John Calipari returns to Kentucky: Will Rupp Arena fans cheer or jeer the new Arkansas coach | Sporting News

If you suspect Arkansas coach John Calipari would not have a strategic plan for how to handle his return to Rupp Arena as coach of a rival SEC team, you dont know him well at all, which means you probably havent even thought about this.

Of course he has a plan.

Whether he is cheered or jeered is out of his control.

That is up to the Kentucky fans whose teams he coached from 2009 until 2024.

The Wildcats won 410 games and lost 123, including a 32-11 mark in NCAA Tournament games, with six SEC regular season titles, six SEC Tournament titles, four Final Four appearances and the 2012 national championship on his record.

If they emphasize instead his 1-3 March Madness record in his final seasons on the UK bench, they might lean toward a less generous reception.

However he is greeted, though, Calipari will be wearing some shade of red and making sure everyone understands he appreciates his time at Kentucky but now has moved forward to coaching another program.

Every statement he made relative to his Rupp return in a Thursday press conference began with an acknowledgment of the time he treasured in Lexington followed closely by an assertion hes now coaching for a different group of fans in a different place, albeit with the same goals in the same competitive conference.

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Duke Youre not erasing what happened there, for me, Calipari told reporters in Fayetteville.

My memories of my players that I coached there theyre Kentucky fans, but I coached them.

So they also have a relationship with me.

So my hope is, what we did there we do here.

Kentucky is doing beautifully in its first season of the post-Cal era.

Former Wildcats star Mark Pope has the Wildcats at 15-5 after they pulled a stunning upset of Tennessee in Knoxville without injured UK point guard Lamont Butler.

Among the teams victims are Duke, Gonzaga, Louisville and Florida.

Calipari is doing less well at Arkansas, only 12-8 overall and 1-6 in the SEC.

The subject of Caliparis return to Kentucky as Arkansas coach has been a matter of debate throughout Big Blue Nation this week.

It has been discussed on the CatsPause.com message boards, on social media playforms and on the various sports talk programs in the state.

The truth is, Calipari should receive no worse than a fond greeting.

He revitalized a program that had eroded badly in just two years following the hiring of Billy Gillispie.

There were four Final Fours in the first six years of Caliparis tenure, and the Cats fell in the Elite Eight twice in the next four seasons: once on a buzzer shot and the other in overtime.

I think, because there will be 20,000 people in Rupp, all of them in a really good mood because of that great win against Tennessee combine that with Arkansas being 1-6 in the SEC I think the mood will be very, very upbeat, Matt Laurence, co-host of the Matthew & Jimmy program on Lexingtons WLXG, told The Sporting News.

In 20,000 people in Rupp, youre always going to get some knuckleheads who will boo; I think thats understandable.

But I think hell get a really warm reception.

Rick Pitino led Kentucky to three Final Fours, a national title and a runner-up finish between 1989 and 1997, and players he recruited formed the core of the squad Tubby Smith led to the title in 1998.

He left to run the Boston Celtics for the 1997-98 season, lasted in the NBA only until 2000, then made his return to Rupp as an opposing coach on a late-December Saturday in 2001.

MORE: SN's Midseason All-America team He, too, was representing a school wearing red when he entered Rupp.

But he was coaching the Louisville Cardinals, Kentuckys fiercest rival.

He was loudly booed as he entered before the game from the home tunnel, perhaps to throw off those waiting for him to arrive and was demeaned by signs such as the one that compared him to famous American traitors.

As no one understands better what Calipari is about to enter, Pitino posted a message to social media Thursday directed to Big Blue Nation in which he requested fans at Rupp be respectful of Calipari, even while acknowledging Im not best friends with the Arkansas coach.

The toughest day of my coaching career at Louisville was when I had to walk into Rupp Arena.

I tried not to show it, but when I went home, the reception, it tore me apart because I loved that place so much, Pitino said.

It was a mutual thing.

The fans wanted a change.

John read the tea leaves.

He needed a change.

And he really didnt want to leave.

But what did he do for you? He brought the best talent in the history of the game of any university in America to Lexington.

He also won a national championship.

He also, his style of play was extremely entertaining.

So hes coming back on Saturday, and I want all of you to show the great class that you have: 23,000-plus people giving him a huge standing ovation.

This isnt uncommon.

Pittsburgh Penguins fans who celebrated Stanley Cup titles in 2016 and 2017 saw a series of contributors to those titles return to PPG Paints Arena in subsequent years.

The Penguins invariably presented a video tribute to the player Patrick Hornqvist, Chris Kunitz and especially goalkeeper Marc-Andre Fleury and the receptions were warm to wildly appreciative.

Therell be some emotions, now, walking into Rupp Arena, Calipari said.

Youre not going to erase from my mind what weve done there.

You cant erase history.

I look forward to walking in the building as an opposing coach.

Im the opposing coach.

In my time, I dont remember them ever cheering an opposing coach.

So, Im fine.

All I know is, the fans theyre terrific.

They were terrific during our run.

Theyre engaged.

And my guess is, theyll be really engaged on Saturday.

One Kentucky fan responded to the posting of the Pitino video with this message: Yeah, sit this one out.

BBN has some feelings it needs to let out.

Why thered be anger now is difficult to understand.

Perhaps itll be just that one guy..

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