Big $$$ Raise for Barnhart

[ok-cats-computer]

Mitch got a contract extension and raise going up to $925,000.00 per year. At a time when UK is going through layoffs for teachers while tuition is being raised, that is a bold raise for Barnhart. Considering the poor performance of the football team under Mitch's guidance, I'm surprised that he got such a massive raise. I don't think the AD at most SEC schools could survive such a bad result in football.

 

[andreIGUODOLLAsigns4UK]

Haven't you heard? Stoops is the man for the job and he's the man that's gonna turn this damn thing around. I mean. You did see the magnificent in game coaching last season didn't you? Clock management was executed with perfection. Now that we have talent coming in all this great coaching is going to come to fruition and we're gonna win big. I see at least 7 most likely 8 wins this season. STOOPS FOR PRESIDENT!

 

[SpamburgerHamburger]

He deserves it. He's a great AD and we're lucky to have him. Anyone bashing Barnhart is just silly, close minded and doesn't really understand what a good AD is. Not every hire is going to be a home run. Not every sport is going to be great every year. It's the body of work as a whole. And Barnhart is deserving of any extension or raise he's given.

 

[TACcat7]

Tell me what Mitch's body of work is? Doesn't look great to me. Football is still struggling. Baseball is horrendous. Women's basketball will faulter mightily under the hands of Mitchell. Barnhart is not a great AD. He's average at best and making way too much money. Jurich, is what a great AD looks like.

 

[andreIGUODOLLAsigns4UK]

Tell me what Mitch's body of work is? Doesn't look great to me. Football is still struggling. Baseball is horrendous. Women's basketball will faulter mightily under the hands of Mitchell. Barnhart is not a great AD. He's average at best and making way too much money. Jurich, is what a great AD looks like.

You had me til you said jurich. Jurich is a terrible AD who makes very unethical hires and keeps very unethical coaches around after multiple sex scandals because pitino 'didn't know about it' yet everyone with half a brain knows he knew and let's say he didn't it still happened under his watch so he should still be held accountable, he did hire McGee after all. But the fact remains no way he didn't know. Jurich is the worst AD. MB is definitely not good. He fails at football, fails at baseball, women's BB is starting to fail and BB he needed big time help to make the hire. Without John Calipari Mitch is trash. Mitch owes Coach Cal his life practically. But in no way is he near as bad as Jurich. MB is pretty bad. But he didn't hire Petrino when he had the chance, had he hired Petrino I do feel our FB program would be in much better shape, he's a way better coach than stoops. The man can and does coach circles around stoops, but he didn't make the hire because he felt it would be unethical. Which I give credit for. Had what happened to Pitino happened to cal. I promise he would fire cal under the same circumstances and not think twice about, he probably would've fired him after the sypher ordeal in which the McGee ordeal would've never happened. MB has morals, Jurich doesnt know what morals is. Huge difference. Counts for a lot.

 

[bryan211999]

That's disappointing

 

[sambowieshin]

Not seeing it. Other than men's basketball and the rifle team....UKs major sports programs are nothing to brag about.

 

[Shavers48]

Mitch got a contract extension and raise going up to $925,000.00 per year. At a time when UK is going through layoffs for teachers while tuition is being raised, that is a bold raise for Barnhart. Considering the poor performance of the football team under Mitch's guidance, I'm surprised that he got such a massive raise. I don't think the AD at most SEC schools could survive such a bad result in football.

school must have used same formula that said Stoops deserved an extension. Unreal....biggest bust ever.

 

[Shavers48]

You had me til you said jurich. Jurich is a terrible AD who makes very unethical hires and keeps very unethical coaches around after multiple sex scandals because pitino 'didn't know about it' yet everyone with half a brain knows he knew and let's say he didn't it still happened under his watch so he should still be held accountable, he did hire McGee after all. But the fact remains no way he didn't know. Jurich is the worst AD. MB is definitely not good. He fails at football, fails at baseball, women's BB is starting to fail and BB he needed big time help to make the hire. Without John Calipari Mitch is trash. Mitch owes Coach Cal his life practically. But in no way is he near as bad as Jurich. MB is pretty bad. But he didn't hire Petrino when he had the chance, had he hired Petrino I do feel our FB program would be in much better shape, he's a way better coach than stoops. The man can and does coach circles around stoops, but he didn't make the hire because he felt it would be unethical. Which I give credit for. Had what happened to Pitino happened to cal. I promise he would fire cal under the same circumstances and not think twice about, he probably would've fired him after the sypher ordeal in which the McGee ordeal would've never happened. MB has morals, Jurich doesnt know what morals is. Huge difference. Counts for a lot.[/QUOTE

Mitch hired Billy Clyde, which was just as ethically questionable as Petrino. only his performance was so bad he didn't last anywhere near as long. The football team excels at nothing but arrests right now, far more than U of L's. I wouldn't cast stones at Jurich. Especially with the performance circles he's made around Barney.

