LOOK: John Calipari reveals his stance on how NIL can impact Kentucky athletes

The era of NIL in college sports has required every school to take a stance. It’s still such a new concept that it’s having a different effect on each program through every athletic department. At Kentucky, there has been a growing sentiment over the last several weeks that the university wasn’t doing all it could in the NIL space. With that in mind, John Calipari has now shared his definitive opinion on what NIL is doing for Wildcat athletes.

In Calipari’s statement that he tweeted, it’s evident that he believes that the school is ahead of the curve or at least heading in that direction. However, it shouldn’t be why prospects want to come to Lexington.

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With this being signing week, let me share some NIL thoughts with #BBN.

As with everything we do in basketball, we strive to be the gold standard!! pic.twitter.com/OGqSUm2aqm

— John Calipari (@UKCoachCalipari) November 10, 2022

Growing concerns around how UK was handling NIL have led to a shift just this week in the way the school and athletics department is going about it. Head football coach Mark Stoops addressed his own thoughts on it just this week and AD Mitch Barnhart shared a message as well on Thursday about the school’s NIL efforts.

“In recent weeks and months, we have been moved once again by the Big Blue Nation’s passion for our great university, our athletics teams and especially by our fans’ fierce support of our student-athletes, who we put first in everything we do. In this new era of college athletics where athletes can take advantage of their (NIL), the landscape is constantly shifting,” said Barnhart in his message. “We wholeheartedly embrace our athletes’ ability to earn from their NIL and continue to do everything we can to empower them to succeed…We are excited to remind you of the many ways that you can contribute right now.”

With changes in motion and messages coming from the school’s biggest names like Calipari, Barnhart, and Stoops, this should ease those who felt the NIL work was lacking at UK. It may not be what the department wants to focus on but, considering where college athletics is, they needed to readdress the matter. Now, it seems as if they’ve all done just that in the Commonwealth.