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If Mitch Barnhart didn't really hire Cal, who did?

~Keyser Soze~

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Jan 14, 2003
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I've seen this posted many times that Barnhart didnt hire Cal, wasnt involved in his hiring, or was forced to hire Cal. The thing is, no one can actually say who really hired Cal or forced Barnhart to. Can someone simply say who that person was so we can give them credit.

I thought that Barnhart recruited Mike Pratt and Scott Strickland to accompany he and Lee Todd to Chicago for the Cal interview and to convince Dr. Todd to allow the Calipari hiring but according to @morgousky that's wrong.
 
I always thought the story was they didn't want him the first go around after Tubby. Once the train wrecked and the dumpster fire started with Gillispie, I understood that UK essentially handed Cal the keys and said fix this...

Nothing would surprise me coming from a person with two first names.
 
Which sounds more plausible?

A) After Mitch hired BCG and it failed miserably that the University put together a team to help guide Mitch through the process so to speak.
or
B) Mitch Barnhart did the hiring process all by himself

This is a basketball university and we were a bad hire away from becoming irrelevant as IU. Thank God we did hire Cal. The other candidates back then were Izzo and Crean. Gross
 
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Which sounds more plausible?

A) After Mitch hired BCG and it failed miserably that the University put together a team to help guide Mitch through the process so to speak.
or
B) Mitch Barnhart did the hiring process all by himself

This is a basketball university and we were a bad hire away from becoming irrelevant as IU. Thank God we did hire Cal. The other candidates back then were Izzo and Crean. Gross
I hope and pray they make the right hire whenever Cal decides to leave. Whoever was in the loop on the Coach Cal hire then maybe they will have input again
 
Which sounds more plausible?

A) After Mitch hired BCG and it failed miserably that the University put together a team to help guide Mitch through the process so to speak.
or
B) Mitch Barnhart did the hiring process all by himself

This is a basketball university and we were a bad hire away from becoming irrelevant as IU. Thank God we did hire Cal. The other candidates back then were Izzo and Crean. Gross
No one has ever said Mitch did the hiring all by him self. All have said he used Pratt and Strickland to help convince Dr. Todd.
 
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I've seen this posted many times that Barnhart didnt hire Cal, wasnt involved in his hiring, or was forced to hire Cal. The thing is, no one can actually say who really hired Cal or forced Barnhart to. Can someone simply say who that person was so we can give them credit.

I thought that Barnhart recruited Mike Pratt and Scott Strickland to accompany he and Lee Todd to Chicago for the Cal interview and to convince Dr. Todd to allow the Calipari hiring but according to @morgousky that's wrong.

I have always heard the story morgousky is telling to be correct. Mike Pratt was very involved in getting Cal to UK.
 
Why are you so obsessed with Morg?
One fake insider looking out for another fake insider, too funny. Why cant you stick to the subject of the post? Oh, because your fake insider brother got busted lying and none of you can answer a simple question about yalls claims.
 
What my inside sources have told me is that after Tubby, a group of Kentucky heavyweights led by Mike Pratt demanded Mitch hire Billy Clyde Gillespie, but after Year Two of BCG, Mitch stepped up and overrode everyone demanding more time and hired Cal, who was his first choice.
 
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Bro, you gotta be a man and stop being a Morgousky lap dog. You got any thoughts on the subject or did you just want to defend your daddy's honor?


Just calling a spade a spade my friend. You’re absolutely ate up with him and it’s super weird. You’ve devoted an entire thread to just him. Again, relax.

Please be well.
 
A unicorn picked Cal in 1 of the 7 stages of the whirly twirly candy cane forest, but keep it between us.
 
Just calling a spade a spade my friend. You’re absolutely ate up with him and it’s super weird. You’ve devoted an entire thread to just him. Again, relax.

Please be well.
Are you really that dumb? The entire thread is devoted to who really hired Cal. You're just obsessed with your man crush, you saw his name and got triggered.

You got anything on the topic?
 
