The moment the Kentucky Wildcats suffered a crushing loss to the Oakland Golden Grizzlies, many knew that one of the biggest talking points would be whether John Calipari would even be staying on the team as its head coach.
The Wildcats are a respected team in college hoops, and the consecutive years of early March Madness exits may have caused some fans to call for Calipari’s ouster. The head coach hasn’t figured out the right formula that will help balance his ability to recruit blue-chip recruits and win big games at the same time.
However, the university’s athletic office officially decided on Calipari’s future: he will be staying as the head coach for one more year.
Kentucky Wildcats will keep John Calipari as head coach for the next season
Mitch Barnhart, Kentucky’s athletic director, announced that the long-standing coach still has the trust of the higher-ups to bring the Wildcats back to collegiate basketball glory.
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 also revealed that the past week hasn’t been easy on him and his players:
“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.”
Can Calipari still right the ship in Kentucky?
While the athletic board displayed their support for Calipari, he knows that the cheers can quickly turn into jeers if he doesn’t manage to turn it around.
He has another impressive class of freshman cagers that can take over from the team’s departing players, but he knows he cannot simply rely on rooks to win basketball games for him.
Kentucky Wildcats fans can expect massive changes to come from Calipari’s approach once the 2024-25 college basketball season starts in earnest.
More must-reads: