SOURCE: Kentucky extending Mitch Barnhart's contract through 2028
Mitch Barnhart is one of, if not the, most successful athletic directors in the country, boosting UK Athletics’ performance in all sports during his 22-year tenure. Now, he’s here to stay for a little while longer. A source tells KSR’s Matt Jones that the University of Kentucky is extending Barnhart’s contract through June 2028. Previously, it was set to expire after the 2025-2026 school year. An announcement from the university is expected this afternoon.
Since Barnhart took the job in 2002, Kentucky has earned six NCAA championship rings, including men’s basketball in 2012, volleyball in ’20, and rifle in 2011, ’18, ’21, and ‘22. UK also has totaled 54 regular-season and tournament conference championships under his leadership, including first-time titles in baseball, women’s tennis, men’s golf, and women’s swimming and diving.
Barnhart has the second-longest tenure among current Power 5 athletic directors behind Oklahoma’s Joe Castiglione. He is currently on the Selection Committee for the College Football Playoff and served on the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament Committee for five years. He is one of only four people who have served on the football playoff committee and as chair of the men’s basketball tournament.
UK Athletics has placed in the top 20 of the NACDA Directors’ Cup national all-sports standings for the last six years, one of only 10 schools that have earned that distinction. The Directors’ Cup was established in 1993-94 and the best nine finishes in school history have been under Barnhart, all of which have come in the last 10 years. Kentucky’s highest finish in the Director’s Cup is ninth following the 2021-22 school year, a season that included a national championship in rifle, an NCAA Tournament runner-up slot by men’s tennis, and third-place national finishes by women’s indoor and outdoor track and field.
During Barnhart’s term, the Cats have also gotten it done in the classroom, meeting his department-wide 3.0 grade-point average goal in 22 consecutive semesters. Kentucky’s student-athletes have set records for graduation rates and maintained a perfect mark in the 19-year history of the NCAA Academic Progress Rate, making UK one of just two SEC schools never to incur an APR penalty.
UPDATED: Contract details, comments from Barnhart, Eli Capilouto
LEX18 just released the details of Barnhart’s new contract, along with comments from Barnhart and University of Kentucky President Eli Capilouto.
“We have, in my judgment, the nation’s best athletics director,” said Capilouto. “Continuing that leadership at such a critical juncture and ensuring ongoing stability amidst so much change is the right thing to do for UK Athletics. It’s the right thing to do for the University of Kentucky.”
“I am deeply appreciative of the faith in me expressed by President Capilouto and the university,” said Barnhart. “It is an honor to represent this university and state and to guide our athletics department through a period of such consequential change in college athletics.”
Barnhart’s base salary will not change, however, his retention incentives reflect changes of $100,000 in the first year with $50,000 increases in the two subsequent years. Interestingly, beginning July 1, 2026, Barnhart could elect to step down from the role of athletics director with six months’ notice. If he does so, he would assume the position of special assistant to the president for two years at a reduced salary of $800,000 annually.
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