It’s a cardinal heresy these days to suggest, “Money isn’t everything.” On the contrary, if you ask most people they will heartily agree, “Money makes the world go round.”
On the day that college football crowns its first dirty-dozen team playoff national champion, we inaugurate a new but old president. Meanwhile, the team with one of the highest Name Image and Likeness (NIL) budgets in college basketball stands at 0-5 in the SEC — their season teetering on the brink of catastrophe. Let us embrace this teachable moment and discern perception from reality.
No. Money isn’t everything. It’s just a tool – a powerful one but only one of many in the toolbox necessary for success. Money doesn’t make the world go around. That is the province of gravity, but as my grandfather often wisely said, “Understanding is the best thing in the world.” So welcome back to planet Earth all you Razorbackers out there.
Arkansas basketball issues are bigger than NIL
In the alternate reality we find ourselves living in, the problems currently afflicting Razorback Nation are clearly not from a lack of money. They stem from a lack of understanding what it takes to make the Razorbacks great again.
Seeing a proud basketball program with one of the highest NIL budgets, one of the highest-paid coaches (a hall of famer no less) and the best nine-man roster money could buy falling flat on their faces with an 0-5 start to SEC play, serves as a lesson to us all.
Back when it was an excommunicable offense to suggest first-year Razorback coach John Calipari still had something to prove with this team at Arkansas, there were some heretics who urged caution. Some were cautiously optimistic but no one had the clairvoyance to see this coming.
There were signs of course, but in hindsight it’s becoming increasingly clear that some of the problems preceded Calipari’s heralded arrival to The Hill.
The competitive spirit is gone
The signs of trouble in Fayetteville were actually evident last Spring when Arkansas’ talented and top-ranked baseball team closed out their season similar to the football and basketball seasons before them. To put bluntly, they quit.
And so far in the 2024/2025 school cycle, we’ve seen a carry over of the lack of competitive spirit that is starting to characterize too much of Arkansas athletics. Case and point, the most glaring red flag for this current basketball team has been an inability to come back when they are challenged by worthy opposition.
In each of seven losses so far this season, once the Hogs got down by double digits they rarely — if ever — came back to retake a lead. Those opposing teams more or less coasted to easy wins. The lone exception and saving grace being the 89-87 win over then No. 15 Michigan in the annual Jimmy V Classic.
The Hogs rallied from first half double-digit deficit in New York’s Madison Square Garden to build one of their own. But in the second half, their rare hot shooting streak cooled off and they nearly let it slip away in the final moments.
Against lesser competition, Calipari’s Hogs played with their food before making the final score look deceptively one-sided. Either way, that lack of fight and killer instinct has proven all but fatal so far in SEC play — and most importantly unworthy of a slobbering Hog.
Where’s the fight to survive? Where’s the hunger to prove your worth?
The blame goes all the way to the top
There are now no shortage of fingers pointing out what should have been obvious flaws on how this Razorback basketball team — and its coaching staff — were constructed. This basketball season should end any assertions that a lack of money is responsible for the inability to deliver on promissory notes.
Not too long ago, Arkansas Athletic Director Hunter Yurachek hailed his domain as “The Campus of Champions.” That check is bouncing off hands right now like Arkansas' three-point shots bouncing off the rim. Yurachek’s pleas for Razorback Nation to subsidize things like mental health counseling and gimmicky artificial intelligence shooting coaches while dragging his feet on revenue sharing has likewise rang hollow.
For anyone still out there still perceptually challenged, here’s something just for you. According to some estimates, Arkansas is projected under the pending new NCAA revenue sharing agreements to be top 10 in the country in each of the three major sports during the 2025/26 cycle (No. 11 in football, No. 5 in basketball and No. 2 in baseball).
Yes. The same revenue sharing agreement Yurachek stubbornly resisted while passing the hat around the state claiming the University didn’t have the funds.
Altruistic alumni?
Of course, it never hurts to have well-heeled alumni circling the program in Northwest Arkansas either. But when John Tyson seemingly bailed out Yurachek by writing a check to install his long-time friend, Calipari, follow Eric Musselman in leading the basketball program, it seemed like a godsend.
But there's an old saying said around many a domino table in the nether regions of the state. “All money ain’t good money.” For all his money, did anyone ask what Tyson knew about basketball?
His generosity no doubt was reciprocated by the attention and endorsements his company received. But apparently, it wasn’t enough to field a complete roster. That left Calipari to sell the idea that he only needed nine Power 5 level players to compete in the SEC. A lot of Razorback fans bought it like a 2020 Popeye’s chicken sandwich, but for those who understand college basketball that was a tough sell from the beginning.
All season injuries have popped up to excuse the lack of team chemistry, but to those who understand basketball, the team’s chemistry – and NIL budget – would have been better served by complimenting the one or two ball dominant guards by keeping a Walmart green-light special like Joseph Pinion to knock down some open threes.
Instead, we turned our nose up at a homegrown four star who would have felt right at home for four-star mercenaries who would rather not be here when the going gets tough. Under Musselman, Arkansas fought its way back from similar slow starts here at Arkansas. Can this team shoot its way out of the hole they’ve dug for themselves?
Many of the same people who hyped up this team are now leaving them for dead. But as Lee Corso would say, “Not so fast my friends.”
Calipari is a Hall of Famer for a reason
And just to show you I’m not being a homer, two-time defending national champion Dan Hurley’s team lost six of seven in conference play before “figuring it out” en route to a national championship run. I’m not suggesting Cal has that kind of magic left in him at 65, but I am suggesting he has enough wisdom left to realize money don’t make the man in The Natural State.
Cal is on record saying multiple times that he’s not cracking. Well, he’d better get cracking. Stop with the excuses. Stop letting Kenny Payne do your press conferences. Have more shoot arounds – without AI assistance. Make sure your team understands that blocking out is only half of rebounding. You actually have to go get the ball as well.
As one of the people who warned this kind of thing might happen, I’ll also go on the record and say now is no time to quit. It’s time to do what you obviously haven’t up til this point and go to work. You probably won’t salvage this season, but if you want to salvage your legacy we should all learn from this.
Consider today’s example. Only six of the top 25 teams in NIL funds made the first 12-team playoff. Under the upcoming revenue sharing structure, Arkansas projects to be well placed among that top 25. Will that translate into wins and ranking next season? It certainly hasn’t for this basketball team so far.
It is rare that the organization which wins free agency in the offseason wins championships in the real season. In our obsession with money, we tend to forget that reality. Yurachek and Calipari would be wise to remember what the great Kenny Mayne often said.
“A good craftsman NEVER blames his tools.” That is all the more true when they come with a hefty price.