UK AD will stay out of replacement search: ‘They don’t need Mitch Barnhart 2.0’
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Barnhart won't lead or pick UK’s AD replacement; may advise if asked.
- President Capilouto will run a listening tour to shape AD needs.
- Barnhart becomes executive-in-residence; athletics will pay his $950K salary.
Outgoing Kentucky athletic director Mitch Barnhart is leaving the search for his replacement to others.
In a retirement celebration Friday, Barnhart made it clear that while he will continue to work for the university after stepping down as athletic director in June, he will not be directly involved in the management of the athletic department anymore.
“They don’t need Mitch Barnhart 2.0,” Barnhart said when asked about the search for his replacement. “They don’t. They need their own version of what’s best for them and what they think is best for this program. And I’m good with that. I want what’s best for Kentucky. I love this place.”
UK president Eli Capilouto, who was not present at the retirement ceremony because he was on a trip for other university business, has offered few specifics about the search for Barnhart’s replacement other than to say he plans to conduct a listening tour to gather feedback from people on and off campus about the future of college sports and requirements for an athletic director moving forward.
Meanwhile, Barnhart will transition to a role as the executive in residence for a newly created UK Sport and Workforce Initiative within the academic side of the university. UK officials initially said this week that Barnhart’s $950,000-per-year salary in that position would be paid out of the university general fund, then reversed course and said that information was incorrect several hours after complaints were raised about the setup, including in a Herald-Leader column.
Barnhart’s salary will continue to be paid by the athletic department, even though he no longer will work directly with the university sports teams.
“They’re my coaches,” Barnhart said. “I want them to be successful. Making a change in what I’ve done or how I’ve done it? Change it, it’s OK. I’m unoffendable. Doesn’t bother me. That’s OK. I’ve taken enough shots, I think I can handle that.
“...I’m not gonna be involved in that (search). That’s their deal. But if they want my advice, I’m glad to give it. I just want to teach young people at this point in time.”
Because of Barnhart’s extensive record in sending staffers within his department on to manage their own athletic departments over 24 years at Kentucky, speculation about potential replacements immediately centered on sitting Division I athletic directors who used to work for him at Kentucky.
That list includes Greg Byrne (Alabama), Scott Stricklin (Florida), John Cohen (Auburn), Mark Coyle (Minnesota), DeWayne Peevy (DePaul) and Kevin Saal (Wichita State). Current deputy athletic director Marc Hill seems like the top candidate if Kentucky chooses to promote from within.
But Barnhart’s acknowledgement that the athletic director position is changing as a result of upheaval across college sports might make it easier for UK to look outside the Barnhart athletic director tree for the next hire.
“I’m not going to pick my successor,” he said. “That is not my role. This is the university’s search, and I will not be involved in it. If they ask my advice or ask for my opinion, I’m glad to give it, but this is the president’s search.
“...I should have listened to some other advice when I first came here. People gave me advice. (I thought) ‘I’m smarter than that. I got this.’ I made some mistakes. I’ll sit to the side, and if people want my advice, I am glad to help. But this is going to be their program, not mine.”
