins: vs. Indiana and St. John’s. Over half of Kentucky’s conference games are in Quad 1; before starting that gauntlet, we need to see that the Cats are capable of winning one. Of the two coming up, beating Indiana in Rupp feels more manageable than Mark Pope taking down his old coach, Rick Pitino, and St. John’s next weekend in Atlanta.
Lamar Wilkerson
Much has been said about Kentucky’s struggles with recruiting this week. Most of that conversation has centered around high school recruiting, not the transfer portal, but Lamar Wilkerson is one of the biggest portal targets Mark Pope missed on this past offseason. Kentucky felt so good about landing him that Mark Pope took him to the winner’s circle at Keeneland. Instead, Wilkerson went to Indiana, the Hoosiers sweetening the pot at the last minute.
On Tuesday, Wilkerson set an Indiana record with 10 three-pointers in the win over Penn State. He is averaging 18.8 points and 3.5 made threes per game this season. There were other whiffs for Pope and his staff during the offseason, but Wilkerson will take center stage at Rupp tomorrow night, at a time when Kentucky’s $22 million team is the laughing stock of college basketball.
Please don’t let him get hot.
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Fan fatigue
You don’t need me to tell you BBN is unhappy. The boos in Nashville were ugly proof of the unrest in the fanbase now. Concerns about recruiting and the school’s partnership with JMI, as outlined by Jacob Polacheck and Jack Pilgrim earlier this week, aren’t helping. Mark Pope struck a different tone on Tuesday night, using his bench to send messages to Kam Williams, Jaland Lowe, and Brandon Garrison, and biting back anger afterward as he talked about how his team continues to fall short of the standard. On the player side, Otega Oweh seemed to step up as a leader, scoring a season-high 21 points and insisting all is well in the locker room during interviews, one of which took place with his teammates surrounding him.
On Saturday, we get to see if those baby steps of progress are enough to avoid a fifth loss. Kentucky has already lost one home game this season, last week vs. North Carolina. Given all that’s happened since, there might be boos if the Cats pick up a second tomorrow night.
Fear of becoming Indiana
Indiana used to be one of Kentucky’s biggest rivals; for fans of a certain age, the Hoosiers may still be. Over the past 20 or so years, Indiana has faded to irrelevance. The Hoosiers haven’t gone to a Final Four since 2002. There’s a reason they put Christian Watford’s buzzer-beater vs. Kentucky in 2011 on a popcorn box; they haven’t had much else to celebrate.
As Kentucky fans, we’ve made our fair share of jokes about Indiana, but it’s not quite as funny now that the Cats haven’t gone to the Final Four in a decade, won an SEC regular-season championship since 2019-20, or an SEC Tournament title since 2017-18. For all our hopes that Mark Pope would be the one to turn it around, Kentucky still hasn’t won a big game this season. As Mark Story outlined in the Herald-Leader, Kentucky could be on the path to becoming the next Indiana, which makes Saturday’s game even bigger. With this being the first game in a four-year series, it could be an annual reminder if things keep trending in this direction.
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So, please, Kentucky, win this basketball game. You can make it my early Christmas gift.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Kentucky lawmaker is taking the fight for pharmacists to Washington.
Representative James Comer introduced the Pharmacists Fight Back Act on Thursday.
Kentucky already has a similar law in place that WKYT Investigates’ Kristen Kennedy has been following as the state works to get the law enforced.
Kentucky pharmacists may now get help on the federal level.
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“Rarely does a day go by without hearing from my constituents in Kentucky who are struggling under the weight of soaring prescription drug costs,” Comer said. “The questions I’m consistently asked are, ‘why? Who is benefiting from the system? Why isn’t it patients?’ My response is the same each time. It’s the PBMs.”
Federal bill targets pharmacy benefit managers
Comer says pharmacy benefit managers have outgrown their role in healthcare. State legislators agreed when they passed Senate Bill 188 last year. The law was supposed to increase reimbursement rates for pharmacies and keep PBMs from steering patients to affiliated pharmacies.
The regulations are similar to what Comer wants to do on a federal level.
“Our oversight investigation, which culminated in a report last year with our findings and recommendations, found PBMs have largely operated in the dark,” Comer said. “PBMs have abused their positions as middlemen to line their own pockets by retaining rebates and fees, undermine our community pharmacists and pass along costs to patients at the pharmacy counter. It’s unacceptable, and Congress has a responsibility to act.”
If the act becomes law, it would affect pharmacies across the U.S.
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Pharmacists in Kentucky are already seeing some advantages with the regulations placed on pharmacy benefit managers, but their biggest complaint is that the law isn’t being enforced.
That could change if the federal government gets involved. The Kentucky Pharmacists Association thinks Frankfort has a responsibility to act on the PBM law that passed in the state. They’re still asking the governor to make sure the Department of Insurance is enforcing the law in place.
Stay informed on investigations like this by checking out our WKYT Investigates page at wkyt.com/investigates.
