Kentucky only SEC school to spend more on basketball recruiting than football

John Calipari and the Kentucky men’s basketball staff spent a pretty penny on recruiting during the 2022 fiscal year — $1,167,817 in total. In fact, those recruiting efforts surpassed those of Mark Stoops and his staff financially — $917,657 — the only SEC program to spend more on basketball recruiting than football.

That’s according to data collected by USA TODAY in partnership with the Knight-Newhouse Data project at Syracuse University, courtesy of Ryan Black of The Courier Journal.

That time period accounts for Kentucky’s recruitment of its most recent roster, namely freshmen signees Cason Wallace, Chris Livingston, Ugonna Onyenso and Adou Thiero. You can also throw Shaedon Sharpe in the mix, who was originally signed as a 2022 recruit and decided to enroll early.

That number also includes laying the foundation for the Wildcats’ top-ranked recruiting class in 2023, ultimately signing DJ Wagner, Aaron Bradshaw, Justin Edwards, Rob Dillingham and Reed Sheppard. The coaching staff was attending events that featured players of all age groups, building the 2021-22 roster while also looking ahead.

Still, though, in a year of basketball vs. football debates in the world of UK Athletics, it was Calipari’s bunch that spent the most on the trail. But it’s not as simple as one sport’s recruiting efforts compared to another, says Kentucky athletics director Mitch Barnhart.

“Obviously we go all around the nation to recruit in basketball, whereas in football, we stay mostly in the eastern half of the country,” Barnhart told The Courier Journal. “Our emphasis in football has been to recruit primarily on a regional basis, with additional players sprinkled in as needed. As the results have shown, that approach has worked well for this staff.

“Also, because of the rules structure in college basketball, with the number of players who stay only one year, that means that we’re likely to have a larger turnover of players each year. More turnover, highlighted by the annual uncertainty of which players will stay and which players will leave, means more players to recruit, and that increases costs.”

Only one other public Power Five school in the nation spent more money on basketball recruiting than football: Iowa. And only one other public school in the SEC hit the million-dollar mark in basketball recruiting during the same period, with Texas A&M dropping $1,059,602. Strong-ass offers aside, LSU finished third within the conference at $694,071.

Overall, Kentucky men’s basketball spent the most in total operating expenses at $22.1 million. Tennessee is second at $14.7 million.

As for Stoops’ recruiting spending, the Wildcats’ $917,657 was just 11th among 13 public SEC programs and No. 35 overall in the country.

“For us, the question is not how much we spend on football versus men’s basketball,” Barnhart told The Courier Journal. “Our goal is to provide what they need to recruit effectively, and both of these coaching staffs have shown recruiting success in their respective sports.”