Who will be Kentucky’s next AD? Several potential candidates have Barnhart ties
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Kentucky weighs internal continuity versus outside hires amid Barnhart exit.
- Next AD priority will hinge on fundraising in modern athletics landscape
- Internal candidate Marc Hill would offer the most continuity.
With more than two decades at Kentucky, Mitch Barnhart has overseen several administrators who have gone on to lead their own athletic departments.
That means the list of candidates to replace Barnhart at UK after his retirement is long, if the school wants to hire from within his administrator tree. The primary question facing UK President Eli Capilouto and the rest of the university administration will be whether ties to Barnhart and program should be considered in the search for the school’s next athletic director, given all the changes happening in college sports.
If UK does want to continue Barnhart’s legacy with its next hire, these administrators will certainly merit consideration.
Here is a closer look at several sitting Division I athletic directors who previously worked for Barnhart at Kentucky and the top internal candidate to be promoted to the position.
Greg Byrne
Current position: University of Alabama athletic director.
UK connection: Byrne worked at UK early in Barnhart’s tenure, serving as associate athletic director for development and fundraising from 2002-05.
More background: After two years as an associate director at Mississippi State, Byrne was promoted to athletic director there in 2008.
Byrne spent seven years as athletic director at Arizona from 2010 to 2017 before returning to the SEC as Alabama’s athletic director. Alabama has won two national championships in football during Byrne’s tenure. He hired current men’s basketball coach Nate Oats, a popular name for some UK fans in the 2024 coaching search.
Is he a fit? Hiring a new athletic director who has already led three power conference programs would be a win for Kentucky, but it’s difficult to imagine Byrne leaving Alabama for UK at a time when football is the leading force behind moves across college athletics. Considering Byrne has been gone from Lexington for more than 20 years, this seems unlikely.
Byrne’s most recent Alabama contract pays him more than $2 million a year. While his hire of Kalen DeBoer to replace Nick Saban as football coach has been criticized by some, there is little reason to believe Byrne would leave Alabama.
John Cohen
Current position: Auburn University athletic director.
UK connection: Barnhart hired Cohen as UK’s baseball coach in 2004. He led the Cats to their first SEC championship in program history in 2008.
More background: Cohen left UK for the top baseball job at his alma mater, Mississippi State. He spent eight seasons in that position before moving to an administration role.
Cohen spent six years as Mississippi State’s athletic director before moving to rival Auburn in 2022.
Is he a fit? Unlike the other candidates on this list, Cohen did not work for Barnhart as an administrator, so his ties to this position are not as strong. Leaving his alma mater for Auburn showed Cohen is willing to make a controversial career move if he thinks another job is a better fit, but Kentucky does not feel like a clear upgrade from Auburn. Even if Cohen viewed it as one, other candidates from the Barnhart tree probably would be more attractive to Kentucky.
Mark Coyle
Current position: University of Minnesota athletic director.
UK connection: Coyle worked in multiple roles at UK from 2006-11, eventually being promoted to deputy athletic director. He was the administrator for the men’s basketball program during the first two seasons of the John Calipari era.
More background: Coyle left UK for the athletic director job at Boise State in 2011. He spent four years there before he was hired as Syracuse athletic director. He spent less than a year at Syracuse before being hired at Minnesota. The Waterloo, Iowa, native cited “family reasons” for the move. He had previously spent four years as an associate athletic director at Minnesota before his stint at Kentucky.
Is he a fit? It’s debatable whether Kentucky or Minnesota has the more prestigious football program, but the profile of the UK men’s basketball team might make this job a step up for Coyle. His Midwest ties might make leaving Minnesota more difficult though, and there are few remaining connections in Lexington from his tenure here.
Other candidates probably make more sense if Kentucky is set on hiring a former Barnhart lieutenant.
Marc Hill
Current position: University of Kentucky deputy athletic director.
UK connection: Hill has worked for UK even longer than Barnhart. He is currently in his 27th year with the school.
Hill’s tenure in Lexington began as UK’s strength and conditioning coach before transitioning to an administrator role. He has served as Barnhart’s top lieutenant for the past several years. He is the administrator in charge of both football and men’s basketball, and he oversees capital projects.
Is he a fit? There are likely multiple current Barnhart lieutenants who should be considered candidates for the job, but Hill is the favorite if Kentucky makes an internal promotion. He was closely involved in the coaching searches that brought Mark Pope and Will Stein to Kentucky. He is the most visible administrator in the department other than Barnhart and is tasked with providing regular facility updates to the Champions Blue board of governors and UK Board of Trustees athletics committee.
If Barnhart plays an active role in the search for his successor, Hill has to be considered a leading candidate. He has not led his own program, but he has more ties to the current university administration than anyone on this list.
Rob Mullens
Current position: University of Oregon athletic director.
UK connection: Mullens spent eight years at Kentucky at the beginning of Barnhart’s tenure as AD, serving as executive associate director of athletics from 2002-06 and deputy director of athletics from 2006-10, playing a particularly large role in the school’s football program.
More background: Mullens was a senior official in the Maryland athletic department for six years before coming to Lexington, and he became Oregon’s AD after spending eight years under Barnhart at UK. A native of Morgantown, West Virginia, he graduated from WVU in 1991 and holds a master’s degree in sports management from the university. Mullens has been at Oregon since 2010, overseeing massive success across several sports — including a total of 18 national championships going into this academic year.
