The ball is in Mitch Barnhart's court as Kentucky sits in purgatory with Mark Stoops

One year ago, Louisville beat Kentucky 41-14 at Kroger Field to cap off the Cats’ 4-8 season, which ended the school’s eight-year bowl streak. Today, with bowl eligibility still on the line, Kentucky couldn’t even get on the scoreboard, losing to Louisville 41-0, the program’s worst loss in the history of the Governor’s Cup.

If you had any hope that Mark Stoops had turned the season around with the wins over Auburn and Florida, the losses to Vanderbilt and Louisville put that to bed. Today marked the first time in school history Kentucky has lost its last two games of the season by at least 28 points, a stat made even crueller by the fact that they came at the hands of teams the Cats had gotten used to beating, the ‘Dores and the ‘Cards. Vanderbilt is clearly legit, trouncing Tennessee to strengthen its case for the College Football Playoff. Louisville, on the other hand, isn’t even that good, which makes today’s loss especially troubling. The Cards shut the Cats out with a hobbled quarterback and zero scholarship running backs, despite committing nine penalties for 75 yards. Kentucky was just that bad.

If that’s not an indication enough that change needs to happen, I’m not sure what is. After Kentucky’s 4-8 campaign, Mitch Barnhart backed Mark Stoops, insisting that the 2024 season was a “one-year blip.” Although Kentucky finished with one more win this season, 5-7 feels worse. Unlike last year, the Cats had something to play for today. A win would have made them bowl eligible and pushed Stoops to the safe zone. The team would have had another month to practice, the program more time to market and raise money, and fans could take a trip to Charlotte, Memphis, Houston, or whatever C-level bowl destination the Cats would wind up with. I don’t think anyone would have been excited about the future if Kentucky had won today, but it would be better than the purgatory we’re stuck in right now.

That brings us to Mitch Barnhart. A win today would certainly have made life easier on him. There are rumblings that Barnhart, now 66 years old and in his 24th year at UK, is eyeing retirement. His contract allows him to step down and be a Special Assistant to the UK President as soon as July 2026, as long as he gives six months’ notice.

The tea leaves are there. Barnhart found John Calipari’s successor, Mark Pope (but only after Calipari bolted — more on that later). Women’s sports are thriving, with the most prominent in a newly renovated Memorial Coliseum. He helped usher Kentucky into the revenue-sharing era, overseeing the department’s move to Champions Blue LLC to allow more financial flexibility. The school also signed a long-term deal with JMI Sports that moves NIL in-house. The success of that partnership remains to be seen, but Barnhart had his ducks in a row until Mark Stoops’ team decided not to show up to the Governor’s Cup, leaving him and the university’s donors with a $37.5 million problem.

History suggests Barnhart will play it safe and punt, potentially making it someone else’s headache next year. That’s what he did with Calipari in 2024 after a similarly decisive result. Five days after Kentucky lost to Oakland, Barnhart confirmed Calipari would be back. The next day, he sat down with Calipari on BBN Tonight to talk it over. During the 30-minute painfully awkward chat, Barnhart talked about how the basketball team had “stubbed [its] toe” in March, but had a strong history of winning under Calipari, so Kentucky was going to stick with him. If Kentucky had decided to fire Calipari, it would have owed him a $35 million buyout. Thankfully, a week and a half later, John Tyson bailed Kentucky out by luring Calipari to Arkansas, taking the department off the hook.

I don’t think there will be a white horse for Kentucky this time around. Mark Stoops has done amazing things at Kentucky, becoming the winningest coach in program history, but times are changing, and Stoops is trending down. Kentucky overhauled its roster with 55 newcomers last offseason; that resulted in just one more win. The mood in the fanbase is as low as it’s been since the Joker Phillips era. In a time when the Vanderbilts and the Indianas of the world are surging, it feels like Kentucky is in quicksand, trying to fix problems with old methods or just pretending the problems don’t exist at all. If they continue the “no headlines” approach, it won’t matter because there won’t be any fans left to read them. Apathy is real, and will settle in more than ever if Kentucky stays the course.

It took five days for Barnhart to confirm that Calipari was returning to Kentucky. As the coaching carousel turns, he may not have that long to make a decision this time around. Candidates are coming off the board fast. Jon Sumrall, thought by many to be Stoops’ go-to successor, could be headed to Florida. Will Stein is another hot name. If Barnhart wants to make a change, he has to do it quickly. That’s never been his style, but with his legacy on the line, it’s the move he may have to make.

Kentucky fans making @UKMitchBarnhart well aware about their feelings as they leave Cardinal Stadium after an embarrassing 41-0 loss. pic.twitter.com/5ZMozL5cGs

— Janson Hoskins (@JZHoskins) November 29, 2025