Everything Razorbacks coach John Calipari said at SEC Media Day

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — All 32 SEC basketball coaches, as well as select players, are converging at the SEC's home office in Birmingham, Ala. for SEC Media Day.

The Razorbacks' contingent had their turn at the podium Tuesday, starting with second-year coach John Calipari.

ICYMI: Calipari has two commitments, but not looking to back off throttle yet

The Hall of Fame coach touched on several topics, including the current state of the college sports/NIL/revenue-sharing landscape and his current roster.

Here's everything he said:

Opening statement after SEC commissioner Greg Sankey's introduction...

I'm disappointed he had to read that. We've been together 16 years. I would figure he would know that without having to read it off a piece of paper, but pleasure to be here. We scrimmaged Sunday in Hot Springs. I'm not going to say it was a debacle, but what would be the next word up from debacle? We've got a ways to go. I've got a good group, but we've got a ways to go to be what people think we're going to be.

What does it take to start with an empty roster and make a successful run through the NCAA tournament?

We started 0-5 in our league, so it's not like we just went in and went up. I really believe in what we do. You better be with good people, your staff and the players, that they take responsibility, that we all own what's going on, including them and the staff. And then when things get rough, it's what kind of hardens you to what this really is about. And the only people you can count on are the people in the room. And if you're worried about all that other stuff, that's why I have on my wall, coach your team. None of the other stuff matters. But I would just tell them, just make sure you've got good people, because normally it's going to be rough early. Then after that, it gets better.

John Calipari on NCAA tourney expansion.

“I would leave the tournament alone.” https://t.co/mCyZLWERFO
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) October 14, 2025

Now year three for DJ Wagner. What more are you wanting from him in two parts, on the court, and then as a leader as well?

Well, when he became the point guard, we became better as a team. We just did. And everybody knew it. Now I want him to be more aggressive offensively. I want him to shoot balls that he has. They go under ball screens, shoot it. They go under a dribble handoff, shoot the ball. You come down and transition, they back away, shoot the ball. That means get in the gym and get more confidence. I can't build it. He can do it. He's done it games. And now I've never, he is as good a kid as I've ever coached, works as hard as anybody I've ever coached. And the breakthrough is all within himself. And it's there. Now just, you know, it's time to go show it all. So I'm just happy he's still with me and I'm coaching him. Love being around him every day.

How long do you see yourself continue to do this with everything that's changed recently?

Well, I want to help 25 to 30 more families. The only way you do that is you're transformational as a coach. You're not transactional. If I become transactional, I'm going to pay you this to do this and that, then I won't do this anymore. I don't need to. I think all of those said, I've done what I do and I'm not willing to do all this to stay in the profession. If you watch this in practice, you would say he's still connected. As long as that's the case, I'll know before anybody else that it's transactional now. That's why if someone put their name in the portal, I said, you're not coming back because it's not going to be transactional. If this is what you want, let's go. Let's work together. I will tell you that all the issues we have, part of the reason I'm still doing this, my son's in coaching. Kelvin Sampson and I just talked. I said, we got to fix some of this stuff before we're out for our own children. Right now, the things that we're dealing with, like we want to put it to other people, but the thing is filtered down to the coach and coaches. We talk about the transfer portal. I don't mind kids transferring. You just can't transfer four times because it's not good for you. Four schools in four years, you'll never have a college degree, but that last place you'll be, they'll really be loyal to you. You're a mercenary. They're not going to be. Playing too, we all, maybe some of you not, but we tried to get out of school as fast as we can. Some of you guys were the guys that like, I want to stay in school nine years, I guess, but why would kids want to stay in school five extra years? For money. Well, we got to say you got five years to play four and that's it. That's all. And if we get those two things in order, we're on the path to being better.

Coach John Calipari is in the building here in Mountain Brook for SEC Media Days. The Hall of Famer is about to take the podium pic.twitter.com/1MUGfOfrOp
— Theodore Fernandez (@TheoFernandez__) October 14, 2025

So, you don't like the five year eligibility thing?

You're going to have to tell me what it would mean. What if a kid gets hurt two times? My thing with transfers, they should be able to transfer once without penalty and then after that you can transfer. Just you have to sit out, but you can transfer. I'm not saying don't transfer, but we're doing a disservice to these kids the way it's being handled right now.

What is the right number of participants in the NCAA tournament in your opinion?

