The owner of the Dallas Cowboys has so much gravitation pull within the world of sports that he’s causing a tidal shift within other sports, too.
The University of Arkansas has hired legendary men’s basketball head coach John Calipari away from Kentucky, and Jerry Jones’s status as one of the school’s A-list boosters reportedly helped seal the deal.
Jones attended Arkansas and, as an offensive lineman on the football team, was co-captain of the Razorbacks’ 1964 national championship squad. He remains heavily involved with his alma mater as a donor.
ESPN college basketball reporter Myron Medcalf points out that things had become strained recently between Calipari and Kentucky, perennially one of the nation’s top hoops programs. In Fayetteville, he’ll have access to deep pocketed “power boosters” like Jones, Tyson Foods chairman John Tyson, and the Walton family of Wal-Mart fame, all of whom have deep Arkansas ties.
Donations from Jones and other wealthy supporters will likely go a long way in helping Calipari attract top-tier talent to Arkansas in the new NIL age.
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Calipari’s Wildcats won the national title in 2012. He’s taken his teams to the Final Four six times, been named Naismith College Coach of the Year three times, and was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2015.
The obvious irony is that Cowboys fans have grown well accustomed to Jones repeatedly not being willing to get out his checkbook when it comes to spending for the Cowboys, whether it’s for big-name free agents or longtime locker-room fixtures who are due for sizable new contracts. The Cowboys also fell in several categories on this year’s NFLPA report card, which grades teams and their owners in categories like cafeteria food, training staff, and travel accommodations.
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