John Calipari is heading into his third season as Arkansas’s men’s basketball head coach.
Calipari took the Arkansas job before the 2024-25 season and has led the program to two straight NCAA Tournament appearances. He also helped the program win the SEC Tournament this year before playing in the NCAA Tournament.
Before Arkansas, he coached at Kentucky, Memphis, and UMass. He’s been a very successful coach, but that doesn’t mean he’s happy with where college sports are right now.
On Wednesday afternoon, he met with the media and went off about the state of college sports. He supports the Protect College Sports Act.
“Right now, we need something to give us some semblance of order and guardrails,” Calipari said, via Pig Trail Nation. “And there will be people against it that think there should be unions, they should be unionized, agents should have a free hand to do what they want. They talk about, what about coaches? I’m gonna say this, I probably shouldn’t: nine of my players make more than my assistants. And the other three make more than all my staff, and we are not one of the highest payers. We’re just not.”
“Then you could say, ‘What about you?’ I’ve been doing it 40 years. Started as a volunteer, two years as a part-time assistant, and I’ve kind of done okay at different programs. So, yeah, they’re paying me. But how about this? All the coaches on this campus in every sport make less than the rev share, which is $22 million, and it’s much less. So the players are getting more than the coaches. I just don’t understand who could be against it.”
March 25, 2026; San Jose, CA, USA; Arkansas Razorbacks head coach John Calipari addresses the media in a press conference during a practice session ahead of the west regional of the men’s 2026 NCAA Tournament at SAP Center. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-Imagn Images
The U.S. Senate voted 77-22 to pass the Protect College Sports Act, and it will now move to the House of Representatives.
Some opposition is expected, so we’ll see what happens when it comes to a vote.
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