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Karl-Anthony Towns, Kentucky Stars React to John Calipari Heading to Arkansas
Following John Calipari's departure from the University of Kentucky, a handful of former Wildcats took to social media to bid farewell to their old coach.
Calipari is set to take over as head coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks, leaving Lexington after 15 years as the coach of Kentucky's men's basketball program. During his lengthy tenure, Calipari has coached some of the top college basketball players in the nation, many of whom have developed into excellent pros.
The 65-year-old addressed his departure in a video message on Tuesday, which prompted reactions from some of the most legendary players from Calipari's coaching tenure in Lexington. Among those to weigh in included former No. 1 draft picks Karl-Anthony Towns and John Wall, as well as fellow current and former NBA stars such as Tyrese Maxey, DeMarcus Cousins and Bam Adebayo.
Towns took to X, formerly Twitter, with a heartfelt message for Calipari, wishing his coach the best of luck at his next stop in Fayetteville.
Gonna be weird not seeing you on the Kentucky sidelines, but thank you coach for helping me and my family achieve our dreams and giving us the best college experience. My Love for Kentucky and Coach Cal has and will continue to have no bounds ✊🏽💙
— Karl-Anthony Towns (@KarlTowns) April 9, 2024
Wall, Maxey, Cousins and Adebayo were among many players to comment on Calipari's video on Instagram.
Other former Kentucky players took to social media to react to Calipari's big move, too.
Nothing but love for BBN but Cal changed my life and forever grateful for that. Thanks COACH!!! Thank you BBN!!! 💙 #BigBlueNation pic.twitter.com/bB9TupwauK
— Kyle Wiltjer (@kwiltj) April 9, 2024
Thankful for you coach 🙏🏿 https://t.co/bF73SlEhlo
— Dominique Hawkins (@Dhawk_25) April 9, 2024
Patrick Andres is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He joined SI in December 2022, having worked for The Blade, Athlon Sports, Fear the Sword and Diamond Digest. Andres has covered everything from zero-attendance Big Ten basketball to a seven-overtime college football game. He is a graduate of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism with a double major in history .