Barnhart Hides as Usual

May 30, 2008
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613
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He should come out and tell everyone what he has done to help our recruiting, why he signed a 15 years contract with anyone especially a company like JMI who no one but those involved knows anything about, and if this company will be involved in football transfer portal player acquisition and lastly, can the contract be voided for cause, AD who don’t talk to the people that buy tickets have something to hide.
 

Smeegs

Senior
Nov 19, 2025
216
577
93
Signing a 15-year deal with ANYBODY to handle your NIL, when the whole concept of NIL is in its infancy, is absolutely nuts. The fact that it’s JMI is just icing on the crap cake Mitch is making this fanbase eat.
Yeah, I don’t get the 15 years, especially when NIL is still in its Wild West phase and we don’t know what direction all of this is going.

But, then, I’ve always been baffled by Mitch’s fondness for overly long contracts. The dude hands out costly extensions like candy on Halloween.
 

Tim0808

Senior
Apr 4, 2013
438
834
93
Signing the 15 year deal is the same type of contracts he created with Cal's coach for life and Stoops mega deal. I am not saying they were not worth the money, but you just never know the future and what is going to happen. You do not sign a 15 year deal with JMI just like you shouldn't give Will Stein a 15 year deal. Things change. Ask the ACC Football schools how happy they were because they had signed an ACC contract when conference realignment took place. They were all hiring attorneys trying to break the contract. Barnhart is like Charlie Brown. He will always try to kick no matter who is holding the ball. He never learns from his mistakes.
 

BlueBlood96Cat

All-Conference
Jan 5, 2022
2,679
4,708
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He should come out and tell everyone what he has done to help our recruiting, why he signed a 15 years contract with anyone especially a company like JMI who no one but those involved knows anything about, and if this company will be involved in football transfer portal player acquisition and lastly, can the contract be voided for cause, AD who don’t talk to the people that buy tickets have something to hide.
What a dumb statement. Na I didn’t even read it. Just figured I would say your statement is dumb on a free message board like you did me😊
 

kfwa

Senior
Oct 12, 2014
271
528
93
any company that has burner personalities dedicated to refuting every negative post about them has to be pretty sketchy

I can't imagine this going away as much as Barnhart hopes it will. There are too many affected parties including the coaches who are trying to compete.
 
May 30, 2008
444
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What a dumb statement. Na I didn’t even read it. Just figured I would say your statement is dumb on a free message board like you did me😊
I’m dumb about a lot of things but smart in some. Where my money goes is one. If you are not smart then go out and buy $100,000 Fird pick up, buy an house that is worth half of what someone wants,. I believe in transparency when they want my money for anything.
 
Jan 10, 2015
18,339
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Signing a 15-year deal with ANYBODY to handle your NIL, when the whole concept of NIL is in its infancy, is absolutely nuts. The fact that it’s JMI is just icing on the crap cake Mitch is making this fanbase eat.
He's been serving us up a lot of that crap cake over the years and I mean a lot of it.... It's time for him to finally lose his job to be honest over all of it! When UK makes their next hire I sure as hell hope they go as far away from anyone close to Mitch as possible!
 
Jan 10, 2015
18,339
30,346
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i sense you guys arent very appreciative of our womens volleyball and soccer success.
I love all UK sports but what he's done bad in football and men's basketball alone has astronomically outweighed any little good he did in the other sports! BTW he made a really bad **** hire in women's soccer too in 2016 Ian Carry went 26-50 from 2016-2021. So to be honest his soccer hires haven't always been rainbows and butterflies too.
 

fisherscatfan

All-Conference
Jan 17, 2010
544
1,179
93
JMI is PAYING him millions of dollars in " bonuses" that's why he signed it. The assistant AD is being paid millions of dollars AND her husband is an executive for JMI. Some Jurich like crap going on here .
That’s a pretty strong statement. I would think UK like most employers would have prohibitive language in all employee contracts that would make it grounds for immediate termination of all involved up to and including the Board.

