As he prepares for his first season at Arkansas, John Calipari said he won't fill his rosters with a wealth of talent, which was his tactic during his long tenure at Kentucky.
On the latest episode of his “Ways to Win” podcast with former Oregon State head coach Craig Robinson this week, Calipari said the turnover in college basketball in the transfer portal era has changed his philosophy in putting together templates.
“You might think I'm crazy, but I told my staff I only want to have eight or nine guys,” Calipari, who is now executive director of the National Basketball Coaches Association, told Robinson. “They're leaving anyway, and why would I develop a child for someone else? Why would I do that?”
Calipari said he has spoken to other coaches who have discussed similar strategies.
Under NCAA rules, a team can have up to 13 scholarship players. While most teams rarely use every scholarship player on the roster, the idea of using fewer scholarships due to the turnover most Division I teams have experienced in recent years could signal a change. important in sport.
Calipari has already added seven players to his first Arkansas roster, a group that includes former Kentucky commit Boogie Fland, who is a five-star prospect, and former Florida Atlantic star Johnell Davis.
But Calipari said he wants to use the other roster spots as walk-ons and rely on those non-scholarship players and graduate assistants to help the team prepare for its opponents next season. She noted that women's college basketball teams often use non-staff people to help them at practice.
“I want those [graduate assistants] having played in Europe or having finished playing and still being able to play,” she said. “We can use them in practice.” The women's programs have five guys they call 'managers,' but it's them that they fight. Maybe it will that way. We have some walk-ons, we have some [graduate assistants], we have eight or nine guys and that's it. And if there is a tenth man, he knows that he is the tenth man.”
Calipari said his staff warned that an injury could create challenges with a reduced roster. But he said he's comfortable with the concept because he's played small rotations in the past.
“I trained six [players] when I was at UMass,” he said.
