Arkansas basketball coach John Calipari doubled down on his support for the Protect College Sports Act during a recent press conference.
The bipartisan PCSA — which aims to enforce stricter standards on college athletes to create a regulated system for compensation, transfer limits and player eligibility — passed the U.S. Senate on Monday.
The bill, introduced by Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Washington Sen. Maria Cantwell, has a strong supporter in Calipari.
“Right now, we need something to give us some semblance of order and some guardrails. And there will be people against it who think there should be unions, they should be unionized,” Calipari said on Thursday, in a clip shared to X. “Agents should have a free hand to do what they want. They talk about, well what about coaches? I’m gonna say this, I probably shouldn’t: Nine of my players make more than my assistants,” he continued. “And the other three make more than all my staff. And we are not one of the highest payers, we’re just not.”
If passed, the PCSA would set a limit on student athletes’ income, coaches like Calipari’s salaries would remain unchecked. Calipari’s argument is simple: He’s been coaching for decades.
“Then you can say, what about you? I’ve been doing it [for] 40 years. Started as a volunteer, two years as a part-time assistant. And I’ve kind of done ok at different programs. So yeah they’re paying me,” he continued. “The players are getting more than the coaches. I just don’t understand who could be against it.”
According to USA Today, Calipari is the third highest paid college basketball coach with an annual income of $7.75 million. He falls behind only Bill Self of Kansas and his $8.84 million per year salary, and Dan Hurley‘s $8.025 from UConn.
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