Kentucky athletic director Mitch Barnhart announced Tuesday night that head coach John Calipari will return for 2024-25.
Calipari’s status had been in doubt following the Wildcats’ loss to 14th-seeded Oakland in the first round of the NCAA Tournament last week.
Reports emerged during the day on Tuesday that Barnhart had decided to keep the longtime coach, and following their end-of-season wrap-up meeting, the Kentucky administrator confirmed that is the plan.
“As we normally do at the end of every season, Coach Calipari and I have had conversations about the direction of our men’s basketball program and I can confirm that he will return for his 16th season as our head coach,” Barnhart tweeted.
Calipari has failed to get out of the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament in the last five years, and has suffered losses to a No. 14 and No. 15 seed in two of the last three postseasons.
“I have had better weekends,” Calipari said on his radio show Monday night. “Hurting. Our team — players, staff, their families — we’re all hurting. I’m hurting for them, but I’m hurting. I’m hurting for our fans, and I know many fans out there are hurting. But I want to say: No one is hurting more than me right now.”
Kentucky currently has the No. 2 recruiting class for 2024, featuring one five-star and five four-star commits, but Calipari has also mentioned using the transfer portal to find “older, talented players” for next year’s roster.
However the roster shapes up, the pressure will be on for Calipari to make a deep March Madness in 2025.