After Kentucky struggled through one of its worst seasons in the program's modern history, changes are coming to John Calipari's staff. Longtime Calipari aid Tony Barbee is expected to be named head coach at Central Michigan and Wildcats assistant Joel Justus is heading to Arizona State to be the Sun Devils' top assistant, according to CBS Sports' Matt Norlander.
Barbee, 49, has been a head coach at UTEP and Auburn in between stints working for Calipari at UMass, Memphis and Kentucky. He was reassigned from an assistant coaching role to "associate to the head coach" prior to the 2020-21 season.
Justus joined Kentucky for the 2014-15 season as director of analytics, then progressed to special assistant to the head coach before he was promoted to assistant coach, where he became an integral force in UK's recruiting efforts the last five seasons.
Kentucky is expected to hire Illinois assistant Orlando Antigua in the coming days, according to Norlander .
And as the Wildcats seek to rebound from a 9-16 season their roster is already in the process of a rebirth.
Kentucky's 2021 recruiting class is ranked No. 7 nationally by 247Sports and includes three freshmen and two transfers. The three freshmen -- Daimion Collins, Nolan Hickman and Bryce Hopkins -- are each top-30 players in the 247Sports Composite. Transfers Kellan Grady from Davidson and Oscar Tshiebwe from West Virginia are each ranked among the top 15 committed transfers by CBS Sports.
The Wildcats are likely not done adding players, either. They have reportedly reached out to Iowa shooting guard C.J. Frederick, who is among the top uncommitted players in the transfer portal.
