Arkansas Razorbacks coach John Calipari against the Texas Longhorns at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville, Ark. / Nilsen Roman-HitThatLine.com
NASHVILLE — The last thing Arkansas coach John Calipari needs while everything is finally rolling is a big distraction, but the Texas Longhorns are providing exactly that.
In an apparent attempt to undermine coach Rodney Terry while he’s in the midst of trying to guide his team to a spot in the NCAA Tournament with wins at the SEC Tournament, Texas athletics director Chris del Conte has reportedly made it known he doesn’t think his coach is an alpha who can compete in the jungle that is the SEC these days.
Beyond taking a shot at his coach, he also supposedly has a list ready to go if he can convince people in Arkansas to cough up all the money it would take to make a big splash coaching change.
“According to [the Houston Chronicle’s Kirk] Bohls, Del Conte already has at least three names he is looking at to potentially replace Terry — Atlanta Hawks coach Quin Snyder, Chicago Bulls coach Billy Donovan, and Arkansas Razorbacks coach John Calipari,” Horns on SI writer Matt Galatzan wrote Wednesday.
When Chris Beard was fired at Texas for a domestic abuse situation it was Terry who stepped in. At the time, there was a lot of discussion about the Longhorns potentially coming after then Arkansas coach Eric Musselman who was thriving in the NCAA Tournament with back-to-back Elite 8 appearances and a Sweet 16 along with back-to-back wins over No. 1 seeds.
Terry had great success as the interim, leading the Longhorns to a Big XII Tournament championship and a run to the Elite 8. His players had reached a point to where they would have revolted if Terry hadn’t gotten the job.
However, Texas dropped off to 21-13 and a .500 Big XII record before being bounced in the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament. That has now been followed by an 18-14 campaign in the Longhorns’ inaugural SEC season and a 6-12 conference record, which was good enough for No. 14 in the league.
Texas is currently a bubble team that could use a few more wins to definitely land a coveted spot in the NCAA Tournament. If that doesn’t happen, it won’t take long until Longhorns boosters start running to Fayetteville with as much money as they can muster provided Del Conte can convince people it’s worth having a good basketball team in addition to what’s going on in football.
While Bohls says he can confirm Del Conte definitely has his eye on Calipari, there is one major issue in place. Arkansas has reportedly included a non-compete clause in his contract that keeps him from leaving Fayetteville to go coach another SEC school.
