Arkansas appoints Kenny Payne as associate head coach, working alongside John Calipari

Kenny Payne was named the associate head coach at Arkansas under John Calipari on Thursday.

Previously, Payne served as the head coach at Louisville, his alma mater, where he was relieved of his duties last month following a record of 12-52 over two seasons. Prior to his time at Louisville, Payne spent a decade as an assistant coach at Kentucky under Calipari. During his tenure at Kentucky, the Wildcats claimed the national championship in 2012, competed for the title in 2014, and made four Final Four appearances. Payne also has coaching experience at Oregon and with the NBA’s New York Knicks.

While at Kentucky from 2014 to 2020, Payne played a pivotal role in consistently securing highly ranked recruiting classes for the Wildcats. Additionally, his 2023 recruiting class at Louisville garnered top-six national rankings by both Rivals and 247Sports.

Arkansas will quickly put Payne’s recruiting skills to the test, as the current roster lists only one player.