"It's just difficult right now": John Calipari discusses transfer portal issues, says no personal targets for Arkansas
Arkansas coach John Calipari led the No. 10-seeded Razorbacks to the Sweet 16 of the 2025 NCAA Tournament, beating coach Rick Pitino's No. 2-seeded St. John's Red Storm 75-66 on Saturday evening. The Razorbacks face the No. 3-seeded Texas Tech Red Raiders next on Friday for a spot in the Elite Eight.
Amid the preparations for the Sweet 16 game, Calipari, who's considered a recruitment guru, also has to deal with the makeup of his roster for next season after the transfer portal opened on Monday.
During Tuesday's segment of the Dan Patrick Show, the charismatic Calipari addressed the issues of the portal (4:00).
“Yesterday was a kind of long day,” John Calipari said. “Got a lot of film work done. Got practice plans prepared. The staff meetings is where we’re doing everything. Then, at the end, I said, ‘Alright, let’s talk.'” Now, before you can figure out the portal, don’t you have to know who’s coming back and who’s leaving?
"So, I don’t know of anybody in these 16 teams that are sitting down with players and saying, ‘Are you coming back or are you going to put your name in the portal?"
After leaving the Kentucky Wildcats in a shock move and joining the Arkansas Razorbacks, John Calipari leaned heavily on the transfer portal, recruiting five players with three of them coming from his former team. He also let eight players from the Razorbacks enter the portal.
“So, it’s just difficult right now, but we’ve got names and what I would say with anybody listening,” Calipari said.
“If you want to get better, if you want to be challenged, if you want to really play with good players, be coached as though you’ve already gotten there, to be hugged and challenged and make you uncomfortable, then come with me. You come to Arkansas. But, right now, we’re not on the phone with anybody yet.”
John Calipari makes his stance on recruitment clear
With college sports becoming more transfer portal-oriented, several coaches have started to rely on players with experience rather than freshmen.
John Calipari said during a segment of the Dan Patrick Show that he would continue his philosophy of recruiting freshmen (6:10).
“We already have three guys, freshmen, signed," Calipari said. "And, I’m going to say this again and I said it after – I’m still recruiting freshmen. I’ll recruit the best freshmen and, as you saw last game, three of them played a lot of minutes.
“But I can’t recruit seven or eight freshmen. So we got one more freshman we’re trying to get. We’ve got three."
According to On3, the Razorbacks have the No. 4 recruitment class in the nation, reflecting Calipari's recruitment nous despite not being at a traditionally blue blood program.
John Calipari made a name for himself at Kentucky as a coach who molded NBA-ready players producing stars like Devin Booker and John Wall. His blistering start to life as Arkansas coach should stand him in good stead with future recruits.