Marcus Spears reacts to John Calipari’s complaint about NIL spending, comparison to coaching salaries

Arkansas head coach John Calipari has been advocating for the Protect College Sports Act in recent days. One of the main topics on his mind is the compensation comparisons between coaches and players. Calipari revealed multiple Arkansas players will make more than assistants during the 2026-27 season.

ESPN’s Marcus Spears discussed the same topic on Friday. Spears has a unique perspective since his son is currently playing college basketball at Texas. Some advice for Calipari — and every other coach across the sport — came from Spears.

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“If John Calipari staff — and it’s a bunch of colleges around the country,” Spears said Friday morning on First Take. “My son is a college basketball player. If you want your staff to make more money, get them more money. It’s just that simple. I don’t have a problem with players getting paid, I don’t have a problem with coaches getting paid and having exorbitant amount of money on either side. Just don’t complain about it. That’s all…

“If you can find the dollars and the value to pay your assistants so they make more than the players, and you value your positions more than the players, as you should, then go ahead of find that compensation to pay them more money than they’re making right now.”

Arkansas projects to be one of the best teams in college basketball this year. Calipari put together a fantastic roster, despite, according to him, not being one of the spenders. On3’s James Fletcher has the Razorbacks at No. 10 overall in his latest way-too-early top 25. From a bracketology standpoint, they are a three-seed.

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True freshman Jordan Smith Jr. arguably leads the way, being a former Five-Star Plus+ prospect. Billy Richmond was another big retention piece for Arkansas as well. Apparently, those two and others on the roster are going to be paid quite well.

“I’m going to say this. I probably shouldn’t,” Calipari said. “Nine of my players make more…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/marcus-spears-reacts-john-calipari-173338436.html

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Publish date : 2026-10-02 17:33:00

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