Calipari defends Yurachek as Hogs fans ask why NIL money pile low

John Calipari doesn’t get confused by much in college sports.

He sure seems puzzled by the anger aimed at Hunter Yurachek, though.

On Wednesday, the Arkansas basketball coach used part of his media session to stand up for his athletic director once more.

His main point was simple. The Razorbacks don’t owe a big pile of money.

“I’ll say it again, we’re one of the few campuses that aren’t in debt, like deep debt,” Calipari said. “We’re not in debt. I know everybody’s mad at Hunter. I don’t even know why, but I’m like, ‘Why are you mad at him?’ We’re not in debt.”

That’s a fair point on paper. It’s just not the argument most Hogs fans are making these days.

Besides, it’s a long-honored tradition at Arkansas when the football team loses some games folks think they should win, the pecking order of blame starts with the coach, then the quarterback (whether he’s the problem or not) and finally with the athletic director.

In case you’re wondering how long my frame of reference is on that, it goes back about 65 years or so.

Calipari’s side of the ledger

It’s worth looking at where Calipari stands in all this.

Basketball isn’t short on cash in Fayetteville. No program in the conference puts more of its sports budget, by percentage, into basketball than Arkansas does.

That investment has paid off. The Razorbacks won the SEC title last season and reached the Sweet 16 in back-to-back years.

It’s easy for a Hall of Famer to like how things are run when his own program is humming along.

He also tied his support of Yurachek to a bigger cause. Calipari wants lawmakers to pass the Protect College Sports Act.

This isn’t new for Cal. A clip he shared on X back on Sept. 17 was mostly a plea for that bill, but he saved its final moments for Yurachek.

On Wednesday, he went a step further and told fans where to aim their energy.

“Basketball receiving, baseball receiving, some of the other stuff — it’s not popular. People get mad, but that and a couple other things — we’re going to be okay here in Arkansas. So, you should be calling congressmen and saying we want this bill.”

Fans see a different set of numbers

Fans are staring at the scoreboard instead. They’re also wondering why the money in the bank isn’t being put to work.

The Hogs haven’t beaten an FBS team in their last 12 tries. When it comes to paying for a football roster, no SEC school spends less.

Those figures come from a thread by NILnomics. That account combed the money reports Arkansas sends to the NCAA, going back to 2018.

The bigger knock landed on Yurachek. The thread argued he dragged his feet when player pay arrived, and the Razorbacks now sit behind almost the whole league in dollars.

The low point came early this fall. Arkansas got blown out 43-10 by Utah in Week 2.

School leaders didn’t sit quiet after that. The Arkansas Board of Trustees voted to take a hard look at how every Razorback team stacks up, with football’s budget at the top of the list.

Between that vote and a steady stream of mad posts online, the story spread well beyond the state line.

Patience is a tough sell

So when someone says “we’re not in debt,” plenty of folks hear a different message. They hear “we didn’t spend.”

Here’s the thing. Calipari might turn out to be right.

He says few campuses can claim they’re free of deep debt. If that’s true, a bunch of schools could have a mess to clean up down the road.

In 15 to 20 years, a debt-free Arkansas might look pretty smart. The Hogs could be in good shape while others scramble to pay their bills.

But fans don’t buy season tickets for 2045. They buy them for this fall.

A long losing streak against FBS teams doesn’t feel like a wise plan. It just feels like losing.

Okay isn’t the goal

Calipari keeps saying the Razorbacks will be okay. Maybe they will.

Until the football team starts stacking wins, though, okay won’t satisfy the folks filling the stands on Saturdays.