LEXINGTON — Kentucky coach John Calipari will embark on his 16th season with the program in 2024-25. Calipari sat down with UK athletics director Mitch Barnhart for an end-of-season meeting Tuesday. The result of that sitdown: Calipari is back.

"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 posted Tuesday night on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

The news came one day after Calipari hinted that he'd continue leading the program next season.

"This is what I want. This is what I wanted," Calipari said during his radio show Monday night. "This is why I never left. And now let’s come together and let’s go do something special. We can do it. We’ve done it. Let’s do it again.”

The Wildcats' 2023-24 campaign ended in a shocking first-round loss in the NCAA Tournament last week in Pittsburgh, falling to 14-seed Oakland by four points, 80-76. The stunning result set off days of speculation about Calipari's future with the program after his third consecutive March Madness appearance that failed to advance out of the opening weekend.

Kentucky finished the season 23-10.

Reach Kentucky men’s basketball and football reporter Ryan Black at rblack@gannett.com and follow him on X at @RyanABlack.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Kentucky basketball: John Calipari back for 16th season