I really dislike Mitch as an AD but would be stunned if this was that nefarious and not just his typical method of operating which seems very lazy to me. Mitch is so concerned about his reputation I would be stunned.

I just think he negotiated an easy way to get rev sharing covered and went all in on the SCORE Act dialing in NIL.
 
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Snarks

All-American
Jan 31, 2005
8,192
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JMI is PAYING him millions of dollars in " bonuses" that's why he signed it. The assistant AD is being paid millions of dollars AND her husband is an executive for JMI. Some Jurich like crap going on here .
I wouldn’t be shocked, but I keep seeing this narrative where is it coming from?

I tried to find the JMI contract and couldn’t find it. I think because it was signed under the champions blue LLC it doesn’t have to be public.
 

Snarks

All-American
Jan 31, 2005
8,192
6,038
93
He's been serving us up a lot of that crap cake over the years and I mean a lot of it.... It's time for him to finally lose his job to be honest over all of it! When UK makes their next hire I sure as hell hope they go as far away from anyone close to Mitch as possible!
UK won’t do that, the dept is too far gone at this point. Guarantee Mitch has a hand in selecting the next AD and it’s one of his minions.
 
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3236

All-Conference
Dec 12, 2003
7,028
3,906
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That’s a pretty strong statement. I would think UK like most employers would have prohibitive language in all employee contracts that would make it grounds for immediate termination of all involved up to and including the Board.

I really dislike Mitch as an AD but would be stunned if this was that nefarious and not just his typical method of operating which seems very lazy to me. Mitch is so concerned about his reputation I would be stunned.

I just think he negotiated an easy way to get rev sharing covered and went all in on the SCORE Act dialing in NIL.
That’s his MO
 

4UK4life1

All-Conference
Dec 21, 2004
3,094
1,217
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Yeah, I don’t get the 15 years, especially when NIL is still in its Wild West phase and we don’t know what direction all of this is going.

But, then, I’ve always been baffled by Mitch’s fondness for overly long contracts. The dude hands out costly extensions like candy on Halloween.
Mitch doesn’t like dealing with the actual work of the AD like contracts and hiring/firing coaches so he signs them to infinity contracts and hopes it works out
 

FireWentOut

All-Conference
Jul 2, 2025
555
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So, Mitch is ready to retire, takes a sweetheart deal to pad his retirement account, and throws UK under the bus as per usual. Is that about right? Guy should be investigated for the contracts he has signed over the last decade of his tenure here. There is no way he can be that incompetent at this point in his career. Has to be shenanigans going on.
 

Supafuzz75

Senior
Nov 30, 2014
257
430
63
i sense you guys arent very appreciative of our womens volleyball and soccer success.
Not me.. Don't like volleyball nor soccer.. Never been to either one in person in my 50 years or watched on the television.. Add college baseball to that also.. Did like pro baseball back in 80/90s with Braves.. Don't like any kinda pro games nowadays either.. When UK bball sucks,, I have no fall back teams or sports to fall back on.. That really sucks too..
 

Kentucky15

All-Conference
Mar 29, 2013
2,033
4,220
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Yeah, I don’t get the 15 years, especially when NIL is still in its Wild West phase and we don’t know what direction all of this is going.

But, then, I’ve always been baffled by Mitch’s fondness for overly long contracts. The dude hands out costly extensions like candy on Halloween.
Mitch has basically said why he does this to some degree to me. He’s not into winning elite. He’s into status quo and “relationships”. He doesn’t like to work, he likes the administrative side. Barnhart is NOT an AD, he’s a corporate shill that likes to play in the numbers. Hiring and firing is work, and it puts his job on the line. When he hires, by his own admission, he “gets out of the way and doesn’t interfere”. The guy does everything he can to retain any coach he hires and will only step in when it’s so bad it’s caused damage. Firing coaches means he made bad hires, he’d rather gaslight everyone and keep expectations low, signaling he’s done a great job at such a poor athletic university.

