The Protect College Sports Act, which was passed by the U.S. Senate earlier this week by a 77-22 vote, has been one of the hottest topics in college athletics over the last several months. Many prominent college coaches, including Arkansas' John Calipari, have been outspoken about the bipartisan bill that would write the NCAA's rules into federal law.
When asked about the PCSA this week, Calipari went on an unfiltered rant to a group of local reporters and admitted that nine of his players make more than his assistant coaches at Arkansas, while the other three on his roster make more than his entire staff. "Right now, we need something to give us some semblance of order and some guardrails," Calipari said. "And there will be people against it who think there should be unions; they should be unionized.
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.
And the other three make more than all my staff. And we are not one of the highest payers; we're just not." If the PCSA is passed by the House of Representatives, it would set a limit on how much a student-athlete can make. An amendment to the bill was proposed by U.S.
Senators Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) that would've put a $5 million salary cap on some college football coaches. However, the amendment ultimately failed. Calipari, who is entering his third season at Arkansas after a 15-year run at Kentucky, is one of the highest-paid coaches in all of college athletics with a salary north of $7.75 million, according to USA Today's salary database.
Calipari's salary this season ranks behind only Kansas' Bill Self ($8.8 million) and UConn's Dan Hurley ($8.02 million) for the highest-paid in college basketball. After admitting that his roster earns more than his assistant coaches, Calipari continued his rant about the PCSA by defending coaches' salaries across the board, citing his nearly four decades of coaching experience. "Then you could say, what about (me)," Calipari said.
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