John Calipari: Potential Longhorns Coach Replacement for Chris Beard?

The Texas Longhorns fired coach Chris Beard on Thursday and are set to begin a coaching search in the offseason.

It doesn’t take much to figure out that the Texas Longhorns will be looking to swing for the fences this offseason when they begin a coaching search after the firing of Chris Beard on Friday.

Along with almost certainly giving current head coach Rodney Terry an interview once the coaching search begins in the offseason, who could make his case for the job with a successful finish this season, there’s still plenty of big names out there that Texas could target.

And though it might be unlikely, who’s to say one of those big names isn’t Kentucky Wildcats coach John Calipari?

247Sports seems to think so, listing Calipari as one of the coaching candidates that the Longhorns should consider.

Of course, as of now, there’s no real reported traction behind Calipari leaving Kentucky to head to Austin to take on one of the most coveted coaching gigs in the country. After all, he’s thrust himself into the conversation of best college basketball coaches of all time as he continues into his 14th season with the Wildcats. Calipari has led Kentucky to a win in the National Championship in 2012 and has five 30-win seasons under his belt. It’s also impossible to ignore that fact that he’s made Kentucky into a NBA prospect hot zone along the way.

Before his arrival to Lexington, he led the UMass Minutemen and Memphis Tigers to Final Four appearances in 1996 and 2008, respectively, though both appearances have technically been vacated.

Calipari currently holds a 374-105 all-time record as a collegiate head coach and is clearly still one of the best to do it in college basketball despite the fact that unranked Kentucky is currently “underperforming” with a 10-4 record so far this season.

Leaving a program where’s he had so much success understandably sounds a bit farfetched. But when it comes to the Longhorns, it’s hard to rule out any active coach as a potential target.

The No. 6 Longhorns (12-2) will visit the Oklahoma State Cowboys (9-5) on Saturday at 11 a.m. CT.

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You can follow Zach Dimmitt on Twitter at @ZachDimmitt7

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