This was told to me by a person who should have known since he was at the time one of if not the largest donors to the University of Kentucky and sat on every board and was president of some. He said during the BCG second year, the boys with the deep pockets were extremely unhappy and embarrassed with the state of the basketball team. They called a meeting with Mitch and Lee Todd. They told those two if the university wanted to keep counting on their contributions each year this situation was going to change and very soon. They all liked Mike Pratt and valued his experience and opinion very much . The statement he said was made in the meeting is were going to get us a basketball man to get us a basketball coach since you two failed miserably , so Mike Pratt was brought in the loop supposedly with a phone call about 10:30 one night . Pratt really liked Cal, and had talked to people who were associated with him, but he never talked to Cal directly. He put out the information that Kentucky would be having a coaching change , word came back from Cal's people he would be very interested and the rest as they say is history. You don't have to believe one word of this if you don't want to ,but the man who told me this was as I said well respected and on the board. He has since passed away, but his endowments to the collage has and continue to build many things at UK.
 
Oh it's been discussed a million times, it's been answered zero. Instead of whining about this thread, maybe click on one of the fresh new offseason threads.

It has been answered many times by the people who have a different opinion than yours. It was already answered (again) in one of the first responses to this thread. It's just not the answer you agree with or want to hear.

And I'm not a Barnes basher either in saying that. He's done a fantastic job overall as UK's AD. I just don't understand why this topic needs to be rehashed over and over again a decade after the fact when neither side is ever going to agree.
 
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I've seen this posted many times that Barnhart didnt hire Cal, wasnt involved in his hiring, or was forced to hire Cal. The thing is, no one can actually say who really hired Cal or forced Barnhart to. Can someone simply say who that person was so we can give them credit.

I thought that Barnhart recruited Mike Pratt and Scott Strickland to accompany he and Lee Todd to Chicago for the Cal interview and to convince Dr. Todd to allow the Calipari hiring but according to @morgousky that's wrong.
Old stuff. I want to find out about the LOI Mcdaniels signed with UK first.:stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:
 
It has been answered many times by the people who have a different opinions than yours. It was already answered (again) in one of the first responses to this thread. It's just not the answer you agree with or want to hear.

And I'm not a Barnes basher either in saying that. He's done a fantastic job overall as UK's AD. I just don't understand why this topic needs to be rehashed over and over again a decade after the fact when neither side is ever going to agree.
Oh I'm sorry, I must have missed the name of the person who really hired Cal. Could you simply just say the name since I apparently can't read.
 
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I have always heard the story morgousky is telling to be correct. Mike Pratt was very involved in getting Cal to UK.
But Mike Pratt tells a different story. Are you saying he is telling lies? His story says MB put together a group including himself to persuade Lee Todd to consider hiring Cal. Lee Todd himself tells the same story. Are all these people telling lies? Why would they do that and what real proof do we have they are other than internet gossip?
 
But Mike Pratt tells a different story. Are you saying he is telling lies? His story says MB put together a group including himself to persuade Lee Todd to consider hiring Cal. Lee Todd himself tells the same story. Are all these people telling lies? Why would they do that and what real proof do we have they are other than internet gossip?

The key word in what I said was " heard" . What I heard may not have been right but you need to have a little better reading composition when you read a paragraph.
 
I am close friends with an ex-UK player (from the Rupp days). Vacation with him/wife, etc.

I asked him about Cal's hiring a few years ago (when people were suggesting Mitch had to be forced to hire Cal).

He said he did not know if that was or was not true. That is my Insider contribution. :sunglasses:
 
But Mike Pratt tells a different story. Are you saying he is telling lies? His story says MB put together a group including himself to persuade Lee Todd to consider hiring Cal. Lee Todd himself tells the same story. Are all these people telling lies? Why would they do that and what real proof do we have they are other than internet gossip?

This. No single person made that hire. Barnhart as AD had oversight. After the BCG fiasco no single person was on the line for this.
 
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