John Calipari Gets Candid About What Would Cause Him to Retire

New NCAA Transfer Guidelines Influence Calipari’s Comments

Several years ago, the NCAA softened its transfer guidelines, enabling athletes to move from one school to another without having to sit out a year. What’s more, NIL deals became permissible a few years back. That helped usher in a new era of college sports, as the portal has exploded and players can earn endorsement income.

As such, this transactional approach that Calipari refers to has become more commonplace. But he’s adamant that he won’t ever coach that way, because he’d retire first. Things in college basketball got even more chaotic when, over the summer, the multi-billion-dollar House settlement went into effect. That enabled schools, for the first time ever, to directly pay their athletes in the form of revenue-sharing.

What drove a lot of Calipari’s success, especially at Kentucky, was recruiting elite, five-star high school prospects. Those commits would then play for the Wildcats for just one season and move on to the NBA. Calipari utilized the one-and-done era as good as any other head coach nationwide. However, with the transfer portal taking on a life of its own, Calipari and every other coach has had to adjust.

He says it’s vital for him to remain extremely connected to his players, and that all starts in practice. If Calipari’s not connecting with his team in practice, among other places, then he himself will know that things have become transactional, and it will be time for him to retire.

John Calipari on the Portal, Eligibility

Calipari has said more than once that he’s not in favor of athletes being able to continually transfer from one college to another just to find a better payday in the form of third-party NIL deals and, now, revenue-sharing. He’s adamant that this aspect of the sport needs to be addressed and, ultimately, reformed.

“Four schools in four years, you’ll never have a college degree,” Calipari said at the Southeastern Conference’s 2026 Basketball Tipoff this week.

Another hot-button topic is the potential for the NCAA to allow athletes to play five seasons of college sports in five years. Currently, players have five years to play four seasons, with the option to redshirt. Calipari doesn’t want the NCAA rule changed to “five-for-five,” and he says college basketball will be in much better shape over the long run if the proposed change isn’t implemented.