Mitch was brought in to advocate for the university business not athletics. He’s there to take from athletics and use the money elsewhere than the major sports. It’s just a means to an end to him. That’s what the president wants imo, and he delivers, so winning is not what his job is. This is clearly visible to anyone paying attention.

I think there’s more than enough evidence to prove it. And why does he pay football coaches like Stoops a fortune? Because you can’t get coaches to sign in when they know they’re handcuffed and can’t win to elite levels. They don’t want it. So he has to overpay to get them in. This is my opinion from watching for a long time.
 
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Kentucky15

All-Conference
Mar 29, 2013
2,033
4,220
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any company that has burner personalities dedicated to refuting every negative post about them has to be pretty sketchy

I can't imagine this going away as much as Barnhart hopes it will. There are too many affected parties including the coaches who are trying to compete.
The burners are pretty incredible. It shows how bad this is, and it shows they are desperate to see it go away. They’re on other social media sites too. No regular fan spends his day gaslighting about a corporation and what their doing or not doing.
 
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Kentucky15

All-Conference
Mar 29, 2013
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That’s a pretty strong statement. I would think UK like most employers would have prohibitive language in all employee contracts that would make it grounds for immediate termination of all involved up to and including the Board.

I really dislike Mitch as an AD but would be stunned if this was that nefarious and not just his typical method of operating which seems very lazy to me. Mitch is so concerned about his reputation I would be stunned.

I just think he negotiated an easy way to get rev sharing covered and went all in on the SCORE Act dialing in NIL.
I have not validated this or seen it confirmed, but man is it flying around. At this point I’d be a bit shocked if some of it isn’t true. You know nothing about it really? You seem to be pretty on top of the JMI deal.

I’ve asked around, and nobody seems to be able to confirm it. So I really can’t say. I do feel corruption is part of it but not sure to the legality of it. Just my feel that it’s corruption to me, but it’s based on opinion.
 

AllBall

All-Conference
May 5, 2015
3,822
4,617
93
Signing a 15-year deal with ANYBODY to handle your NIL, when the whole concept of NIL is in its infancy, is absolutely nuts. The fact that it’s JMI is just icing on the crap cake Mitch is making this fanbase eat.
💯 It's inexcusable!!! This is all trial and error in uncharted waters. The contract should've been yr to yr to see how the working relationship pans out.

Once again Mitch jumped the gun and didn't do his due diligence signing a contract. There's absolutely NO reason you commit to 15 yrs until you know it'll work.

He assumed the SCORE Act would pass and wanted to be ahead of the curve. Barnhart's lack of prudence has hindered our ability to recruit big name players.
He should be fired yesterday. I encourage anyone who cares about this program to unite and see him gone. 2 egregious contracts with insane buyouts, multiple poor hires including a swimming team legal fiasco, and now a NIL deal that handcuffs our recruiting ability in major sports.

The man has been blessed with over 20 years in a position most don't reach double digits. Time to go bc the bad outweighs the good. Hopefully, we can recover and save the Athletic department before it's too late. Otherwise, hope you enjoy women's sports bc that's the only programs that'll survive.
 
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fisherscatfan

All-Conference
Jan 17, 2010
544
1,179
93
I have not validated this or seen it confirmed, but man is it flying around. At this point I’d be a bit shocked if some of it isn’t true. You know nothing about it really? You seem to be pretty on top of the JMI deal.

I’ve asked around, and nobody seems to be able to confirm it. So I really can’t say. I do feel corruption is part of it but not sure to the legality of it. Just my feel that it’s corruption to me, but it’s based on opinion.
There is a lot of stuff being said right now and I think emotions are high. I know I’m beyond frustrated at what is going on. Mitch hired Pope in my mind because he was an easy get and could be controlled. See Pope’s comments from today. Pope was hired to coach my favorite team so I was reluctant but last year was better than I expected. Pope’s words today were not very reassuring to me.

