New Way of Recruiting? Calipari Not Wanting to Develop Players for Others
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — John Calipari isn't wasting any time telling folks just how different things are going to be now that he's running the Arkansas Razorbacks' program. Fans don't even have to make any guesses as to what he wants to do.
On the two most recent episodes of his "Ways to Win" podcast, which he co-hosts with former Oregon State and Brown coach Craig Robinson, Calipari just flat said it. Never mind he shares a podcast with a former coach. He wasn't trying to hide what he's wanting to do and more importantly said why.
"You may think I'm crazy," Calipari told Robinson on the podcast. "But I told my staff, I only want to have eight or nine guys."
Some of the self-appointed experts among the Hogs Lunatic Fringe will over-react to that. Don't worry, there will be more players on the bench than that. It's how many he wants to rotate in games. Even with all the delays that feature media timeouts long enough at times to take a nap, some of these kids need more time to recover these days.
He's recruiting talent and not just trying to fill the roster with a bunch of guys to develop. With the transfer portal and the various ways they can leave, getting players prepared to play for championships for a couple of years is history. Almost none of them want to hang around that long because the grass always seem to be greener on the other side of the fence. That's not just Arkansas, it's everywhere these days.
"They're leaving anyway," Calipari replied. "Why would I develop a kid for someone else? Why would I do that?"
He would rather have a bunch of people around that are even older and back on campus as graduate assistants or some other role. They could be invaluable in practice, which is something women's coach Mike Neighbors and other coaches in the women's game have done for years. You can't improve much in practice in any sport against inferior players and expect to have a lot of success in games.
"I want those guys to have played in Europe or just got done playing and can still play," Calipari said. "We can use them in practice. The women's programs have five guys that they call 'managers' but that's who they scrimmage against."
They will likely be going against more really good competition before SEC play starts. Cal wants something like the State Farm Champions Classic played for 13 seasons against Duke, Kansas and Michigan State. They were also part of the CBS Sports Classic alongside North Carolina, Ohio State and UCLA for the last decade.
"I still want to do events that I put together in the past where four teams are coming together," Calipari said, "and it probably (will) take me a year to do that. I want to have an MTE on campus, and I want some neutral site games."
He fully understands that probably won't happen this season, but don't say anything's not possible. There are big enough companies in Northwest Arkansas with word-wide brands that may find that appealing (and profitable) to sponsor.
Considering the all-in approach that seems to be happening these days with basketball at Arkansas, don't be too shocked if he pulls it off, or that it would be done with a roster shorter than what fans are used to seeing.
After all, commitments have been made to Calipari to keep trying the same approach which hasn't worked that well consistently since 1995. It's changes that are opening eyes ... and creating headlines.
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• Razorbacks' path to Omaha relies on Hagen Smith and a prayer
• Arkansas in the mix for another top transfer
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ANDY HODGES
Sports columnist, writer, former radio host and television host who has been expressing an opinion on sports in the media for over four decades. He has been at numerous media stops in Arkansas, Texas and Mississippi.