John Calipari proposes major NCAA rule change

Legendary college basketball coach John Calipari proposed a drastic change to NCAA eligibility rules ahead of the 2025-26 season. The Arkansas Razorbacks coach isn’t a stranger to having young rosters, but Calipari has noted a big difference between his teams and some of his opponents. 

The transfer portal has changed the landscape of college basketball, prompting many teams to stop recruiting high school prospects and instead focus on players already on college basketball teams’ rosters. 

Calipari doesn’t like the current state of recruiting in the NCAA and wants the competition to regulate it better.

John Calipari proposes big change to NCAA eligibility rule 

During a conversation with David Samson on the “Nothing Personal Podcast,” Calipari expressed his frustration with the lack of high school recruitment, blaming it on the ease with which players can choose their teams and coaches’ reluctance to evaluate high school prospects. 

Coach John Calipari

“How about freshmen recruiting? No one’s recruiting freshmen! You know why? Two reasons. Because kids will transfer and they can cherry-pick. There were coaches, this summer, not out one time evaluating freshmen,” Calipari said.

He noted that he had 18 and 19-year-old players on his roster going against 26 and 27-year-old players last season. Calipari said the NCAA should give players five years to stay in college and nothing else. 

“You could do five to play five. In other words, we’ll give you one more year. You have five, but there are no waivers. If you’re hurt, you gotta leave in five years. If you’re hurt twice, you got to leave,” he said. “Now, here’s the other way you could do it. The old way. Five years, to play four. You have five years. That means you can transfer, you can transfer again and sit out. You get your five years. You could redshirt and play four. You could play, get hurt, play three. You could do it that way. But it’s still five years.”

This might be a controversial take, but Calipari is sold on it, and given his authority in the industry, the committee should at least give this proposition some thought.