A couple weeks ago, SportsbyBrooks reported that our very own Mitch Barnhart was a candidate for the Kansas AD job. The report said Barnhart was one of three finalists for the job and he would interview for the position in early December. Barnhart immediately denied having any contact with Kansas in this
heartfelt statement and followed it up with a series of
UK lovin' tweets.
Well, today, SportsbyBrooks is back on the Barnhart-to-Kansas trail and he's saying
Kansas has given up on Barnhart because the UK AD wants to be hired without an interview:
After my report, Barnhart released a statement that included, “I have not been formally contacted by the University of Kansas. I am 100 percent focused on UK Athletics.”
From what I was told today by a source, Barnhart won’t have to worry about Kansas distracting him any longer.
Because of my report, Barnhart subsequently communicated to those associated with the search for the new Kansas AD that he was still interested in the job, but that he couldn’t interview in order to keep up appearances in Lexington.
In other words, if KU wanted Barnhart, it would have to hire him without an interview.
That didn’t go over so well in Lawrence, so Barnhart is no longer a candidate for the job.
Now Mitch can be 100% focused on UK Athletics, like he said he was two weeks ago. But we'll be keeping an eye on him.
I'll hang up and listen.
Discuss This Article
Comments have moved.
Join the conversation and talk about this article and all things Kentucky Sports in the new KSR Message Board.
KSBoard