“You can’t have a player looking at stands and wave to his wife and two kids, knowing that NIL is paying alimony for the first wife – Calipari on the biggest problem in college basketball originally appeared on Basketball Network.
In the evolving world of college sports, the rise of Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) deals and the reduced transfer portal rules have reshaped the game — especially in college basketball. Even though most top players are profiting from boosted financial opportunities and career flexibility, some coaches are expressing concern over how these changes are changing the game’s identity.
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One of the most outspoken critics of the NIL culture is Naismith Hall of Fame member John Calipari, currently the head coach at the University of Arkansas. Coach Cal has always been the voice for player empowerment. With leading the way with one-and-done players, he sees a growing issue with the direction the NIL is taking college basketball.
“You can’t have a player looking at the stands and waving to his wife and two kids, knowing that NIL is paying alimony for the first wife,” Calipari said in a recent interview on “The Jim Rome Show” on YouTube.
Although the remark was quite frankly funny, Calipari wasn’t being sarcastic. He was addressing the real issue with the growing age gap and the life experience between athletes on rosters nowadays.
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A new age of college athletes
Due to COVID eligibility extensions, relaxed transfer rules, and the appeal of NIL deals, it’s normal to see college basketball players who are 24, 25, or even 26 years old playing up alongside 18-year-old freshmen. These super seniors bring experience and life circumstances that vary drastically from the standard college student experience.
For example, 26-year-old BYU player Trevin Knell was the oldest college basketball player this year. His story is a bit different from others. Knell was on a Mormon mission that made him miss two seasons, followed by a medical redshirt, which took him to seven years in college.
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While older players can offer leadership and stability, the result is a college basketball culture that mirrors the pros, although without the same structure or future goals.
“They’ve got to do something with the transfer portal, you can’t transfer to four different schools, you can’t let kids play at 26,27 and 28 against 18-year-olds,” Cal emphasized.
The gap between a 26-year-old player and a 17-year-old freshman isn’t just physical — there’s also the lack of experience for first-year prospects, one of the most important aspects of a player’s development.
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From development to transactional
Calipari’s concern isn’t with athletes getting paid — he has long supported that. Instead, John’s issue lies in what he sees as a move away from development-focused coaching toward a more transactional, free-agent model. With players transferring multiple times and chasing better NIL offers, loyalty and continuity are becoming rare commodities.
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“I’m trying to think ahead, can I get four to five guys to return and bring in four to five freshman and do it the way I used to do it, which is freshman and returning players, that’s what I’d like to get. So everybody’s like, ‘Why do you add more guys?’ I added a couple of big guys just to say, you know what, how do we make sure next year we’ve got enough guys?” Coach Cal explained his plans for the upcoming season.
Cal is standing firm on his views and beliefs on what college basketball rosters should look like. He believes freshmen should have the most important roles to prepare them for the NBA while having a couple of experienced transfers on hand in case of injuries.
As college basketball transitions into a new era, the voices of veteran coaches like Calipari offer a clear-headed, old-school perspective. The NIL era has unlocked opportunities and enriched athletes, but has also blurred the line between college and professional sports.
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Calipari’s message is clear — protecting the soul of college basketball is a must, because if not, it will turn into a transactional league, in which 30-year-olds with families will soon enough be the stars of the college scene. Fewer and fewer incoming freshmen will make an impact, which will, in turn, lose the real meaning of “college basketball”.
This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Jul 31, 2025, where it first appeared.
