"I’ve been poor, I don’t want to be poor again”: Arkansas HC John Calipari gets 100% real on his lower middle class family

Arkansas head coach John Calipari got honest about his upbringing during his recent appearance on “The Two Cents Podcast” with Penny Hardaway. The two coaches and friends sat down to talk basketball and life, and Calipari shared stories from his childhood in Moon Township, Pennsylvania.

Calipari opened up about growing up in a lower-middle-class family and how those experiences shaped who he is today.

“I grew up in the lower middle class, dad worked in the mill for a while until he couldn't take it anymore, he went and was a baggage handler. Mom worked in the high school cafeteria selling the ice cream,” Calipari shared. “We were regular… all my friends we grew up the same.”

He described a close-knit community where kids just showed up at each other’s homes without calling. If someone was eating, you joined in.

“You learned if you didn't work, you didn't eat,” he added, reflecting on the hard-working culture of Pittsburgh at the time. “Now it's kind of changed, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.”

Calipari also spoke fondly of his mother, who showed what it meant to pay it forward, especially during the holidays.

“We didn’t have anything to give, so she'd start wrapping our stuff. Like, I didn't even wear it yet. I'd say, ‘Where did my sweater go?’ ‘I had to give it to so and so.’”

That upbringing clearly left a mark on him, especially when it comes to his view on money and humility.

“I've been poor, I don't want to be poor again, no sir,” Calipari said. “How you were raised up frames who we are, and what we’re about.” [Timestamp: 5:46 - 7:30].

He closed by saying everyone sees the world through their own “personal sunglasses”, shaped by how they were raised and the experiences they have lived through.

John Calipari questions current transfer portal framework

On “The Two Cents Podcast” with Penny Hardaway, Calipari also spoke on the transfer portal, sharing his honest thoughts on its cycle.

“Forget about the money, how we pay a kid. It doesn’t matter,” Calipari said. “But this transfer portal. The first sign of trouble, they leave. How do you transfer four times and then graduate? We’re still educational institutions. They have to get it in control.” [26:10 - 26:32]

Players move every year in the current framework of the transfer portal. There are arguments that it has become even worse since the emergence of NIL, as top programs can now take the best college basketball players at will.