The NIL era has accelerated recruiting into becoming a bidding war on what schools offer the most money in NIL. The numbers circulating in college basketball recently have been massive, and one of the game’s best recruiters, Arkansas’ John Calipari, recently spoke up about how that shapes the expectations for transfers and recruits who come into their new schools.
As one of the best recruiters in college basketball and potentially all college sports, Calipari has firsthand experience with NIL. While NIL has not changed Calipari’s status as an elite recruiter, it has emboldened him even more, bringing in top recruits at Kentucky and Arkansas. However, big-time players come with big-time money, and Calipari admitted that he and his staff tread lightly even more now due to that aspect of recruiting.
Calipari was on an episode of Golic & Golic on FanDuel Sports Network this week and elaborated on how they navigate this new landscape.
“Did you see the interview with the Kansas State player (Coleman Hawkins) after last year’s season, where he cried? Cried. ‘They paid me $2 million and I couldn’t live up to it.’ There’s one thing about being the star on any team,” Calipari said. “You guys did it, that star makes the most and, wow, but the most is expected from them. So, some guys in college basketball this year are making between $ 3 million and $5 million. Teams are spending 20 million on rosters. Now there’s an expectation. You better win a national title, or you better be a guy, Calipari said.
“If one of you paid a college player four million, would you expect that $4 million player to drag us to the Final Four?”
In some cases, the risk might not outweigh the reward when programs like Arkansas basketball offer millions of dollars to recruits. Calipari continued to elaborate on how this is impacting the current recruiting landscape.
“That’s different than a seasoned professional dealing with it. So, trying to keep that away from what we do, but social media brings it right back,” Calipari said. “This guy’s making $3 million, and this is the best he is. So, you know, it’s — I think we gotta protect our kids, but some of it, you can’t. You want to be paid a lot. You’re now a professional. You need to perform.”
Thanks to the House settlement being approved, some NIL numbers should be curbed, and at least the field in college sports should be leveled. However, this new era of recruiting is a bidding war, and Calipari and other coaches need to adapt to navigating the potential expectations that come with that.
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