Arkansas Razorbacks head coach John Calipari. Brian Fluharty-Imagn Images

How John Calipari's Arkansas hiring created a Sweet 16 domino effect

By Austen Bundy | Last updated Mar 24, 2025 12:58 PM ET

Despite an 0-5 start to SEC play and a 10-seed next to its name, Arkansas is still dancing at March Madness and looks more like a top seed than a Cinderella.

That's mostly thanks to head coach John Calipari, who has now led four different schools to the Sweet Sixteen in his 37-year career.

Calipari is most known for his dominant years leading the Kentucky Wildcats, appearing in four Final Fours and winning the 2012 national championship.

At the end of the 2023-24 season, he announced he would be leaving Lexington and not long after he signed with Kentucky's SEC rival in Fayetteville.

His success in just one year has been apparent, knocking off 7-seed Kansas and 2-seed St. John's in the tournament's first weekend.

Calipari's departure created a massive vacancy at Kentucky, which was eventually filled by former BYU head coach Mark Pope, a Wildcat alum.

Pope's position at BYU was then filled by former Phoenix Suns associate head coach Kevin Young.

All three are now coaching their teams in this year's Sweet 16.

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It's one of those crazy coincidences that may actually be more of a successfully strategic domino effect.

Arkansas leapt at the chance for a Basketball Hall of Famer to lead its team and that decision has paid dividends.

Kentucky needed to follow up Calipari's seemingly insurmountable legacy with a coach that could provide immediate success and placate an angsty fan base. Pope, who led BYU to the NCAA Tournament twice and earned 20 or more wins in four of his five seasons in Provo, has helped the Wildcats finish the 2024-25 season better than Calipari left it in 2023-24.

And Young has taken the Cougars to new heights, leading the program to its first NCAA Tournament win since 2011.

Call it what you will, but it seems like Calipari's seismic departure was necessary for all three programs to grow out of their stagnant dispositions.

Austen Bundy

Austen Bundy is a journalist and sports junkie from the Washington, D. C. area

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