'Just make them all eligible': Men's hoops coaches weigh in on eligibility chaos

• Jeff Borzello

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  Jeff Borzello

  ESPN Staff Writer

  • Basketball recruiting insider.
  • Joined ESPN in 2014.
  • Graduate of University of Delaware.
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• Myron Medcalf

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  Myron Medcalf

  ESPN Staff Writer

  • Covers college basketball
  • Joined ESPN.com in 2011
  • Graduate of Minnesota State University, Mankato

Oct 30, 2026, 07:00 AM ET

We needed a crash course in law studies this offseason to understand the biggest storyline in college sports: eligibility. We covered the news extensively, as players from the high school class of 2022 filed lawsuits against the NCAA asking to be included in part of the new "five-for-five" rule. These players felt like they were excluded unfairly from the rule, and would have chosen to stay back in college for the extra season.

They weren't the only ones wondering whether they could play. Key international players have been waiting on clearance -- as has Trey Kaufman-Renn, who is, temporarily, back for a sixth season.

The lawsuits, which began in June, are not fully resolved as we prepare to hit November and the beginning of the college season. How did coaches navigate this offseason with rapidly changing decisions?

The following is a collection of quotes from coaches across the major conferences on how everything from rosters to practice to team activities were affected by the uncertainty.

'I just want to know'

Coaches on dealing with the uncertainty of fluid eligibility status.

Rick Pitino, St. John's: "I prepare [as if] they're all going to be eligible, I got the team. And my two famous words with this environment the last three years have been adjust and adapt. You adapt to the situation and then you adjust."

Shaheen Holloway, Seton Hall: "I don't like not knowing the outcome. I had a couple of guys that we recruited. And I thought we had them. I had another European and at the last minute, both of those guys couldn't get cleared, so I had to pivot.

"You also want to know, can they play? Because I got to get on. I got to make sure. I don't want distractions and you can play two months, then you can't play a month. A guy like Elijah [Fisher], he started every game for me last year. I'm bringing him here to play. I want to make sure he can play. I just want to know."

Shaka Smart, Marquette: "By far my most pressing consideration is Colin Porter himself. Because he's the one that has to live in this limbo. I feel bad for kids in that class. We as coaches strongly advised the NCAA to wait on unveiling 'five for five' for this exact reason. I can distinctly remember being on multiple Zooms that included the very top of the NCAA and us strongly encouraging them and telling them this is what's going to happen.

I feel bad for the Colins of the world because they put their lives on hold to try to go chase another season and they don't know for sure day-to-day. On the team side, like anything else, you prepare as if he's going to be part of our team, but you certainly have to have an understanding that something could change."

Bill Self, Kansas: "I welcome the uncertainty, to be honest with you. I think it'd be nice if all the court cases were set on the same date, so if guys were going to be eligible or not be eligible, they all go to school at the same time. That's not the way it works. You've got people fighting for their cause starting back in early June, and it's been different states or different courts that have been stretched out over time. I'm going to coach it. I'm going to coach it the same, whether we have him or not."

Richard Pitino, Xavier: "I think Filip [Borovicanin], if he does [stay eligible],will be a key part of our team. I also feel for him emotionally. I get so many coaches that call me asking me questions and I'm like, 'Man, I'm a basketball coach. I'm not a lawyer.'

"You have one side telling these kids they're going to get it, stay the course. You don't know timelines. Basketball coaches are pretty type A. They got like, 'OK, when is this going to happen?' And you just don't know. So I feel bad for Filip [Borovicanin] because he's in such limbo, but he also knew what he was signing up for. But it's hard when you have no idea when the end is in sight."

Jai Lucas, Miami: "The best thing about us this year is we built the team without [Malik Reneau] in mind, so he's, right now, is a bonus and a plus one, but the way the team was built and how we're built was without him in mind. So it doesn't really change a lot because that position, we had kind of an open spot with how Malik plays. It just will adjust the number of people we play in the game."