I think Mitch entered into a deal w/JMI because it gave him a way to say he had covered the shortfall revenue sharing was creating. It has been stated often that UK was late to the NIL game because Mitch was personally against it. Now the CSC attempted to put rules in place and Mitch wants those rules and felt Congress would pass legislation so again he takes the easy road of familiarity with JMI.

I think Mitch has made numerous terrible contractual decisions usually I believe out of complacency. Joker, Elzy, Stoops’ buyout, Cal’s buyout and now this with the ridiculous apparent guardrails/restrictions of the JMI contract. I cannot call that corruption but bad management. Bad management by the AD, the President and the BOT. There is something off.

-UK not addressing the conflict of interest raised is ridiculous.
-Reporters not pressing UK reps on what they think is against the rules that others are doing that UK wont do is lazy reporting.
-Reporters not asking what is the outlined punishment they expect others to incur and who is enforcing the rules is terrible reporting.

There is a problem in the UK Athletics Dept. Is it:
-an AD who has screwed up yet again with a long-term contract?
-an AD that hired an inexperienced coach who cannot recruit?

This issue can be fixed but there is going to have to be some changes. If I’m an agent for a top recruit right now, I am salivating at the opportunity to take advantage of UK because I have to believe they are in full blown crises mode.
 

Artlaibesghost

All-Conference
Nov 30, 2022
635
1,213
93
I wouldn’t be shocked, but I keep seeing this narrative where is it coming from?

I tried to find the JMI contract and couldn’t find it. I think because it was signed under the champions blue LLC it doesn’t have to be public.
What does that tell you. Who COB of Champions Blue theone with absolute power over disbursements.MITCH BARNHART
 

Kentucky15

All-Conference
Mar 29, 2013
2,033
4,220
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There is a lot of stuff being said right now and I think emotions are high. I know I’m beyond frustrated at what is going on. Mitch hired Pope in my mind because he was an easy get and could be controlled. See Pope’s comments from today. Pope was hired to coach my favorite team so I was reluctant but last year was better than I expected. Pope’s words today were not very reassuring to me.

I think Mitch entered into a deal w/JMI because it gave him a way to say he had covered the shortfall revenue sharing was creating. It has been stated often that UK was late to the NIL game because Mitch was personally against it. Now the CSC attempted to put rules in place and Mitch wants those rules and felt Congress would pass legislation so again he takes the easy road of familiarity with JMI.

I think Mitch has made numerous terrible contractual decisions usually I believe out of complacency. Joker, Elzy, Stoops’ buyout, Cal’s buyout and now this with the ridiculous apparent guardrails/restrictions of the JMI contract. I cannot call that corruption but bad management. Bad management by the AD, the President and the BOT. There is something off.

-UK not addressing the conflict of interest raised is ridiculous.
-Reporters not pressing UK reps on what they think is against the rules that others are doing that UK wont do is lazy reporting.
-Reporters not asking what is the outlined punishment they expect others to incur and who is enforcing the rules is terrible reporting.

There is a problem in the UK Athletics Dept. Is it:
-an AD who has screwed up yet again with a long-term contract?
-an AD that hired an inexperienced coach who cannot recruit?

This issue can be fixed but there is going to have to be some changes. If I’m an agent for a top recruit right now, I am salivating at the opportunity to take advantage of UK because I have to believe they are in full blown crises mode.
I couldn’t agree more. I’ve said much of the same. Mitch is a really bad AD, he’s always been bad, it’s never been a question. I believe like you he was behind the NIL curve because he doesn’t want money appropriated away from UK and sat on it hoping it would die. He’s way over his element and should easily be fired but it’s not happening and that is highly problematic. The athletic department at UK has some serious questions that need answering and it’s not happening. Mark was definitely a controlled hire, Mitch had been shut out of basketball for 15 years and wanted that control. Why is the BOT allowing this mess to continue? Needs to be answered. Where are the boosters and why aren’t the moving? Anywhere else they would be. This contract stinks to high heaven, no answers.

I’m to the point where all need to be cleared out and that includes Pope.
 
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