 

[optimus-blue]

Mitch Barnhart equals no improvement in football

 

[qwesley]

He should send a very nice thank you note to Mike Slive.

 

[etowncatfan]

I have to disagree with most of you. Mitch Barnhart is a good and solid AD. He has done lots to improve the quality of Athletics at The University of Kentucky. First he has gotten away from the good ole boy network that thought the only sport was Basketball on campus. I think you will have a hard time arguing that across the board all the Sports at UK and their Facilities have GREATLY improved under his tenure.

 

[vhcat70]

Mitch got a contract extension and raise going up to $925,000.00 per year. At a time when UK is going through layoffs for teachers while tuition is being raised, that is a bold raise for Barnhart.

UK Athletics doesn't fund salaries or contribute to general operating expenses, just builds science building.

 

[kats23]

He's a good AD but very pedestrian when it comes to coaching hires. I would of least waited till the end of football season to see how Stoops is working out before extending Barnhardt. UK has a lot of good non revenue programs but they always seem to have problems getting over the top. Woman's BBall and Baseball are just a couple examples. If Stoops flops, there is no way I want him in charge of another football hire.

That rifle team is something though I hear

 

[shutzhund]

He deserves it. He's a great AD and we're lucky to have him. Anyone bashing Barnhart is just silly, close minded and doesn't really understand what a good AD is. Not every hire is going to be a home run. Not every sport is going to be great every year. It's the body of work as a whole. And Barnhart is deserving of any extension or raise he's given.

Sarcasm? If so very clever. For a moment I thought you were sincere.

 

[ukalumni00]

He has done a great job in several areas, but the overall results of the football program is not one of them. I am not saying he deserves it or not, but I do know there are several SEC programs that would have fired him already because of the football program's poor results. He has a real chance to amend a lot of miscues with the program if Stoops can turn this around, but if he does not its going to be a very tough deal for both Mitch and UK to face because I am convinced if Stoops fails there is a large portion of this fanbase that will give up on the program all together. JMO, I think UK jumped the gun on this extension. I would have waited to see how Stoops does the next few seasons before making any determination.

 

[UPSCat4080]

Tell me what Mitch's body of work is? Doesn't look great to me. Football is still struggling. Baseball is horrendous. Women's basketball will faulter mightily under the hands of Mitchell. Barnhart is not a great AD. He's average at best and making way too much money. Jurich, is what a great AD looks like.

Women's basketball has been on a historic run for UK. Mitchell is the only reason UK women's basketball has turned into a household name in the game. STFU if you don't know what you are talking about.

 

[TACcat7]

Yeah, historic run and didn't make a final four. Lost a ridiculous amount of players and coaches. Anything else maestro?

 

[sluggercatfan]

You had me til you said jurich. Jurich is a terrible AD who makes very unethical hires and keeps very unethical coaches around after multiple sex scandals because pitino 'didn't know about it' yet everyone with half a brain knows he knew and let's say he didn't it still happened under his watch so he should still be held accountable, he did hire McGee after all. But the fact remains no way he didn't know. Jurich is the worst AD. MB is definitely not good. He fails at football, fails at baseball, women's BB is starting to fail and BB he needed big time help to make the hire. Without John Calipari Mitch is trash. Mitch owes Coach Cal his life practically. But in no way is he near as bad as Jurich. MB is pretty bad. But he didn't hire Petrino when he had the chance, had he hired Petrino I do feel our FB program would be in much better shape, he's a way better coach than stoops. The man can and does coach circles around stoops, but he didn't make the hire because he felt it would be unethical. Which I give credit for. Had what happened to Pitino happened to cal. I promise he would fire cal under the same circumstances and not think twice about, he probably would've fired him after the sypher ordeal in which the McGee ordeal would've never happened. MB has morals, Jurich doesnt know what morals is. Huge difference. Counts for a lot.

At Otis it is win baby win!!...that is an ads job, right? Football, women's bb, football, basketball ago have had success...

 

[~Keyser Soze~]

Tell me what Mitch's body of work is? Doesn't look great to me. Football is still struggling. Baseball is horrendous. Women's basketball will faulter mightily under the hands of Mitchell. Barnhart is not a great AD. He's average at best and making way too much money. Jurich, is what a great AD looks like.