Mike Boynton, Michigan: "This is so unprecedented. There's no playbook for it. You're just sort of hopeful that it stays the way it is. [Roddy Gayle Jr. has] got a compelling case. What we're doing is the worst thing because some of these guys are going to be eligible and some of them aren't. Just make them all eligible. There's no actuality that they're taking roster spots. That's not a real thing. Nobody's kicking somebody out."

Darian DeVries, Indiana: "Our approach is, maybe approach it like a you-can't-forecast-injuries type thing either. So it's like, he's there every day and we anticipate having him until something says otherwise. But right now we approach it like he's going to be with us for the entire year."

'You want to have him ready'

How coaches approached preseason practices.

Bryan Hodgson, Providence: "We plan practice accordingly. We'll put a group out there of five on the same team that we know we have, and then we'll mix them into what we do. But I think that our guys have done a great job of it and [the affected players] have done a great job understanding that, 'Hey, this is what this has to look like in practice. We're going to put these five together for today to see how they play together. We'll sprinkle you guys in.' We'll be fine either way. We built the team to withstand."

Ed Cooley, Georgetown: "That's been the hardest thing we've had to do. So you're going into a practice plan saying, 'OK, if we have NJ [Benson] and Vince [Iwuchukwu], and if we don't have NJ and Vince.' So you have two different developmental practice plans, so let's put this unit together. What it does allow you to do is play against some high-level size because everybody beyond them is young. And they're manhandling them, but those young kids are growing in front of our eyes. Very challenging."

Richard Pitino: "Logistically you switch up lineups -- you don't go into it assuming he's going to play, but you also want to have him ready in case he does play. The good part is we have a lot of depth, so that does help.

Niko Medved, Minnesota: "I don't care about [the impact on] our team. I feel bad for [Cade Tyson]. That is a really hard thing for a young person to be in practice every day and have no idea what their future holds. It's uncharted waters for anybody. So none of us coaches have ever really been in this situation.

"You almost have to approach it like he's not going to play. So right now when we start doing outside competition scrimmages, because they're not eligible today, they're not going to be able to do those. So Cade's on the scout team right now, that's what he's got to do. But obviously he knows what we do pretty well. So if something changes, I think we'll be able to quickly work him back in. But it's a challenge. I guess my feeling, selfishly, is I want it for our team and for him to be able to play. But the great news is if he's not, we're still a better team and program because he's practicing with us every day."

Rick Barnes, Tennessee: "[Jalen Washington] changed our team once he came on campus, because he and DeWayne Brown, for whatever reason, and it's not something that we did as coaches, but when we break down individually, post, perimeter, those two guys went at each other, and they go at each other every day. I keep asking the other guys, 'Why won't you guys do what these guys are doing? I mean, they are going at it.'

"Jalen gives us a physical presence. He's improved so many other things with our team. So he is a difference-maker. When we started, we didn't think we would have a fifth-year guy. We had one scholarship left. We were not going to give it to a high school player. We're already into the summer."

Pat Kelsey, Louisville: "I'm just coaching like they're eligible, like they're going to be eligible. I don't know if that's the right thing. I mean, we get a little further down the line, we might have to change, but I'm not doing anything different right now. Your guess is as good as mine. Somehow I became an expert on what a stay is and what a TRO is and what an injunction is. I never thought I'd know what any of that crap means, but I'm actually paying attention to it now a little bit.

T.J. Otzelberger, Iowa State: "Yeah, I think more than anything, it's new for all of us, so you've got to control the controllables and we're going to be prepared either way. We're going to be highly prepared if Tamin [Lipsey]'s able to play and play for the entire season. We'll be prepared if at some point that isn't the reality and whatever comes our way, we'll have a plan -- we'll execute the plan and we'll be ready in that moment."

'I think it tarnishes the sport'

Coaches on whether the five-for-five rule is good for college basketball.

Kevin Willard, Villanova: "I honestly believe we just need a restart. There is no more NCAA because obviously if you take a player that the NCAA says is ineligible, but you play them, then you're not part of a member institution. If we don't have the institutions following the rules in the NCAA, then we don't have an NCAA. So there's no rules."

