John Calipari left Kentucky for Arkansas after talking with priest

Arkansas coach John Calipari shocked the basketball world in April 2024 by leaving Kentucky for the Razorbacks. And as he tells it, divine intervention may have been in play when he opted to head South.

Coach Cal admitted as much to Dan Dakich, host of OutKick’s Don’t @ Me with Dan Dakich on Thursday.

“We had Father Joe with us, a priest, in Vegas (where Cal was attending a friend’s bachelor party),” Cal told Dakich. “HE said, ‘Go for a walk. An hour. You’re the coach of Kentucky. Walk back. That next hour, you’re the coach of Arkansas.'”

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Arkansas Razorbacks head coach John Calipari after a game against the Miami Hurricanes at Watsco Center in Coral Gables, Fla., Dec. 3, 2024. (Sam Navarro/Imagn Images)

Simple enough, right?

As Cal tells it, the walk back provided more excitement than the walk there as a Wildcat. 

“About 15 minutes after coming back, I started whistling and skipping,” said Calipari. “Like, you know what? I’m doin’ this. Father Joe from Philadelphia got it done. He got it done.”

Trust the process.

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John Calipari, head coach of the Kentucky Wildcats, during a 88-73 loss to the Arkansas Razorbacks at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Ky., Feb. 7, 2023. (Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

Calipari reportedly inked a five-year deal with Arkansas

Coach Cal’s reliance on a priest during such a massive career-altering decision had a snickering Dakich asking why all the Italians, like Calipari, always have a priest hanging around.

“I’m a poor, miserable, sinner. … When I give confession, the priest comes out. His head’s spinnin’,” Calipari joked. “With what I do, where I’m coaching other people’s children, I better have something that grounds me in the morning to keep reminding me this is someone’s child so I don’t want to choke somebody. There’s times when you want to throw a kid off the team, and you go to mass in the morning, and you go ‘‘Cmon man, there’s a better way.'”

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Arkansas Razorbacks men’s basketball head coach John Calipari is introduced during a timeout in the first quarter against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville, Ark., Sept. 27, 2025. (Nelson Chenault/Imagn Images)

You can watch the entire interview with Dakich and Coach Cal below on YouTube:

Fortunately for the Razorbacks and Coach Cal, each of their prayers were answered in year one of Calipari’s Fayettville tenure. After an up-and-down start to the season (including an 0-and-5 start to SEC play), Arkansas finished 22-14 overall and 8-10 in the conference. The postseason included a trip to the Sweet Sixteen as a No. 10 seed and an upset of Kansas.

From the sound of it, Cal’s in Hog heaven.

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