The New Normal

There's no denying that college sports have been forever changed because of the NIL laws and the transfer portal.  That's especially true for coaches, who not only need to completely change the way they recruit, but they also need to build an entirely new team every year.  While he didn't say it directly, it's why Nick Saban retired.  And he's not the only coach who isn't feeling this new era.

This isn't the first time college football and basketball coaches have had to adjust the way they go about recruiting.  In 2006, the NBA declared high schoolers ineligible for the Draft, leading to the one-and-done era.  During the one-and-done era, NBA prospects signed with colleges knowing they'd only stay for a year, so coaches would try to maximize that year before doing it all again the next season.

John Calipari was the master of the one-and-done at Kentucky.  He brought in multiple five-star recruits every year and it somehow worked!  Kentucky went to the Elite Eight or further seven times in 10 years, including four Final Fours in five years, one National Championship Game loss and the 2012 National title with Anthony Davis and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist.  Calipari had at least one first-round pick every year he was at Kentucky, and most of them are one-and-dones who've turned into NBA stars.

Calipari didn't have the same level of success in his final few seasons at Kentucky, which coincided with the start of the transfer portal era and how coaches began using that as their method for building their teams.  Suddenly, the blue-chip freshmen weren't the recipe for instant success.  Instead, it became guys who played a year or two at another program, but were looking for a change (for whatever reason).  And the advantage of using the transfer portal, of course, is that you'd be getting experienced veterans instead of freshmen.

Probably the biggest coaching change of this offseason was Calipari's decision to leave Kentucky after 15 years for Arkansas.  And, with this new era of the transfer portal and NIL in mind, he's thinking of changing his recruiting style completely with the Razorbacks.  He won't stack his rosters with blue-chip recruits (who'll probably be much harder to lure to Fayetteville, Arkansas to begin with).  In fact, Calipari may not be stacking his rosters with many players at all.

On the most recent edition of his "Ways to Win" podcast with former Oregon State Head Coach Craig Robinson, Calipari mentioned what his new approach might be.  "You may think I'm crazy," he said, "but I told my staff I only want to have eight or nine guys.  They're leaving anyway, and why would I develop a kid for someone else?  Why would I do that?"

With his first roster at Arkansas, that's exactly what Calipari will be doing.  He's already added seven players, one of whom is Boogie Fland, who had previously committed to play for Calipari at Kentucky.  That's no different than what other coaches who've changed jobs have done (Rick Pitino, for example, took about four guys with him from Iona to St. John's).  So, basically, he's just taking advantage of the system that exists now.

I applaud him for saying the quiet part out loud.  It was totally different when it was freshmen he knew were going to the NBA after one season.  He knew the deal.  He'd spend a year developing them for the professional game while also using them to help his team win.  But Calipari's got a point about the transfer portal.  Why spend all that time and effort recruiting and developing a player, only for him to transfer to another program and become your competition?

That doesn't mean I don't think the idea is crazy, though.  Only having eight or nine players, no matter how good they are, doesn't seem like a recipe for success.  Especially if an injury or two comes into play.  We saw that this season with the TCU women, who had to forfeit two games, then hold open tryouts just to add some bodies because they were down to six healthy scholarship players, which isn't enough according to Big 12 rules.  Whether the SEC has the same rules or not, I don't know, but it's still the risk you run with a small roster.

For his part, Calipari doesn't seem too concerned about that.  He even brought up the fact that he once used a rotation of six at UMass.  And Geno Auriemma has traditionally used a short rotation with the UConn women's program.  So, it definitely can be done.  No one's saying it can't be.  But is it smart?  That's an entirely different question.

Men's basketball teams are allowed to carry a maximum of 13 scholarship players, although many teams don't use their full allotment.  They'll also have a walk-on or two to round out the roster.  That appears to be Calipari's plan.  He'll have his eight- or nine-man rotation while relying on non-scholarship players and graduate assistants as essentially a scout team in practice.  This isn't an entirely new idea.  It's something women's teams have done for quite a while.  (It's worth noting here that these "managers" or "practice players" for women's programs are often men.)

While women's teams using male practice players is an accepted practice, the idea of using graduate assistants seems far more questionable.  I'm not talking about graduate transfers who are members of the team using up their remaining college eligibility.  GA's would be members of the basketball staff, and there are NCAA rules regarding how many staff members are allowed to actively coach.  Playing is not coaching, but it's still a staff member participating in practice, which would likely be frowned upon, if not entirely against the rules.

During the conversation, Calipari said that he's talked to other coaches about it, and some of them have mentioned similar strategies.  Will it be as extreme as deliberately not using 4-5 scholarships per season and limiting yourself to a smaller roster (or, at least, a smaller rotation)?  I'd imagine probably not.  But I can definitely see teams trying to find a way to make the transfer portal era work for them the way Calipari did with the one-and-done era.

Coaches can't develop programs anymore.  Not in this new age of college basketball.  So, why not try something new and see if it works?  I think Calipari's idea is nuts, but if anyone's likely to try it, he is.  And if Arkansas does adopt this model and becomes a consistent winner using it, you can bet other programs will follow suit.