Rick Pitino: "It's [the NCAA's] fault that everything's going to court because when you deal with money, it's a whole different ballgame. When players see they can have a fifth year and make more than they're ever going to make in their lifetime, they're going to go to court to play. They're going to say, 'Well, my teammates are going to get five years. Why don't I get five years? Why am I being excluded? Why don't I have a right to work?' That's their argument in court, and it seems like they have a winning argument because they're winning in most states."

Tim Brosnan, Big East commissioner: "I don't think it's good for any business -- and that's what our league is, it's a business that has certain differences to complete private sector business. But uncertainty when you're going to market, it's just not a good thing."

Dan Hurley, UConn: "I think it tarnishes the sport to have these things playing out in courtrooms, in places close to these schools with judges that are close to these schools. Making decisions in favor of these local colleges and college teams.

Richard Pitino: "It's certainly not good for the sport, but I don't know if there's one group that's at fault. I understand the NCAA fighting for their power to be able to make rules. I totally respect it and understand it. But I also see the other side of it and think these fifth-year kids should be eligible. ... I just don't know why the NCAA dug in on that one. Now they may have a legit reason that I don't know about."

Medved: "My fear with this for college basketball is that the worst-case scenario will come to fruition. And in my opinion, that's some of the guys being able to play at other places and some won't, and they have the exact same set of circumstances. I think that's awful for the sport. And unfortunately with the way the climate is, it feels like we're headed that way. But then when you really look at the last five years, does that surprise anybody? I mean, it just seems like that's just sort of par for the course, which is kind of sad."

Todd Golden, Florida: "There's a lot of points in this discussion that don't make a lot of sense to us. The NCAA has marketed and spent millions of dollars promoting the Protect College Sports Act. If that were to pass, the Class of '22 athletes would be eligible to play. ... "The displacement argument, it's factually inaccurate. There's going to be displacement next year. The biggest thing that, I think, is kind of confused with this is [the NCAA] talks about congestion at the top and that we need freshmen to be able to come up. The congestion in the power leagues is, in my opinion, derived from the transfer legislation. When guys have the ability to be free agents every year, us as coaches who manage these programs have to do what we think is best to give ourselves the best chance to win. I don't think it's that hard to understand that when you have older guys -- seniors, juniors -- those guys, generally speaking -- there are some really talented freshmen out there -- are going to give it the best chance."

Kelvin Sampson, Houston: "I wish I had something smart to say. I've been coaching so long, there's part of our game I don't really recognize anymore. And I get so many calls from retired coaches, John Calipari, Tom Izzo -- the guys I came up with. I mean, we talk about it, but we don't have anything to do with it. Nobody's asking any of the coaches their opinions. I don't know where we lost contact with the game. It's almost like we've treated it like it's a sport, but I always thought that basketball was a sacred game, that the people that came before us that dug the well, we're just drinking out of it. There's so many people that came before us that if they were to look down, they wouldn't recognize it either."

'The timing obviously was a mistake'

Coaches on the NCAA's decision to announce age-based eligibility guidelines in June.

Cooley: "I don't know why the NCAA -- and again, I'm not in the weeds on it, I'm a coach -- it would've been easier for them to make the five-in-five ruling in now or November to avoid this. ... To be in limbo the way we are from a mental health standpoint with these kids, we're going through it with our two guys, they're emotionally a wreck. The schools are a wreck. The ones profiting the most from this is not the student-athlete, it's all the lawyers. And God bless them for litigating all of it. But at the same time, I don't think it's healthy. I just don't think it's healthy from an emotional, mental standpoint."

Richard Pitino: "The timing obviously was a mistake unless people claim they wanted it that way. I don't know. You could have easily done it in the fall and wouldn't have had this much [of a] problem. So I would assume they saw that coming. But I just think the worst part in the world would be if when the season starts, kids from hypothetically Tennessee play, but kids from Florida can't play and that would just be a bad, bad deal. So kids are winning court cases and I wish we could all come on the same page and just say, let's just let them play. Let's move on from this. But I also do understand where the NCAA's coming from."

