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Arkansas coach John Calipari shocked the basketball world in April 2024 by leaving Kentucky to Razorbacks. And as he tells it, divine intervention may have been in play when he chose to go south.
Coach Cal admitted just as much to Dan Dakich, hosting Outkick’s Don’t @ Me With Dan Dakich Thursday.
“We had father Joe with us, a priest, in Vegas (where Cal attended a friend’s bachelor party),” Cal told Dakich. “… he said, ‘Go for a walk. An hour. You are coach for Kentucky. Go back. The next hour you are the trainer for Arkansas.”
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Arkansas Razorback’s head coach John Calipari looks at after the match against Miami Hurricanes at the Watsco Center in Coral Gables, Florida, on December 3, 2024. (SAM NAVARRO/IMAGN -PICTURES)
Simple enough, right?
As Cal says it, the trip gave back more excitement than the trip there like a wildcat.
“About 15 minutes after I came back, I started whistling and skipping,” Calipari said. “Like, you know what? I do this. Father Joe from Philadelphia got it done. He got it done!”
Trust the process …
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John Calipari, head coach of Kentucky Wildcats, under the loss 88-73 to Arkansas Razorbacks in Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky, February 7, 2023. (Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
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Coach Cal’s dependence on a priest during such a massive career-changing decision had a snicking Dakich who asked why all the Italians, like Calipari, always have a priest hanging around.
“I’m a poor, miserable, sins … when I give confession, the priest comes out. His head spinnin,” joked Calipari. “With what I do, where I coach other people’s children, I have better something that justifies me in the morning to continue to remind me that this is someone’s child so I will not strangle anyone. There are times when you want to throw a child from the team and you go to the Mass in the morning and you go ” CMON man who is a better way. ‘
Arkansas Razorbacks Lord’s Basketball Head coach John Calipari is introduced during a timeout in the first quarter against Notre Dame fighting in Irish on Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville, Arkansas, on September 27, 2025. (Nelson Chenault/Imag images)
You can see the full interview with Dakich and Coach Cal below on YouTube:
Fortunately for both Razorbacks and Coach Cal, each of their prayers was answered this year one of Caliparis Fayettville -Embed period. After an up-and-down start of the season (including a 0-and-5-start to the SEC game), Arkansas ended 22-14 overall and 8-10 at conference. The autumn period included a trip to the sweet sixteen like 10 seeds and a disturbance of Kansas.
From the sound of it, Cal’s in Hog Heaven.