Mullens was in charge of the Ducks’ entry into the Big Ten in 2024, and they won a conference title in football in their first season in the league. Oregon has made the College Football Playoff in each of the past two years. The Ducks also made the men’s basketball Final Four in 2017, the program’s second appearance in the national semifinals and first since 1939.
He served as chairman of the College Football Playoff Committee from 2018-19 and was named the AD of the year by the National Association of College Directors of Athletics in 2021.
Is he a fit? Mullens has had massive success at Oregon, and while a move back to Kentucky would bring him closer to his West Virginia roots, it seems unlikely he would leave his current position.
Oregon has enjoyed a successful run during his 16-year tenure, and the school’s ties with Nike — company founder Phil Knight is a graduate and supporter of the university — has it uniquely placed to remain a major player on the national scene for the foreseeable future, especially in the current NIL-driven landscape.
DeWayne Peevy
Current position: Vice president and athletic director at DePaul University.
UK connection: Peevy spent 12 years in Lexington, arriving in 2008 and playing a key administrative role in the heyday of the John Calipari era of men’s basketball that started with the 2009-10 season. He was promoted to senior associate athletic director for communications in 2010 and then deputy athletic director in 2013, holding that role until his departure for DePaul in 2020.
More background: A native of Birmingham, Alabama, Peevy worked as a sports information director at his alma mater, the University of Montevallo, for three years before becoming the media relations director for the SEC office.
While Peevy’s tenure at Kentucky began on the media relations side, he quickly accrued more administrative responsibilities, rising in the department while playing a major role in the men’s basketball program.
“DeWayne is someone I trust wholeheartedly, to the point where he became the center of our scheduling and worked hand-in-hand with me on just about everything we do,” Calipari said after Peevy accepted the DePaul AD job.
Peevy was given a “vice president” title during his first year at DePaul.
Is he a fit? Peevy has long been seen as a potential replacement for Barnhart, though DePaul has continued to struggle in its signature sport, men’s basketball, since his arrival. The Blue Demons, who have not been to an NCAA Tournament since 2004, have not yet had a winning record in Peevy’s tenure and went 0-20 in the Big East two seasons ago. DePaul is currently 16-13 overall and 8-10 in the Big East in its second season under coach Chris Holtmann.
DePaul does not have a football program, which could be a strike against Peevy’s candidacy. He did show strong results in fundraising upon his arrival and also knows the ins and outs of UK’s operation, overseeing elements of the K Fund during his time in Lexington.
Peevy signed a contract extension in 2023 to keep him with the school through at least the end of the 2026-27 academic year.
Kevin Saal
Current position: Wichita State University director of athletics.
UK connection: Saal spent 12 years at Kentucky starting in 2007, until his departure to become the Murray State AD in 2019. During his time at UK, he rose to the title of executive associate director of athletics and helped oversee a number of fundraising initiatives and major construction projects, including renovations to Kroger Field and the baseball program’s Kentucky Proud Park.
More background: Saal is a native of Manhattan, Kansas, and a 1999 graduate of Texas Christian University. He worked in operations and administrative roles at Kansas State (2000-05) and Missouri-Kansas City (2005-07) before coming to Lexington.
After leaving UK, he spent three years as the AD at Murray State University before accepting the top job at Wichita State, where he’s been the director of athletics since 2022.
Is he a fit? Saal was involved in a number of major projects at UK, especially those related to fundraising and capital projects, which will be immediate areas of focus for the school’s next AD.
Like Peevy, he currently oversees a department that does not have a football program. Saal hired Paul Mills, who led Oral Roberts to a Sweet Sixteen appearance in the NCAA Tournament, to be the Wichita State men’s basketball coach in 2023. The Shockers are currently 20-10 overall and second place with a 12-5 record in the American Athletic Conference, which is expected to get only one team in this year’s NCAA Tournament.
Saal signed a contract extension in 2024 to keep him at Wichita State through the 2029-30 school year.
Scott Stricklin
Current position: University of Florida athletic director.
UK connection: Stricklin was the associate AD for media relations at Kentucky from 2003-08, overseeing the day-to-day publicity operations for the UK men’s basketball team during the end of the Tubby Smith era and the first season of Billy Gillispie’s tenure as the program’s head coach.
More background: Stricklin left UK in 2008 to become the senior associate AD at Mississippi State, where he graduated in 1992, and spent the first five years of his professional career as a media relations assistant. The Jackson, Mississippi, native also worked in media relations and administrative roles at Auburn, Tulane and Baylor before coming to Kentucky in 2003.
Stricklin was promoted to athletic director at Mississippi State in 2010 and stayed in that role until becoming Florida’s AD in 2016. Since then, he’s overseen a Gators athletic department that has won national championships in several sports, including the 2025 NCAA title in men’s basketball under coach Todd Golden, whom Stricklin hired.
Is he a fit? Though he left Lexington nearly two decades ago — and currently holds one of the top AD positions in the country — Stricklin has remained a buzzworthy candidate as Barnhart’s potential replacement in recent years.
Nearly all of his professional career has been spent in the SEC, and he’s gained a reputation as a successful fundraiser during his time at both Mississippi State and Florida, a trait that will be important for any serious candidate for this job. He has also overseen several major construction and renovation projects in Gainesville.
Stricklin, 55, did sign a contract extension with Florida last June that included a pay raise — he could make as much as $2.175 million per year, with bonuses — and would keep him on as AD through 2030, with a provision that would allow him to remain as “special assistant to the athletic director” for five years beginning in 2030. He would receive $100,000 per year, plus bonuses, in that role.
This story was originally published March 3, 2026 at 4:24 PM.
