Mitch Barnhart 'confident' Kentucky can compete in modern era of college athletics: 'We've got enough'

Mitch Barnhart is “confident” in Kentucky‘s abilities to compete in the revenue sharing era of college athletics. The UK athletic director said the notion that the Wildcats don’t have enough money to do so is “nonsense” created “at a variety of places.”

Barnhart said that these conversations have got to stop. Meeting with local media after new head coach Will Stein’s introductory press conference, Barnhart voiced his frustration at the narrative Kentucky can’t spend at the same rate as its SEC counterparts.

“We’re confident in what we’re doing,” Barnhart said. “People have asked that question 19 different ways, all the stuff that’s been going on, it’s exhausting. Enough. Enough about, ‘Have we got enough?’ We’ve got enough. We’re working at it just like everyone else is working at it. … So this notion that we don’t have enough is — we’ve got enough.”

Barnhart said he wants to resource that cash “the right way.” That includes assessing and acquiring talent on the field and on Kentucky’s coaching staff. That starts with head coach Will Stein and the program he’ll piece together.

During his introductory press conference, Stein spoke on the financial backing he’ll receive at UK. Stein said that both Barnhart and deputy AD Marc Hill laid out a “great plan” for him to be successful right away at Kentucky.

“There’s a cap now. What’s a cap? That is part of it,” Stein said. “That’s why we’re going to have the best general manager in the country being here with me.”

Stein said he couldn’t report on who that GM is just yet, but teased that the news will come out “very soon.” In the age of the NCAA transfer portal and NIL, Stein believes the best trait of any college football coach is adaptability, and that’s what he plans to do in Lexington: “We’ve got to adapt.”

“That’s why we hired this guy,” Barnhart said of Stein. “He’s put together a really good game plan of how they’re going to do it. In the first day, they’ve made some really nice adjustments to what we’re doing and we’ll be fine.”

Stein will be tasked with turning around a Kentucky team that has won nine games in the past two seasons, including three wins vs. the SEC during that stretch. Based on Barnhart’s comments, it appears that competing financially with other programs in the league won’t be an issue for the first-time head coach.