John Calipari: 'I can't recruit seven freshmen on my team'

New school, new John Calipari. In a conversation with Jim Rome, the Arkansas head coach revealed how his roster-building philosophies have adjusted to the modern college landscape.

“I can’t recruit seven freshmen on my team. I can’t do it anymore because teams are too old,” Calipari said. “My average age on my team last year was 19.4. The teams that we were playing against were 24 years old.

“Kids—because of NIL—don’t ever want to leave. ‘How else can I stay two more years.’ Here’s the point. We were all in school, fighting to get out. They’re all fighting to stay in.”

Under Calipari last season, Antonio Reeves and Tre Mitchell were the only two upperclassmen on Kentucky’s roster. Despite not accepting the job at Arkansas until April, Calipari has already reeled in more veteran leadership for his debut campaign with the Razorbacks.

Arkansas has added fifth-year senior Johnell Davis, senior Jonas Aidoo and junior Adou Thiero via the NCAA Transfer Portal. The three upperclassmen boast a combined 263 game appearances and 117 starts in their careers.

Arkansas also added Kentucky transfers Zvonimir Ivisic and DJ Wagner, who will be sophomores in the 2024-25 season. The roster will be a stark contrast to Calipari’s typical rosters that are loaded with first-year talent.

Of course, Arkansas won’t be entirely without freshmen. Calipari was able to retain most of his jaw-dropping 2024 recruiting class. Four-star prospects Boogie Fland, Karter Knox and Billy Richmond rescinded their commitment to Kentucky and will be Razorbacks next season instead.

With their decisions, Arkansas has the No. 2 class in the 2024 recruiting cycle, per the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

John Calipari proposes changes to college basketball

While John Calipari is happy with his roster, he still believes college basketball needs to see change.

“We got to solve that issue,” Calipari said. “Five years to play four. If you redshirt, if you get hurt, if something happens, you get five years to play four. If you stay at the same school four years, we’ll give you a fifth year.

“Try to encourage kids to stay and let them know you’re better off staying because you know what you have. If you transfer and you only have a year or two, you better choose the right place. I’m just saying some of the issues we have could be solved if we just did that.”