Landon Buford
This off-season heading into the college football and basketball season, the big talk is around the new NIL rule that allows college athletes to make money off their name and likeness.
Recently, Kentucky Wildcats basketball coach John Calipari was Harold and Carrol Pump Foundation. During the event, Calipari was asked about the benefits of the recruitment process with the NIL rules now in effect.
“I don’t think it is going to have the impact. I think kids are going to get things that they have been deserving of for a while. But, I don’t think it is going to change who gets who,” Calipari told Cameron Buford of Voice of the Fans.
“I really don’t. Time will tell, but the programs that have an advantage are going to keep their advantage. That is how it is. What we’ll try to do is to make sure everyone on the team has opportunities to do something. Not just one, two, or three guys, but everybody. So, we have really been thinking of ways that we can help in that regard.”
Last season, the Kentucky Wildcats finished 9-16; if you ask Calipari, the team did trust each other.
“They have to learn to trust each other, trust me and the coaches. If there is no trust like last year’s team. We did not have the summer and they never got close. They never really trust each other. We lost every close game. We never got blown out. We were 5-12 in close games last season like what? My teams always win those games, but we never came together and trusted each other.”
As Coach Calipari shared, the pandemic obviously made it difficult for college programs across the country, including the teams in the winning circle, to bond and trust each other.
He would add that he likes the full process of being a coach, not just seeing his player go to the NBA.
“I enjoy all of it, but at the end, when am sitting in the green room. And a kid’s name is called and his family gets to breathe for the first time in their lives. And figure out what the American dream is all about gotta feel good,” Calipari said.
