John Calipari said goodbye to the Kentucky program on Tuesday, ending what has been a wild few days surrounding the head coach. While his next stop, Arkansas, has not been made official, Calipari will not be in Lexington for the 2024-2025 season. And his entire family will be heading to Northwest Arkansas with him.
While John’s goodbye video earned a ton of eyeballs on social media, his wife, Ellen, had one of her own. She too was around the program for a long time and had a ton of relationships. Ellen Calipari reminisced on being “Mrs. Cal” at Kentucky but is willing to pass it off to whoever the Wildcats hire next.
“If he feels like it’s time to move on, I have to support that,” Ellen Calipari said. “It’s not easy and we will miss a lot of things about Lexington and the University of Kentucky. It’s been my honor to be Mrs. Cal and make brownies for a lot of these guys that have come through. I guess it’s time for me to pass on the crown of being the princess. Thank you for everything you’ve done for myself and my family and my roommate. Thank you.”
On3’s KSR pointed out all the good Ellen did for the program. Whenever a player had a birthday, she would bake them brownies as a celebration. Making fun of the head coach was a popular act as well, whether it was related to basketball or not.
Ellen Calipari did plenty around the community as well, being a huge part of The Calipari Foundation and the annual UK Women’s Clinic.
John Calipari sends message to Big Blue Nation
The drama surrounding Calipari’s departure from Kentucky ended on Tuesday. He posted a message, explaining his decision despite not officially having the Arkansas job yet.
Calipari called Kentucky his “dream job” but understands somebody else needs to be in charge moving forward.
“Since our season ended, Ellen and I have spent a lot of time thinking about our time here at Kentucky,” Calipari said. “What it means to us, the friends we’ve made on that court, regional championships, conference championships, Final Fours, the national title in 2012 — it’s been a beautiful time for us.
“This is a dream job. It was my dream job. Anybody in our profession looks at the University of Kentucky and basketball and says, ‘That is the bluest of blue.’ The last few weeks we’ve come to realize that this program probably needs to hear another voice, that the university as a whole has to have another voice giving guidance about this program.
“The fans need to hear another voice. We’ve loved it here, but we think it’s time for us to step away and step away completely from the program.”
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