For those who insist Barnhart had nothing to do with hiring Cal, here are some reports to the contrary. I've asked this over and over, that one of you give me something - a newspaper account, a blogger, your Uncle Denny who eavesdropped, something, anything - to corroborate your story. Crickets. Here you go:
First, from a Tipton column on the process:
Barnhart and UK President Lee Todd will be the driving forces in the search for a coach to succeed Billy Gillispie, who was fired on Friday. Pratt sees himself as someone who can bring an insider’s basketball knowledge to the process.
“I’m not advocating anybody,” he said on Saturday. “I’m looking at the big picture for them.”
Pratt is willing to do whatever Barnhart and Todd feel can be of help — make a call, voice an opinion.
When UK looked for a coach two years ago, Barnhart used little outside input. Two trusted lieutenants from the UK Athletic Department and an outside search firm helped him hire Gillispie.
At this year’s Southeastern Conference Tournament, Barnhart noted the importance of learning and adjusting to life experiences. Pratt’s involvement sends the signal that the UK AD will practice what he preached by making the process less insular.
“I think Mitch is pretty prepared for this thing,” Pratt said. “Like all ADs, they all have short lists.”
Second, from Cal's press conference when he was hired, Cal confirms what Tipton says:
Q. You mentioned a little bit about what the last 48 hours were like for you. Could you walk us through the process when you first got involved with Kentucky, how it all played out from there.
COACH CALIPARI: Well, I got the call, Would I have an interest in this job? I said, I absolutely would have an interest. But I also said, If it takes a long time, I have no interest. If there's any doubt, I have no interest. But if you guys want to do this, I do have an interest because it would be a dream job for me. I got the call that Dr. Todd and Mitch wanted to meet with me on Monday, and I said no, we're going to have to meet earlier than that. We went through the process of having a meeting. Mike Pratt was there. Do you mind me telling? He was a former coach. I see him in the back. We had things in common in people that we worked with, had worked with Mike. From that meeting, it was, Call me, get back, then from there it went fast. With all did our due diligence. I did mine. I did mine.
From an interview Lee Todd gave at the 2011 final four:
“I know you’ve got some concerns about Cal,” Dr. Todd recalled Barnhart saying. “He’s going to be in a hotel for three hours in Chicago. I’ve got a plane lined up in Bardstown, Ky. Nobody will know we go. And we’re gonna go hire him.”
From an interview Cal gave when notified he'd made the Hall of Fame:
“I don't know,” he went on. “If Dr. (Lee) Todd and (UK athletic director) Mitch (Barnhart) didn't come to me and say, ‘Let's talk about this Kentucky job,' if this happens. If I'm not at Kentucky, I'm not sure it happens, maybe it does, I don't know.”
From Cal's speech at the Hall of Fame induction ceremony:
Then I received the call that all coaches wait for: Mitch Barnhart calls me from Kentucky. He calls and asks if I’m interested in their job, but he also said, “I want you to understand this is a different place.” And he was right.
Mitch, his wife, Connie, are here with the president at the time, Dr. Todd, and his wife, Patsy, are all here tonight. Let me thank them for placing their faith in me.
If Cal doesn't like Barnhart, he surely has a hard time showing it - giving him that much credit on arguably the biggest night of his life, as he's inducted into the HoF. You'll notice he didn't mention Pratt. Which is odd, considering how Pratt single-handedly engineered the whole thing!
It's pretty clear how this worked out, for anyone with an iota of common sense. Barnhart screwed up the BG hire by doing it himself. He heard that criticism, wanted to involve others, and trusted Pratt. Pratt was involved, making calls, acting as a go-between perhaps at first. Soon, though, Barnhart was the one who told Todd they should and would hire Cal, and made the call to Cal to ask if he was interested. Cal - read the above accounts - confirms this often. Again, I say, if Barnhart "hates Cal", if Cal "doesn't like Barnhart", if Cal has had Barnhart "removed from basketball operations", then all of the above quotes make no sense, and all of those quoted must be drunk or insane.
Some knucklehead somewhere, no doubt one who fancies himself important, heard that Pratt was involved, added 2+2 and got 5 and deduced that must mean the boosters have taken over and Barnhart was pushed aside and had nothing to do with the hire. Which is idiocy.
![[laughing]](http://l.yimg.com/j/assets/img/emoticons/classic/laugh.r191677.gif "Laughing [laughing]")
