John Calipari contract, buyout details as Arkansas basketball reportedly hires Kentucky coach

John Calipari's shocking move from Kentucky to Arkansas will be an expensive one for his new employer.

The Wildcats coach — who led Kentucky to six SEC Tournament titles and an NCAA Tournament title in his 15 seasons at the helm of the program — led Kentucky to a 23-10 overall finish and a 13-5 record in SEC play in 2023-24, a season that ended in another first-round loss to a double-digit seed in the NCAA Tournament.

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Back on March 26, following his end-of-season meeting with Calipari, Kentucky athletic director Mitch Barnhart confirmed the hall of fame coach would return to the Wildcats bench for the upcoming 2024-25 season — which gave early Sunday evening's news of Calipari leaving for SEC foe Arkansas a shock within those in the college basketball world.

Per CBS Sports' Matt Norlander, Calipari has wanted out of Lexington since February and even expressed privately his interest in the then-open Ohio State basketball coach position after the Buckeyes fired Chris Holtmann in the middle of February.

Per Norlander, what led Calipari to make the move within the SEC consisted of the assurances from the Arkansas brass that he could utilize the NCAA transfer portal, that he could bring his incoming Kentucky recruiting class with him to Arkansas and the program's NIL budget.

Here's what you need to know of Calipari's reported contract details at Arkansas:

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John Calipari contract details at Arkansas

• Length: Five years
• Salary: $7.5 million to $8 million

According to ESPN's Pete Thamel, who initially broke the news of his contract details, Calipari's contract with Arkansas is expected to be finalized in the next 24 hours and is five years in length. Per Field of 68 Network's Jeff Goodman, Calipari's deal is expected to be worth $7.5 million to $8 million per year. His budget for NIL is expected to be north of $5 million per year.

In addition, Calipari’s salary is more than double what Musselman was making when he was at Arkansas, which was roughly $4.25 million per year. While it would be a decrease in his yearly salary from Kentucky, according to data from USA TODAY's coaching salary database, he would still maintain his status as the second-highest-paid coach in the country, behind only Kansas coach Bill Self.

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John Calipari buyout at Kentucky

According to the details of his contract — which he signed back in 2019 — and several reports from college basketball insiders, Calipari owes Kentucky nothing for leaving for another position.

Per that 10-year contract extension that he signed in 2019, if Kentucky had fired Calipari he would have been owed roughly $35 million as of April 1 without clause.