National reporter says Texas basketball should court John Calipari

The news came about on Jan. 5 that the Texas basketball program officially parted ways with second-year head coach Chris Beard. Following an arrest last month that led to third-degree felony assault charges, Beard was reportedly fired from Texas “for cause”.

This report initially came from Matt Norlander of CBS Sports on the afternoon of Jan. 5.

The “for cause” portion of it means that Texas will likely not have to pay out the remainder of Beard’s contract, which had five years left on it from the original seven-year deal he signed back in the spring of 2021.

Moreover, the news of Texas officially parting ways with Beard less than a month after he was arrested in Travis County on Dec. 12 has brought about the conversation of what lies ahead for this men’s hoops program.

Texas will need to start putting together a coaching candidate list in the near future. And the media certainly has put together a number of different potential candidates for Texas athletic director Chris del Conte to consider to replace Beard next offseason.

Seth Davis of The Athletic tabs John Calipari as a coaching candidate for Texas basketball

One name that has often shown up in coaching candidate shortlists from around the college hoops media landscape on Jan. 5 is the longtime Kentucky Wildcats head coach John Calipari. Currently in his 14th year at Kentucky, Calipari is one of the biggest names in the college hoops coaching landscape.

Calipari was mentioned by national reporter Seth Davis of The Athletic on Jan. 5 as someone that should be at the top of Texas’ “call list”. Davis noted that Calipari “remains a long shot, but it’s not nearly as long as it seemed a couple of months ago”.

It sounds like Davis is hinting at Calipari being more open to hearing pitches from other college hoops programs than he was maybe just a couple of years ago.

Here’s more on what Davis had to say regarding Texas possibly considering Calipari as a coaching candidate to replace Beard.

"Calipari’s name gets tossed around for jobs a lot (mostly by people who are “close to Calipari,” and presumably at his behest), but most of the time the specter of his leaving Lexington is hardly worth considering."

A few of the other names that Davis included on the list of possible coaching candidates for the Longhorns are Mizzou head coach Dennis Gates, Brooklyn Nets assistant Royal Ivey, Alabama head coach Nate Oats, and Houston head coach Kelvin Sampson.

Texas posted a record of 7-1 under Beard as the head coach to start the 2022-23 season. Since Beard was placed on unpaid leave last month, acting head coach Rodney Terry led the Longhorns to a record of 5-1 (1-1 Big 12) in a half-dozen games.