JMI

nash78

Junior
Apr 12, 2024
123
286
63
I admit ignorance on this JMI deal. I hear people talking about how it has killed our recruiting. Can someone break down why this deal is bad for us, and how/why it may be affecting recruiting so negatively?
 

Ukwazoo3

All-Conference
Jul 6, 2025
663
1,423
93
Brooks and Stein are flourishing with it.
From what I've read, football is a little different deal. And women's basketball isn't as affected by these NIL restrictions. But, you'd think by now agents know the JMI deal and their clients still fly out to Lexington only to reject Pope.

I'd love to know all that's going on. 🤷‍♂️
 

TFCat11

Heisman
Mar 25, 2019
5,997
10,801
108
JMI is just another smokescreen, to cover for the fact that UK’s relatively few big $$$ donors don’t want to/ can’t keep pumping millions of dollars into NIL for the revenue generating sports, plus buyouts for coaches like Stoops etc., year after year, especially considering, they are getting nothing in return on investment, except 3-6 win football seasons, and 12-14 loss basketball seasons!

I mean honestly, would any of us want to bankroll two total clown shows like UK currently has?
 

nash78

Junior
Apr 12, 2024
123
286
63
So what I'm hearing is that JMI is the scapegoat. Is there any legitimacy to that the JMI deal might be hamstringing us?
 

nash78

Junior
Apr 12, 2024
123
286
63
Another Pope trashing thread.
Not my intention - I'm genuinely ignorant about JMI. Would love to understand the details and started doing some of my own investigation because this board isn't super helpful lol
 

CatPatrick13

All-Conference
Sep 17, 2015
3,213
4,381
113
Rock bottom will be when JMI begins the critique of Pope, stating it’s all his fault. Wait for it. It’s coming.
 

nash78

Junior
Apr 12, 2024
123
286
63
This helped me a bit in understanding how JMI affects recruiting:
FactorKentuckyRivals (e.g. Kansas)
Total moneyEliteElite
FlexibilityLowerHigher
SpeedSlowerFaster
Negotiation styleControlledCompetitive
Agent comfortMixedHigh
 

Wildcat_53

Freshman
Apr 1, 2026
21
63
12
Not my intention - I'm genuinely ignorant about JMI. Would love to understand the details and started doing some of my own investigation because this board isn't super helpful lol
The best I've been able to gather is that JMI requires our players to pick between only using NIL opportunities negotiated through JMI or doing it all on their own (or through their own agents). I don't remember if there's some kind of process where they can get JMI approval for outside NIL deals if they've accepted the JMI deal.

I don't think it necessarily should be that big of a deal, but no one else is doing NIL like this yet and I don't think the full details have ever been properly explained. Which is why I don't even know if I have the full details explained here. But the deal was structured this way because Barnhart was betting on Congress passing some law last year that basically would've made every school operate this way. But in true Mitch fashion, that ended up not happening and now we may be stuck in a bad contract with JMI.
 

UKGrad24

All-American
Apr 2, 2024
2,918
7,127
100
Brooks and Stein are flourishing with it.
football is way different. This doesn’t affect a lot of players outside the top tier. We are going for top tier guys in basketball. I would love to hear JMI is not an issue but they are in basketball. Not to mention basketball is majority NIL football is a different pie cutout. It’s a lot of revenue share.

JMI is a problem, and it has to be addressed moving forward. But our problems are mark pope as the central issue. I don’t know why people don’t understand this.

Barnhart wanted 2 more years. Then he wanted to move into the made up seat. He needed a coach who he thought he could control, have his access to finish, and be good enough to get by a few years until he moved over. By the time it went south and the JMI deal was either exposed or fixed by congress, he would just about be out the door completely and he’d hand it off. This has gone south much faster than anticipated.

Mark is NOT A GOOD COACH again he’s got a TWELVE YEAR record that PROVES IT. This isn’t a new coach. He’s a low-mid tier level guy who western would NOT have hired. So many of these fans have been gaslit to the extreme. Barnhart thought the job would elevate Mark and it can’t because of NIL JMI and how awful Mark is as a coach. He’s all risk and no leverage. It will never work and it was never goin g to.
 

MidseasonTweak

Heisman
Mar 1, 2020
9,694
15,781
113
At some point Pope cannot be this bad of a recruiter to strikeout on every option due to our money and minutes avaliable. It logically points towards JMI. The kids read the details and then dip because no other school does this.
 

Tri-Countycat

All-Conference
Jul 1, 2025
1,582
3,746
113
It was the BYU honor code
Then it was he only had 6 weeks
Then it was No GM
Now it's JMI

🤔
Don’t forget injuries, assistant coaches bailing on him, and I’m trying to think of the other excuses. The time for excuses has come and gone, there is one common theme and it has to be dealt with.
 
Mar 4, 2025
416
920
93
Grade school summation of how JMI hurts us in Basketball from what I've seen and heard.

- UK does not have an outside collective so EVERYTHING related to NIL goes through JMI, even others schools who use JMI kept their outside collective. This means you HAVE to do your deals inside the companies within BBNIL Suite. (If you sign with JMI. You can choose not to and go get your own, but there are hurdles of logo and licensing and anything UK related that JMI also controls).
- We have unique merchandizing where players can profit off sales of their likeness (jersey's, hats, bobble heads, things like that). Essentially you as the player CAN make more money than the initial offer. That is why you will see ranges offered (ie $3-$4 million) instead of we offered him $3 million
- This flexibility and "potential" earnings means a lower guaranteed upfront amount, or base amount if you will. It is slower to pay out. There is no promise you will make more money. You bet on yourself. This is not pay for play. This is the player earning a percent of sales using their likeness, which is what the core of NIL was originally intended to be. If I make money off of you, you receive a percentage of those earnings.
- Sports like football are not affected nearly as much because most of their deals are from Rev share with a small portion actual NIL. Basketball is reverse.

