Mitch Barnhart Pens Open Letter to Fans on NIL
The world of Name, Image and Likeness has consumed the climate around UK Athletics this week. After receiving a significant amount of criticism from a variety of corners around the Big Blue Nation, Mitch Barnhart penned an open letter to fans who are concerned about the Wildcats’ NIL efforts.
In the letter Kentucky’s athletic director shares support for student-athletes’ ability to make money using their name, image and likeness. It also shared multiple NIL organizations fans can use to become involved in the NIL process. The message is not so different than the response many concerned fans received from UK Athletics this week.
Barnhart’s NIL Message
In recent weeks and months, we have been moved once again by the Big Blue Nation’s passion for our great University, our athletics teams and especially by our fans’ fierce support of our student-athletes, who we put first in everything we do.
In this new era of college athletics where athletes can take advantage of their name, image and likeness (NIL), the landscape is constantly shifting. We wholeheartedly embrace our athletes’ ability to earn from their NIL and continue to do everything we can to empower them to succeed.
We remain committed to building and sustaining championship level programs, educating our student-athletes and competing at the highest level. Supporting our student-athletes however we can remains our top priority.
We are doing everything possible to help our athletes maximize their NIL opportunities. We are also proud of our fans and excited that so many have reached out asking what they can do to help.
We are excited to remind you of the many ways that you can contribute right now…
UK shared contact information for three different entities: Athlete Advantage, Charities for Kentucky and Commonwealth Causes. They also added a link to the BBNIL Exchange and plugged the K Fund for direct donations to UK Athletics.
“I hope that all of this information is helpful,” Barnhart said in closing. “Please feel free to visit ukathletics.com/nil if you have any additional questions.”
Vince Marrow: NIL isn’t causing decommitments
Last night NIL was once again a topic, this time on the Mark Stoops Show, which was moved due to a conflict with Monday night’s basketball game. After a couple of segments, Stoops tagged in his associate head coach that leads the Wildcats’ recruiting operations. Marrow made it clear that players, like running back Khalifa Keith, aren’t leaving Kentucky’s 2023 recruiting class because of NIL problems at the university.
“I just want to make this very clear — there’s nobody decommitting because of that,” Vince Marrow said. “I actually think Marc Hill, Mitch (Barnhart), our administration has been doing a really good job supporting us.
“If we lose a guy, sometimes it can be — we offered another kid and sometimes people don’t like competition. We got some good young talent coming in this weekend. We can’t say their names but their positions are where other people didn’t like what they seen. They’re coming in. I like where we’re going, I like the direction our administration gives us, the support they give us. I think Kentucky football is really going in the right direction, I really do.”
Vince Marrow cannot explicitly state names, but we can. Cincinnati Winton Woods running back Trey Cornist is one of a few official visitors Kentucky is hosting this weekend for the Vanderbilt game.
More Changes Coming
After sounding the alarm at the start of the week, KSR’s Matt Jones has received reassurances behind the scenes. Next week Jones expects to see some changes in the Wildcats’ world of NIL.
“By Monday, if not Tuesday, but probably Monday you’ll hear a huge push, including on this show, for a NIL situation that will involve fans,” Matt said on Thursday’s edition of KSR. “I think it’s going to be a really big deal for the school. We will look back at this week and say a lot of things changed.”
What exactly that is, we do not know for now. We do have one new NIL opportunity to share that can benefit UK’s student-athletes and give you a night out with two Kentucky football stars, Chris Rodriguez and Dane Key.
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