Adou Thiero is John Calipari’s man, and the Arkansas Razorbacks coach has his back. Thiero, who started his college career with the Kentucky Wildcats in 2022, made the switch to the Razorbacks in 2024 when Calipari started coaching in Fayetteville.
This loyalty has paid off for the power forward, who played 27 and started 26 games in the 2024-25 season with the Hogs. This shows that John Calipari has immense faith in Adou Thiero, something he doesn’t shy away from admitting publicly.
On Thursday, Calipari appeared on the “Pat McAfee Show” and weighed in on Thiero’s draft prospects, saying:
“Adou Thiero, if anybody misses that, it’s going to be like they missed on… Immanuel Quickley… Adou Thiero is a first-round draft pick, and I’m going to tell you why. The league, I love the physicalness of the league right now -I love it- because you gotta work to get a basket. It ain’t horse anymore.”
“Adou can play in a physical game and athletically be in the top 1%. He’s somebody if you pass on, they’ll look back and say, ‘How many people passed on him?’ He’s that good, and a good kid,” he added.
“I wouldn’t miss on Adou Thiero in this draft..
He can play in a physical game and athletically he’s in that one percent..
He’s that good and he’s a good kid” @CoachCalArk #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/coqTKGddkx
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) June 19, 2025
Last season, Thiero averaged 15.1 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 1.9 assists per game. His field goal percentage was 54.5. None of those numbers ranked among the top in the nation. However, publications like ESPN, The Athletic, and 247Sports agree on their projections that he will be a fringe first-round selection.
Arkansas’ John Calipari on why he keeps on coaching
Last week on the “Jim Rome Show,” John Calipari was asked what fuels him to keep on coaching at the age of 66. For the coach, the answer seemed self-evident: it’s all about preparing the next generation. He said (via Jim Rome’s X handle):
“As long as I can keep helping young people and their families, then I’ll do it, the minute I’m not capable of doing it because the rules have made it or the environment has made it with NIL and with the transfer portal — if it’s transactional versus transformational, why would I do it?”
“As long as I can keep helping young people and their families, then I’ll do it.”@CoachCalArk on the drive that keeps him going. pic.twitter.com/1Ub88UdfMI
— Jim Rome (@jimrome) June 14, 2025
Starting in 1982 as an associate assistant at Kansas, Calipari has been coaching for over four decades now. It’s been 37 years since he took his first head coaching gig at UMass in 1988.
It doesn’t look like he’s planning to stop anytime soon, as he ended a 15-year stint with the Kentucky Wildcats in 2024 and immediately took over another SEC program in the form of the Arkansas Razorbacks.
College Sports Network has you covered with the latest news, analysis, insights, and trending stories in football, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, and baseball!
