Arkansas
John Calipari bringing Kentucky staff (and Brad) with him to Arkansas
The sidelines at Bud Walton Arena will look all too familiar to the Big Blue Nation next season.
According to Matt Norlander of CBS Sports, former Kentucky head coach John Calipari is expected to bring most of his staff from this past season with him to Arkansas. In fact, Calipari intends to bring four of his five assistants from the 2023-24 Kentucky team.
Those include associate to the head coach Bruiser Flint, associate coach Orlando Antigua, assistant coach Chuck Martin, and assistant coach Chin Coleman. Additionally, Norlander reports that Calipari’s son, Brad, who served as Vanderbilt’s director of on-court player development this past season, will also join the Razorbacks’ staff in Fayetteville.
The lone staff member not tagging along with Calipari to Arkansas is John Welch, who was tabbed the associate head coach at Fresno State earlier this week.
At Arkansas, the trio of Antigua, Coleman, and Martin will hold the title of assistant coach while Flint will be named the special assistant coach, per Norlander. Brad Calipari will take over a player development role.
Calipari was officially introduced as the Arkansas head coach on Wednesday, receiving a five-year contract beginning at $7 million per year with plenty of incentives baked in. The contract runs through 2029 with a maximum of two automatic rollover years for NCAA Tournament berths. Calipari also receives a $1 million signing bonus.