Football is struggling as much as it ever has but at least now it has the infrastructure to compete. Baseball is horrendous as its ever been. Women basketball is better than its ever been, I guess you can wait and cross your fingers and hope it falters for your agendas sake. Men's basketball is great, softball is a top 25 program and is better than its ever been, same for track and field. Volleyball and soccer are strong. Mitch Barnhart has done a great job.

 

[ok-cats-computer]

I can't believe anyone thinks that the women's basketball program is good right now. It has been badly mismanaged. It can be fixed, but that program has some serious problems.

 

[PrinceUK21]

I can't believe anyone could womens basketball against Mitch. UK was always horrible at womens basketball in the 50+ years prior to his hire.

Over the least 5+ years the program has consistently been in the top 15 and has made several good runs in the tourney,

You can use other things against Mitch, but give me a break if you want to use women's basketball.

 

[PushupMan]

I'd give him points for hiring Brooks, but then take them away for hiring Joker. We don't yet know whether Stoops is a plus or a minus. Points for Calipari, making up for the points lost by hiring BCG. Mitchell is a plus (can't say otherwise until we see the results over the next couple of years), Baseball coaching choice was a minus.

He's gone out and made some changes to the football stadium that will help in the long run. Plus, the athletic department has seen an unprecedented infusion of revenue due to the SEC TV contracts. All of the AD's and Presidents at each SEC school play a part in making that happen.

That last part may be the most important reason of all why he's deserving of a raise.

 

[KumarCat]

MB is a good guy but a very average AD. Facility upgrades in the two major sports have been decent not great. Fund raising has been better since Stoops but still average at best. Prices on tickets have skyrocketed with very little extra return for fans. Hiring coaches is the most over-rated thing an AD does. All ADs hire good and bad coaches. The problem is politicking and fund raising. That's where you see an ADs value and I hate to tell you guys but Jurich DESTROYS MB in that department. He's not a terrible AD but he's very mediocre at his job.

 

[JumperJack]

Free microwave if you buy season football tix this year.

 

[Cat06]

He has done an outstanding job of diverting revenue from football to build state of the art softball and soccer stadiums. How has that worked out for the football team?

That is the very definition of Killing the Goose that laid the Golden egg.

 

[Robcatt24]

I met Barnhart once. He shook my hand and thanked me for my support.

He's A-OK in my book.

 

[PushupMan]

He has done an outstanding job of diverting revenue from football to build state of the art softball and soccer stadiums. How has that worked out for the football team?

That is the very definition of Killing the Goose that laid the Golden egg.

Barnhardt's not alone in that area, by a long shot. Take a look at the revenue and expenses of just about every other P5 athletic department in the country, and you will see those programs doing exactly the same thing.

http://ope.ed.gov/athletics/#/

The UK athletic department has more than enough money to field a championship level football team. The plain fact of the matter is that for too long, UK fans only demanded a winner in basketball. It's the reason why Adolph Rupp stayed while Bear Bryant left.....

Just my opinion (as always), but I think the UK-UofL football series helps to "set the bar" for the minimum level of football success that UK fans will tolerate. For far too long, UK football fans were willing to accept a lot of losses in the SEC, because it is year-in and year-out the best college football conference in America. UK fans won't accept losing to UofL, however (regardless of the sport). If the UK coach and AD aren't doing everything they can to beat UofL on the football field, then UK fans will demand improvement - that's the bottom line.

Barnhardt had better get a head coach who can win that game more often than not - or he's going to continue to get a ton of criticism.

 

[Shavers48]

Barnhardt's not alone in that area, by a long shot. Take a look at the revenue and expenses of just about every other P5 athletic department in the country, and you will see those programs doing exactly the same thing.

http://ope.ed.gov/athletics/#/

The UK athletic department has more than enough money to field a championship level football team. The plain fact of the matter is that for too long, UK fans only demanded a winner in basketball. It's the reason why Adolph Rupp stayed while Bear Bryant left.....

Just my opinion (as always), but I think the UK-UofL football series helps to "set the bar" for the minimum level of football success that UK fans will tolerate. For far too long, UK football fans were willing to accept a lot of losses in the SEC, because it is year-in and year-out the best college football conference in America. UK fans won't accept losing to UofL, however (regardless of the sport). If the UK coach and AD aren't doing everything they can to beat UofL on the football field, then UK fans will demand improvement - that's the bottom line.

Barnhardt had better get a head coach who can win that game more often than not - or he's going to continue to get a ton of criticism.

unfortunately UL kept raising their bar and UK left its in the same place.