Golden: "I truly just believe that the Class of '22 athletes deserve to play, especially at this point with everybody starting school. Everybody is in the middle of their semesters. There are not guys or girls just hanging out there waiting to see if [the Colorado federal case] wins to jump back and re-enroll and play. We're long past that conversation that was taking place in May and June. And so at this point, the NCAA is trying to argue that they're trying to prevent chaos, but they're really causing it."

Sean Miller, Texas: "In terms of [Texas turned Texas A&M guard Jordan Pope's] next move, he did what was best for him, and I respect that. So we're clear, I operated at the University of Texas as the head basketball coach as if the Class of 2022, which he's a part of, wasn't going to be able to play this year. We made every decision with that in mind, including that it wasn't a possibility that he could come back. If I would have known then what I know today, maybe he would still be here, maybe he wouldn't. That would still be his choice. I certainly would love to have welcomed him back. We didn't have that option at the time."

Rick Pitino: "It's terrible, but the NCAA caused all of this. Why didn't they just make an announcement in November, first game of the season, that next year we're going to allow for fifth-year seniors? Why would they do it in the spring? They created all of this, but why would they do it? It makes no sense, right?"

'This isn't professional sports'

Proposed solutions to eligibility uncertainty.

Hurley: "Do I get kids in this class feeling like they're getting shortchanged? Yeah, but when does it end? Does somebody from 2021 come back and sue to get in? Does somebody from 2019? When does it end? I mean, there's a lot of players in the history of the NBA and all sports that didn't get quite what somebody later got. It's just how life goes. And I don't know that you could ever make that right with everybody.

"I think the sport should be young. For a lot of coaches, obviously it's a lot easier to win if you go and just get a roster filled with 22-, 23-, 24-year-old professional level players from all over the globe. I think college is better if it's a developmental level that now the players are being compensated in a way that they've earned and deserved. You've got to have the transfer rules. All these people with all these different opinions. To give a kid a one-time transfer, with the ability to transfer if the coach leaves, with also the grad transfer, plus the NIL that they're getting, I think college athletes have never had it better. At least college basketball, college football, they've never had it better."

Alan Huss, Creighton: "I hate to get overly theoretical, philosophical, whatever the word is. But I think what's missed is ... this isn't professional sports and there's a couple of major differences. The first major difference is we have built-in fan bases. People support these universities because they love their experience at their university, something that's been formidable and impactful in their lives. And I think we've got to do a better job collectively in college athletics of not losing sight of it, that our alumni bases and our fan bases drive this entire sport or entire machine of sports that is the NCAA. I know the players are important. I know the coaches are important.

"But we have to understand that when we alienate our customer base, our alums and our fans, because of the uncertainty, because of all the chaos -- then that's not what's best for the NCAA, for college basketball and college sports. They've got to be first because that's why we all have an opportunity."

Kelsey: "[Gonzaga head coach] Mark Few said it the other day, and he's right. He's like, 'Wouldn't it make it just easier to just let these fifth-year guys in this class play because all these other classes, they wouldn't have to deal with all these lawsuits.' I don't know why they're just digging their heels in and I don't know."

Chris Beard, Ole Miss: "2021, guys get five years because of COVID. 2023, guys get five years because of the new rule. The new rule comes out in a weird time where players have real options and stuff. So I'm not the expert on all that, but just hoping at some point common sense prevails. A part of common sense would be if a guy signed a pro contract, he's on a pro team, of course, but most of these players, like our two, Corey Stephenson and Micah Handlogten, are not pro players. They're simply looking for the opportunity that the class before them and the class after them got."

Tommy Lloyd, Arizona: "You ask yourself a lot of questions and you wonder why. I know there's two sides to every story, but we have a guy [RJ Godfrey] that's a true five-for-five player. I mean, that's where I would draw the line for me. "I think a true five-for-five, you should be eligible. If there are extenuating circumstances in year six, seven or eight, I don't think your case is as strong. I think true five-for-fives, they shouldn't be penalized. You wish cooler heads would prevail and give these kids the opportunity that they deserve because these kids did nothing wrong. They're missing out on a life-changing opportunity, not only experience-wise but financially just because of the year they graduated from high school. Somebody has to explain to me how that's okay.