Mitch Barnhart calls himself 'good learner' from Coach Cal divorce as pressure mounts for Mark Stoops

Will history repeat itself with a beloved Kentucky coach watching his time in Lexington come and go as fans beg for a fresh start, grateful for the memories but ready for change? Mitch Barnhart is confident he learned and grew from John Calipari‘s breakup with the Wildcats as pressure mounts for something similar with Mark Stoops midway through year 13 leading the football program.

Their overlaps are obvious. Both coaches were the faces of historic highs, Coach Cal going to four Final Fours in five years with a national championship in basketball and Stoops going to eight straight bowls with a pair of ten-win seasons in a four-year span as the school’s all-time winningest coach in football. Those highs led to lucrative salaries as top-ten-paid coaches in their respective sports with mind-blowing buyout numbers, $35M for Calipari following the Oakland loss in the 2024 NCAA Tournament and $38M for Stoops now.

Coach Cal bailed Kentucky out financially by leaving for Arkansas, but what will happen with Stoops, who is now 2-4 on the year with no home wins against Power 4 programs since 2023?

“I’d like to think I’m a good learner,” Barnhart told Jon Hale of the Herald-Leader when asked about the end of the Calipari era as it relates to Stoops now. “I’ve been doing it a while.”

Hale tried to get Barnhart to elaborate on specific lessons from that rollercoaster of an offseason — remember his sitdown with Calipari on BBN Tonight, followed by the Arkansas news just days later? — but the UK AD wouldn’t budge. He did, however, talk about the Mark Pope hire and how it lit a fire for Big Blue Nation, one still burning bright in the best way imaginable.

It was a polarizing decision at the time, but coming off a historic debut season with the Wildcats and entering year two with a top-ten team capable of cutting down the nets next April, I’d say Barnhart is pretty pleased about how things are going on the basketball side of things.

Fans are, too, obviously.

“You want energy around your program,” Barnhart said of Pope. “I think that there’s two ways you get energy: You create it yourself, or you create it in the passion, the wins of your program. … It is hard when you’re struggling to create it yourself. You got to go win some games. You got to win some things to create that energy.”

Stoops has not won the games with nine straight SEC losses and ten consecutive losses at Kroger Field against power conference teams. The energy was incredible with Texas in town for the first time, but again, BBN went home empty-handed. How much longer will seats be occupied with that time and money down the drain? And will that impact a potential change, whether it’s initiated by Barnhart or Stoops?

For the first time, the 13-year head coach’s tone shifted following the heartbreaking loss to the Longhorns, acknowledging the slipping approval rating. His message? Like him or don’t — and he understands if you fit in the latter category — keep on supporting the players.

“There’s always the frustration piece in it for me. I feel for our players, first and foremost,” Stoops said during his call-in show Monday evening. “Then I care for the whole state, our fans and the people — I said it postgame, but I’ll say it again: the atmosphere was fantastic. I understand how people may feel about me. That’s understandable and that’s warranted.

“I mean, I get it, but our players deserve that kind of atmosphere. And I appreciate it. They appreciate it, and they work very hard. So I really appreciate them.”

Will we see him take another job next year? Stoops is reportedly “being tossed around behind the scenes” at Virginia Tech, and you never know just how crazy the coaching carousel gets this offseason — it’s already nuts as is. If not that, will he simply resign with a negotiated buyout, stretched or cut? Or will Barnhart have to fire him outright, eating the $38M due within 60 days?

One way or another, Justin Rowland of Cats Illustrated reported Tuesday that it’s more likely than not Stoops is not coaching at Kentucky in 2026.

“I don’t want to say it’s a zero chance and get people excited or get people to think if something were to happen — I can say that it seems like Stoops is more willing to talk about it, but there’s a variable that, like, what if Kentucky is just thinking, ‘We don’t want to negotiate down to 25 million and even pay that’? That could be an open question,” Rowland told Alan Cutler. “I just have a hard time thinking that would be the case. I think it’s very likely they’ll have a new coach.”

Justin Rowland of Cats Illustrated on the odds Stoops is back next year on the @cutler1300 Show. Hear more now at https://t.co/W2yuFOoFtA… @RowlandRIVALS also wonderful guests Chip Rupp and @wounded_dogg Jeremy Caudill. @ESPNRadioLex pic.twitter.com/Z615XNsAL5

— alan cutler (@cutler1300) October 21, 2025