There is plenty of credit to go around when it comes to what it took for Arkansas men’s basketball to land John Calipari as its new head coach.
The rich tradition of the program and the Tyson family are a good place to start, but it turns out Houston coach Kelvin Sampson may have dished out an assist to the Hogs as well.
Sampson was at the helm for the Cougars during Hunter Yurachek’s time at Houston and his rave reviews about the Arkansas athletic director when Calipari reached out via phone was enough to pique his interest.
“I called Kelvin Sampson,” Calipari said. “He and I are dear friends. I said tell me about Hunter, and he almost jumped through the phone. I said what are you talking about?
“I talked to his assistant who used to work for me. He said when you need things done, he does and does it.
“What he did at Houston. The building, the practice facility, all this stuff. What Kelvin needed to he could coach basketball. That got me to where I had to listen.”
After what could conservatively be described as a rocky relationship between Calipari and Kentucky athletic director Mitch Barnhart, having a strong bond with a new administration was a key component in luring away the Hall of Fame head coach.
Once Calipari received the seal of approval from Sampson, the rest of the negotiations were easy.
“Basketball coaches win games. Administrations win championships,” Calipari said. “You know why? Because they want to and it’s important to them.
“He’ll tell you with the offer thing, it was 15 minutes. Because I got what I needed to hear, we spent no time on that.”
One reasonable hesitation for Calipari departing Lexington was leaving behind a group of players he had recruited and coached.
As it turns out, Sampson’s words of wisdom offered some needed perspective once again.
“My initial thing when (Yurachek) asked me was I can’t leave this team. The players,” Calipari said. “It was Kelvin that said ‘What are you talking about? They can go wherever they want. They can go wherever they want if you stay. They can go to another school. They can stay. They can go pro. They can do what they want now.’
“I said you know what, I want to be happy with this and I want to go and say let’s do this together. I told Hunter administrations win championships. Let’s do this together.”