(There's a lot more to it, and I am in no way suggesting JMI is at fault for Pope's failures. This is just a quick summation of things rumored to not be liked about the deal. They limit outside chances for NIL, the money isn't guaranteed, and it is slow payout.)
 
Last edited:

phyrekat01

Senior
Jul 9, 2025
234
410
63
Why aren't these "horrible fans that are killing our recruiting with their negativity" making Mitch's and Eli's lives in Lexington miserable?
 

BellyBall

Sophomore
Jul 18, 2020
83
172
33
Matt Jones just mentioned on his show since the KSR article about the lack of recruiting and JMI's role in that, a couple of the JMI things have been fixed. At this point, it seems like a convenient excuse.
 
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Jul 2, 2025
234
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I have no idea but if they are the issue we're in big trouble. It won't matter who the coach is if we can't get the Jimmies and Joes. We might as well save our money and let the JMI deal expire in 20 years and hope there is enough of the program left to build on after that.
 

nash78

Junior
Apr 12, 2024
123
286
63
Grade school summation of how JMI hurts us in Basketball from what I've seen and heard.

- UK does not have an outside collective so EVERYTHING related to NIL goes through JMI, even others schools who use JMI kept their outside collective. This means you HAVE to do your deals inside the companies within BBNIL Suite. (If you sign with JMI. You can choose not to and go get your own, but there are hurdles of logo and licensing and anything UK related that JMI also controls).
- We have unique merchandizing where players can profit off sales of their likeness (jersey's, hats, bobble heads, things like that). Essentially you as the player CAN make more money than the initial offer. That is why you will see ranges offered (ie $3-$4 million) instead of we offered him $3 million
- This flexibility and "potential" earnings means a lower guaranteed upfront amount, or base amount if you will. It is slower to pay out. There is no promise you will make more money. You bet on yourself. This is not pay for play. This is the player earning a percent of sales using their likeness, which is what the core of NIL was originally intended to be. If I make money off of you, you receive a percentage of those earnings.
- Sports like football are not affected nearly as much because most of their deals are from Rev share with a small portion actual NIL. Basketball is reverse.

(There's a lot more to it, and I am in no way suggesting JMI is at fault for Pope's failures. This is just a quick summation of things rumored to not be liked about the deal. They limit outside chances for NIL, the money isn't guaranteed, and it is slow payout.)
I appreciate the breakdown! This is helpful.
 

#1 cat fan

Junior
May 7, 2009
324
392
63
Yeah.. I don’t buy the nuanced difference between the sports now. Two other coaches are bringing in talent. Pope isn’t bringing in ANYONE.
It's because those 2 other sports don't mean sh*t at uk. They set it up knowing who butters their bread and wanted to make money on being uk and not letting the players use our platform for free
 

Anon1776024529

Sophomore
Apr 12, 2026
83
121
33
It killed Calipari. Jayden Quaintance, boggie fland, karter knox, billy Richmond and somto cyril were not ranked high.
Justin Edward’s, DJ Wagner, Aaron Bradshaw, Rob Dillingham, Reed Sheppard were all ranked very low.
 
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SenseMaker_Cats

All-Conference
Jul 3, 2025
1,274
4,630
113
It killed Calipari. Jayden Quaintance, boggie fland, karter knox, billy Richmond and somto cyril were not ranked high.
Justin Edward’s, DJ Wagner, Aaron Bradshaw, Rob Dillingham, Reed Sheppard were all ranked very low.
Better to remain silent and….

oh nevermind
 

TheDude73

Heisman
Jan 7, 2006
24,106
23,530
113
I saw somewhere that JMI restricts players on NIL contracts to specific money deals with no flexibility - meaning they can't also add their own if their agents find "deals" outside of the JMI collection of businesses/donors. Whereas other schools and their state NIL programs allow the players to shop around and add on as much after the original deal as they want. I have no idea how this works and have seen tons of crap flying around, so take this with the smallest grain of salt. But if it's slightly true, this may be why these kids are running away (along with weirdo Pope).
 

MegaBlue05

Heisman
Mar 8, 2014
10,880
21,578
66
I’m almost hoping our issues are with Pope.

If it’s with JMI, we’re so f’d because that deal runs through 2040. Mitch is a total clown.

Furthermore, if it is JMI and I am Pope and fighting to keep my job, I am telling the press the JMI deal is hamstringing my recruiting abilities.
 

Smeegs

All-Conference
Nov 19, 2025
655
1,863
93
It’s telling that this thread has gone more than 30 posts with very little attempt to actually answer the OP’s question. What specifically is in the JMI contract that’s hurting our basketball recruiting (but apparently not football and other sports)?

Do any of y’all actually know the answer, or are we just using JMI as a convenient scapegoat?
 
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Goingfor9

All-Conference
Jan 27, 2003
16,133
2,958
113
JMI is just another smokescreen, to cover for the fact that UK’s relatively few big $$$ donors don’t want to/ can’t keep pumping millions of dollars into NIL for the revenue generating sports, plus buyouts for coaches like Stoops etc., year after year, especially considering, they are getting nothing in return on investment, except 3-6 win football seasons, and 12-14 loss basketball seasons!

I mean honestly, would any of us want to bankroll two total clown shows like UK currently has?
Money for NIL is NOT the problem. Discuss something else. This is simply the inability of mark pope to connect. Hes a bad coach even worse recruiter
 
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