Report: John Calipari to remain as Kentucky head coach for 2024-25 season
Kentucky coach John Calipari will remain in that role for the 2024-25 basketball season, according to a report from KSR’s Matt Jones on Tuesday night.
Speculation about Calipari’s job security had swirled in recent days following a stunning first-round NCAA Tournament exit after a loss to 14-seed Oakland.
Calipari was set to meet with athletics director Mitch Barnhart, and Jones reported the outcome of that meeting was Calipari’s return as head coach.
KSR’s Jack Pilgrim added further details, noting that other staff changes will be coming, both to the assistant coaching staff and the support staff. Accountability measures will also be put in place to make sure the program is progressing in a positive direction, with those measures touching day-to-day operations, NIL, program expenses and more.
Kentucky will have to work to rebuild the roster going forward, and player meetings with Calipari are scheduled for Wednesday.
John Calipari has been in charge of the Kentucky program since the 2009-10 season and he has had a considerable amount of success. That success included a national championship in his third season, in 2012.
The Wildcats have been a regular in the NCAA Tournament but haven’t won the SEC since the 2019-20 season. And the last deep run in March came the year before that, to the Elite Eight.
That has left the fanbase ever more restless. Change appears to be on the horizon, and by the early reports on Barnhart’s meeting with Calipari, it appears that change will be significant.
In previous days, Jones had hinted at some of the changes likely should Calipari return.
“I think the university will basically say ‘you’re not operating on an island anymore,’” Jones said in a Twitter Spaces call. “There’s going to have to be some changes in terms of staff. There’s going to have to be some changes in terms of how things are done on a day-to-day basis.
“The way basketball has always operated — on an island, doing whatever it wants — I do think, even if he comes back, that will be told it has to change.”