Indiana Pacers coach Rick Carlisle has agreed to a multiyear contract extension with the franchise, sources confirmed to ESPN, after leading the franchise to its first NBA Finals appearance in a quarter-century this past spring.

Carlisle, who first coached the Pacers from 2003 to 2007 and was an assistant under Larry Bird when Indiana had last made the Finals in 2000, returned to the franchise in 2021 after a successful 13-year run with the Dallas Mavericks that included winning the 2011 NBA title.

After Gregg Popovich retired as coach of the San Antonio Spurs and Tom Thibodeau was fired by the New York Knicks — following a loss to Carlisle and the Pacers in six games in the Eastern Conference finals — the 65-year-old is now the NBA’s oldest active head coach.

Carlisle has a career regular-season record of 993-860 and will become the 11th coach in NBA history to reach the 1,000 wins mark early next season. He is second to Milwaukee‘s Doc Rivers among active coaches in regular-seasons wins. Carlisle also is 10th all time with 86 postseason victories, trailing Rivers, Miami‘s Erik Spoelstra and Golden State‘s Steve Kerr among active coaches.

In his first season, Indiana traded Domantas Sabonis to the Sacramento Kings for Tyrese Haliburton, setting the stage for the Pacers to return to the playoffs and then reach the Eastern Conference finals in 2024, getting that far for the first time in a decade.

The Pacers then knocked off the Milwaukee, the Cleveland Cavaliers and Knicks this past season to reach the league Finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder, where Indiana fell in seven games — and lost Haliburton for next season with a torn Achilles.

Carlisle, who was a member of the 1986 champion Boston Celtics as part of a five-year NBA career that included stops with the Knicks and New Jersey Nets, is also the president of the National Basketball Coaches Association.

Carlisle’s extension was first reported by NBA reporter Marc Stein.