 

[PushupMan]

Just as an example (from the website I linked):

UK football revenues (2014-15): $35 million. Expenses: $19 million.
Mississippi State football revenues (2014-15): $31 million. Expenses: $17 million.
Illinois football revenues (2014-15): $31 million. Expenses: $18 million.
Oregon State football revenues (2014-15): $31 million. Expenses: $15 million.
Louisville football revenues (2014-15): $36 million. Expenses: $18 million.

 

[bthaunert]

He has done an outstanding job of diverting revenue from football to build state of the art softball and soccer stadiums. How has that worked out for the football team?

That is the very definition of Killing the Goose that laid the Golden egg.

EVERY school does that unless you have major donors willing to put money into smaller, non-revenue sports. How do you think every other school in the SEC have great softball stadiums....football revenue.

 

[ukalum1988]

Looks like Eli and the BOT are all in with MB. I certainly don't think MB is a water-walker, but he's done an ok job as UK AD. Not sure an extension to 2022 was absolutely necessary, but what's done is done.

I don't know how long Cal is gonna coach BB and I certainly hope Stoops can continue to improve the FB program. Not sure if I want MB having to make another major coaching hire.

 

[ulismyman]

Cant blame Mitch for football...Jesus Christ could be the coach and we would be 7-5..Barnhart is a good man

 

[SituationBlue]

Good for Mitch. He's been around for a while and made several upgrades to the facilities that I think we all agree were much needed. His overall performance as an AD, however, is debatable. I see some good, I recall some bad.

Men's basketball is as good as I've seen it and I think many would agree. Hiring Calipari is probably Mitch's best move thus far. I don't fault him much for BCG, he was the hot commodity at the time and worth the hire IMO. Though it turned into a disaster, I commend Mitch for pulling the trigger and getting rid of him as quick as he did. I know there are stories that Mitch was essentially forced to hire Calipari the second time around, but however it happened he did and it's turned out pretty well by any standard.

Women's basketball - Forgive me, but I'm not sure I care all that much. It wasn't good before, it's been better lately, they haven't exactly torn it up in the tournament, they've gotten better players and everyone seems mildly interested in the program now, it has since seemed to fall apart, who knows what happens from here on out. The biggest thing that sticks out to me here is the contract that Matt Mitchell received. Frankly, he's paid way too much. I do like Mitchell and he's donated a lot of his paycheck back to the athletic department so maybe it's a wash, but I can't find a metric that demonstrates he's deserving of that salary. Maybe I'm wrong.

Football - We'll see. The facilities are no-doubt nicer, not that we haven't been waiting for that to happen for forever. Stoop's performance on the field thus far is nothing to brag about and the fan base is growing impatient once again. It appears that this is going to be a make-or-break year for him by looking at how many are jumping ship on ticket sales. I think Mitch made a good hire with Stoops considering the options and say what you want about his contract extension but I have no idea who the program would turn to if we cut Stoops loose. Now, IMO, the hiring of Joker Phillips as HC is the biggest gaffe of Mitch Barnhart's tenure to date. I seriously have no idea what he was thinking. At the time that he was announced to be the coach-in-waiting, I thought it was a poor move. The only thing Joker had to hang his hat on was that he was perceived to be a recruiting guy. I'm not sure how anyone could justify that reputation, the recruiting then was poor and got worse when he took over as HC. His calls as OC were questionable at best (RB draw anyone?) and by becoming the CIW years before he took over eliminated any potential run at an outsider that could build off of Brook's momentum. Instead, we got three years of FCS level recruiting and play, lost all momentum from the previous years, and an AD reluctant to fire Joker to the very end. The "Microwave fan" comments and the letter to the fans after the win vs. Tennessee were poor judgement and reprehensible by Mitch. If Stoops wins this year and years to come all can be forgotten here. But, like I said, we'll see.

Baseball - This one's a head scratcher. I really don't know why the program isn't better. I believe that there is plenty of talent in the state and surrounding areas to field a competitive team. We should be embarrassed that Louisville is as good as they are and we're consistently terrible. Baseball is not a sport where you have to take chances on players with questionable character like UofL football does so no excuse there. I'm not even sure SEC vs. ACC baseball is all that different either. Simply, Louisville has gotten it done and UK hasn't. Mitch held on to Henderson too long. I don't know much about the new hire so I won't comment on him. The stadium needs to be redone badly so this would be a step in the right direction. I've heard that their hands are tied by having to go through the state to get funding, but my opinion is that if Mitch is the AD he needs to get it done, one way or another.

Track - This is probably going to be a hard program to turn around. Recruiting is the biggest factor of success in track and field, even compared to other sports, and I'm not sure this state can provide. The women's team did well this year so any successes either team has should warrant a tip of the cap.

