Good evening and welcome to Kentucky edition for Monday, April the eighth.

I'm Rene Shore coming to you from Paducah and the path of totality for today's eclipse.

And we've got some great coverage for you.

Thank you so very much for joining us tonight.

Now, it's hard to top an eclipse, but Coach John Calipari may have done it.

It appears the long time coach of the U.K. men's basketball team is moving on.

There are reports that Calipari is about to reach a deal with the university of Arkansas to become coach there for five years.

The news comes after the cat's early departure from this year's NCAA tournament.

That loss had some fans grumbling about the team's lack of post-season success in recent years.

We talked to longtime Kentucky sports reporter Dick Gabriel about Cal's likely departure.

Calipari Going into that meeting with Mitch Barnhart, didn't have much leverage.

Mitch had the leverage.

But now when you've got somebody else in your corner who was a viable candidate for your services, I mean, if, you know, junior college came and tried to hire him, no.

This is Arkansas powerful school with deep, deep pockets and all kinds of booster money out there from Tyson Chicken and Wal-Mart.

They come in and say, we want you and we'll do what it takes to get you.

That's leverage.

Calipari, as I'm told, said, here's what it's going to take to keep me and you case in.

I don't think so.

And so, as I understand it now, the deal, if it isn't done, it's going to be done.

You got a fan base that's unhappy.

You have an institution that is not satisfied with what's been happening and you've got another school that will be happy to have them.

So, you know, when you factor in the fans, this might be a win win win if such a thing is possible.

Now, that all depends, of course, on who Kentucky ultimately hires, if and when Calipari does leave.

As I understand it, they're going to make Danny Hurley say no.

They'll reach out to Nate Oats.

They're in the conference in Alabama who just signed an extension.

But now there are funds available to buy him out because you don't have to spend twice as much to buy out.

Calipari.

I think you've got to look at Drew down in Baylor, you know, maybe tied Golden at Florida.

You've got a hot coach at Iowa State, but you go for those names who are more than just names or accomplished coaches.

But you're Kentucky.

You have what you believe to be the premier basketball program in the country.

So you owe it to yourself.

You owe it to your fan base, to your tradition to go out and get what you believe is the best coach possible.

John Calipari came here from Memphis.

He had already gotten commitments from the likes of DeMarcus Cousins and John Wall.

And when Calipari switched to Kentucky, so did they.

Fans need to remember that they followed him here.

And I got to think they'll follow him to Arkansas.

However, Travis Perry, I firmly believe, will honor his commitment to Kentucky.

I don't know if anything could write him away from this job as a meat grinder.

And in fact, Tubby Smith told me, while he was still here and he had a conversation with Lou Holtz, who left Notre Dame or South Carolina, and he said Holtz told him privately, Man, you got to get out of there because it's the kind of job that just wears a coach down.

And Calipari kind of kids around when he talks about how you age in dog years when you coach at Kentucky.

But he's not wrong.

I mean, when you look at the weight on his shoulders that he's carried, quite frankly, he's carried it well.

He's done more for the people in the state of Kentucky when it comes to tornado relief, a hurricane relief telethon for Haiti than we had for him at WKYC.

He has done so much for people across the commonwealth.

But in this day and age, well, it's always been this way in Kentucky.

It's what have you done for me lately?

So now he has a chance for a fresh start at his age at Arkansas, and that doesn't happen.

The latest on Kyle's possible departure tomorrow night on Kentucky Edition.