Barnhart and Calipari held their annual, end-of-season meeting Tuesday afternoon. A few hours later, Barnhart released a statement confirming Calipari would return as Kentucky’s head coach for the 2024-25 season.
Mitch Barnhart hired John Calipari in 2009 to be the head coach of the Kentucky men’s basketball team
Following Kentucky’s 80-76 loss to 14-seeded Oakland in the first round of the NCAA Tournament last week, Barnhart was under immense pressure from a vocal segment of UK’s fan base that wanted to see Calipari gone, despite the Hall of Fame coach having five seasons remaining on a 10-year contract extension signed in 2019.
As part of that deal, UK would have owed Calipari a buyout of $33.4 million if it parted ways with him this off-season. There was never any indication behind the scenes that Barnhart was considering firing Calipari in the wake of the Oakland loss — the Cats’ second major upset defeat in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in the past three seasons.
There was no mention of Calipari’s job being in jeopardy during the 30-minute show Wednesday night. Barnhart and Calipari met in the UK locker room following the coach’s postgame press conference after the loss to Oakland, and Calipari appeared on his weekly radio show Monday night, as scheduled.
Barnhart made it clear that he has faith in Calipari to get Kentucky back to its winning ways in March, saying he has been the best in college basketball at adapting to changes in the sport’s landscape over the course of his career.