Other sports - I don't know, I've heard Rifle is good.. +1 for Mitch, I guess.

Barnhart has done some good stuff. There hasn't been any major infractions and the athletes seem to do well in the classroom. I like the facility upgrades. A lot of his job is hiring somebody and hoping for the best so you can't fault him for everything. But, I might add, who couldn't do all of that (I suppose that's true for many CEO's). I tend to look at whether he does a good job selling the program, getting big donors to fund raisers and then getting them to open the checkbook. I'm not behind the scenes so I don't know how well he's done there, Joe Craft has given a lot, I'm not sure who else. Sometimes it seems that if it weren't for the men's basketball team the school's athletic prowess would be questionable at best. Perception might be reality. Congrats to Mitch on the contract extension.

 

[ulismyman]

Cant read all that

 

[SanAntonioCat]

Barnhardt's not alone in that area, by a long shot. Take a look at the revenue and expenses of just about every other P5 athletic department in the country, and you will see those programs doing exactly the same thing.

http://ope.ed.gov/athletics/#/

The UK athletic department has more than enough money to field a championship level football team. The plain fact of the matter is that for too long, UK fans only demanded a winner in basketball. It's the reason why Adolph Rupp stayed while Bear Bryant left.....

Just my opinion (as always), but I think the UK-UofL football series helps to "set the bar" for the minimum level of football success that UK fans will tolerate. For far too long, UK football fans were willing to accept a lot of losses in the SEC, because it is year-in and year-out the best college football conference in America. UK fans won't accept losing to UofL, however (regardless of the sport). If the UK coach and AD aren't doing everything they can to beat UofL on the football field, then UK fans will demand improvement - that's the bottom line.

Barnhardt had better get a head coach who can win that game more often than not - or he's going to continue to get a ton of criticism.

Really? The "ton" of criticism on this board doesn't amount to be .0000001 % of the total fan base. However, you have your right to express yourself. If anyone outside those few like you who blather on about the negative pat yourself on the back....and fill that glass again.

 

[Cat06]

Just as an example (from the website I linked):

UK football revenues (2014-15): $35 million. Expenses: $19 million.
Mississippi State football revenues (2014-15): $31 million. Expenses: $17 million.
Illinois football revenues (2014-15): $31 million. Expenses: $18 million.
Oregon State football revenues (2014-15): $31 million. Expenses: $15 million.
Louisville football revenues (2014-15): $36 million. Expenses: $18 million.

I would love to see those statistics from say 2000 to 2013. Those are the years we were ranking high nationally in football attendance, yet it certainly seemed the investment was not going back into football. I think we can all agree that 14,000 paying fans showing up for the Vanderbilt game before Jocker was removed was a slap UK needed to open the purse strings for football, but in my opinion it was too late.

 

[ULoverUK]

You had me til you said jurich. Jurich is a terrible AD who makes very unethical hires and keeps very unethical coaches around after multiple sex scandals because pitino 'didn't know about it' yet everyone with half a brain knows he knew and let's say he didn't it still happened under his watch so he should still be held accountable, he did hire McGee after all. But the fact remains no way he didn't know. Jurich is the worst AD. MB is definitely not good. He fails at football, fails at baseball, women's BB is starting to fail and BB he needed big time help to make the hire. Without John Calipari Mitch is trash. Mitch owes Coach Cal his life practically. But in no way is he near as bad as Jurich. MB is pretty bad. But he didn't hire Petrino when he had the chance, had he hired Petrino I do feel our FB program would be in much better shape, he's a way better coach than stoops. The man can and does coach circles around stoops, but he didn't make the hire because he felt it would be unethical. Which I give credit for. Had what happened to Pitino happened to cal. I promise he would fire cal under the same circumstances and not think twice about, he probably would've fired him after the sypher ordeal in which the McGee ordeal would've never happened. MB has morals, Jurich doesnt know what morals is. Huge difference. Counts for a lot.

Don't let fandom get in your way there Andre http://www.sportsonearth.com/article/152470378/ncaa-best-athletic-directors-rankings

 

[Mike237]

Tell me what Mitch's body of work is? Doesn't look great to me. Football is still struggling. Baseball is horrendous. Women's basketball will faulter mightily under the hands of Mitchell. Barnhart is not a great AD. He's average at best and making way too much money. Jurich, is what a great AD looks like.

Jurich is a win at all cost A.D. I rather lose than win the way Jurich does! Pitino and Petrino are two pieces of work! McDonnell is the only coach at Louisville (of the major sports) that is worthy. Don't know anything about the minor sports at Louisville!

 

[ulismyman]

How can any person with average intellect not look at Jurich and scream...crook...surely all can see that