Men's coaching tracker: Latest buzz, candidates, analysis - ESPN

Arguably the biggest job in college basketball is now on the market.

In a blockbuster move that will shake the college basketball landscape, Kentucky's John Calipari is finalizing a five-year deal to become the next coach at Arkansas, sources told ESPN.

Calipari likely would have entered next season on the hot seat in Lexington after yet another early NCAA tournament exit last month. The Wildcats haven't advanced out of the first weekend of the tournament since 2019, winning just one game and suffering losses to 15-seed Saint Peter's and 14-seed Oakland in that span.

The speculation about his job status had grown to the point that Kentucky athletic director Mitch Barnhart had to release a statement saying Calipari would return as the program's coach next season.

The biggest impediment to firing Calipari? His buyout, which was north of $33 million.

And now Kentucky is off the hook — and free to find his replacement.

The news also keeps the power-conference carousel spinning. After the first weekend of the men's NCAA tournament saw a slew of hires — Michigan landing Florida Atlantic's Dusty May, West Virginia taking on Drake's Darian DeVries, Stanford employing Washington State's Kyle Smith, Washington opting for Utah State's Danny Sprinkle and Vanderbilt hiring James Madison's Mark Byington — the cycle seemed to slow down, waiting on just Louisville, which was the biggest job at the time. The Cardinals eventually reached a deal with Charleston's Pat Kelsey.

Then, Andy Enfield was linked to the SMU vacancy, and Arkansas' Eric Musselman emerged as the leading candidate to fill the void at USC. Musselman reinvigorated the Razorbacks' basketball program, leading them to two Elite Eights and one Sweet 16 in five years, but he