Ryan Silverfield Went To See Calipari Before Doing Anything Else At Arkansas

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Ryan Silverfield helped carry on the winning tradition of Memphis football set in place by predecessors Justin Fuente and Mike Norvell, but Memphis is still a basketball city at heart.

Yes, the NBA's Memphis Grizzlies call the city home, but so too does the University of Memphis basketball team, which shares FedEx Forum with the Grizzlies.

Arkansas head coach John Calipari, of course, took the Tigers' basketball program to the national championship game and turned Memphis into a program that has consistently been nationally prominent since, even in years where wins are somewhat scarce.

Glad you stopped by, Coach Cal 👋 pic.twitter.com/8f3zqChuMb
— Arkansas Football 🐗 (@RazorbackFB) August 19, 2026

Calipari then went and won a national title at Kentucky before coming to Arkansas in 2024, where he's led the Hogs to consecutive Sweet 16s and seems poised to make a run at a national title this year with a slew of talent on his third roster at Arkansas. Calipari stopped by Arkansas football practice on Wednesday to briefly chat with Silverfield.

"He's an absolute stud," Silverfield said Wednesday regarding Calipari during an appearance on the JIm Rome Show. "Obviously, my time at Memphis, got to hear all the stories about him prior to us getting there. When I got here, my very first stop right when I landed, before I even met the team, was going by and seeing Cal at practice.

"When I got here, my very first stop right when I landed -- before I even met the team -- was going by to see Cal at practice."@RazorbackFB HC @RSilverfield on his relationship with @CoachCalArk. pic.twitter.com/WsyUeJAwf6
— Jim Rome (@jimrome) August 19, 2026

"Just the opportunity to connect — he's a Hall of Fame coach, and I can learn from him just as a coach and a leader. We've talked about fundraising, what it looks like. It's been fun because here, we're arm and arm. We're there to support each other. He comes out to practice. He spoke to our team. He's invited me around, we've spent a lot of time together. I think that's huge. We live in the same neighborhood."

Silverfield went on to call the relationship between he and Calipari "a fun bond" and said he wants Calipari to run the NIL team for Razorback football when he retires from coaching.

What Silverfield might want even more is to experience the same immediate success that Calipari had in Fayetteville.

Obviously, there are differences aplenty in circumstance between the arrivals of Calipari and Silverfield at Arkansas.

A seven or eight-win campaign from Silverfield and the Razorbacks in Year 1 would go a long towards the first-year head coach establishing trust with the Arkansas fan base and the state at large, just as it did after Calipari took the Razorbacks back to the Sweet 16 in his first season.

Sign up to our free newsletter, and follow us on Facebook, X (Twitter) for the latest news.

Add us as a preferred source on Google