Well, I just, and I may be, I just think you leave it how it is because if it's not broken, you know, go with the known, leave that unknown alone. We don't know what will happen to it. I don't, and I'm not worried about money or anything else. I'm saying that tournament, you know, I still don't know what all this transfer stuff and all the eligibility stuff's going to do. It could be two. They could have a mid-major team that average age is 26. They're pretty good. And all of a sudden they get to advance. It may be NIL has killed all the mid-major schools. None of the kids are staying in mid-major. I don't know. It's going to end up playing out. But I would leave the tournament alone, but that's just me.

Going back to DJ (Wagner), where have you seen the growth with him the most going back from he shows up just 18 years old at Kentucky to today?

I think he's more comfortable with himself. Like a lot of these kids get ranked and then they're trying to live up to rankings. And what does a ranking mean? Even it's, it's, you got to go in and compete and take what you want, but it could be a burden. And I think with him, like he needed to shed that and just be the player he is. And let's see your best version. And I believe his best version is being more aggressive, less dribbles, more attack. You know, the things that he's doing, the way he leads. He's just matured. And every kid is on their own path. Like we tell every kid that I recruit, you plan on staying two or three years. But if after a year you're good enough to leave, I got no problem with that. I'm not going to have you stay. I'm not going to force you out. If I think someone's better than you, this is your path, not my path. He was on a different path. His family is fine with it. His dad is fine with it. Some kids get impatient. I've had kids leave too early. I have. I try to talk to them, but I'm ready. And the NBA is no boys allowed. That's a man's league and you better have everything in order, both mentally, physically and skill wise. If you don't, you're getting a short period of time and you're gone. Okay. We'll go to the front row here to the right.

John Calipari isn't ready to retire, unless…

“If I become transactional — I’m going to pay you this to do this and that — then I won’t do this anymore. I don’t need to.”https://t.co/68i7lvThhS
— The Field of 68 (@TheFieldOf68) October 14, 2025

John Wall just announced his retirement. Can you speak on his impact on the game of basketball and, you know, more specifically his impact on you and coaching in this league?

His mother was the greatest. He was with me because of his mother. She kind of said, that's where you're going. And then he did this one, you know, all that. And it went viral. And, um, he and Eric Bledsoe, I called Eric on the way in. I don't know if he's still here. I haven't talked to him probably in eight months. I didn't know if he was in Alabama or not. But when I said to, they were two peas in a pod and it was funny. One of their coaches, why would you take both John Wall and Eric Bledsoe? They're the same position. And I said to him, if you're two of your best players, and what would you do? Well, I'd play them both. Well, that's what I'll do. And I said to Eric, how fast is John Wall? He said, oh my coach, he is so fast. And I said, is he faster than you? Oh no, not faster than me. But they got along and it showed who John Wall is. John Wall came in my office probably in January and said, coach, we got to help Eric. And I said, why? He said, because he doesn't think he's going to be in the NBA. And I said, boy, he is.

What were you looking for when you were building your front court?

Well, I'm still looking for it. You have to have a post presence or your team's a fraud. It doesn't mean you just play. All these guys that have the answer to how you play the game of basketball, you still have to be able to throw it to a guy in the post at times to get a free basket. We did it with Jonas at the end of the year, which is why we advanced. So I'm looking at this group and saying, who do we throw it to here? We don't have to throw it 50 times, but there are times we got to get a free basket. We're not making any shots. So that's what we want. We're still looking for it. We should be a terrific rebounding team, both on defense and offense. Right now, we're not. I just told Seth, we did an inner squad and there were 15 clips where a shot was taken. And not one guy went to rebound offensively.

You mentioned every guy you get, you tell them to plan to maybe be there two to three years. But with DJ, is he a guy that you thought would be on that path? Or did, like with all the recruiting hype about him, a lot of people thought he would be one and done?

You don't know until you get the guy. And you can think what you want and then you coach him. And it's got to be all three physically, which includes the athletic part, being in great condition. And it takes mentally. Are you strong enough for the ups and downs of what we're doing? And then the third thing is, is your skill level to the level that they're going to want to see. And I tell these guys, it's not what you want to show. It's what they want to see. And you know what? Some guys have it faster, quicker. We've had guys drafted scoring nine points. Matter of fact, I think Daniel Orton scored three points. The game was drafted in the first round. None of that matters where you're ranked the points. It's what you do. Does it transfer?