Lee Todd Says Mitch Barnhart Wanted to Hire John Calipari Instead of Billy Gillispie
Mitch Barnhart has been widely criticized for not hiring John Calipari in 2007. The former UK President says it was his call.
Lee Todd says he hired Billy Clyde, not Mitch
- Thread starter KYWC36
- Start date
Wait, what? Are you telling me the experts on here that know everything, didn’t know that? Shocking.
Well every UK media member reported that Mitch didn't want to hire Calipari. They could all be wrong but Lee Todd could also be lying so that Mitch gets his flowers and the BG hire is the only "bad" hire the UK machine can talk about since the others are UK alums.
Or the lesser on the organizational hierarchy falls on a sword for a superior in order remain
Lee Todd quote from years ago: "Apparently I'm a good president when we're winning football games". I don't remember the forum but it struck me as hilarious.
There’s so much gossip about the Cal hiring scenarios that you can’t really believe anything that’s said.
Pratt made Mitch hire Cal
Mitch always wanted Cal
Lee Todd didn’t want Cal
Etc…
Whatever happened, happened and the only people that truly know are 2-3 people. At this point 17-19 years later, why does it even matter?
Pratt made Mitch hire Cal
Mitch always wanted Cal
Lee Todd didn’t want Cal
Etc…
Whatever happened, happened and the only people that truly know are 2-3 people. At this point 17-19 years later, why does it even matter?
Yeah there was just an ocean of smoke but not fire in sight. Folks saying this to be nice on his way out nothing more.
Well now I feel kind of bad about 15% of the truly awful things I said about Barnhart.
More PR manure.
The AD makes the final decision. Full Stop.
The AD makes the final decision. Full Stop.
this is just a “let’s be nice to Mitch” on the way out thing. Mitch didn’t want to hire Cal, not the first time and not the second time. Mike Pratt shoved Cal into position, along with a couple of boosters. I heard it straight from the horses mouth. Believe it or not, don’t care. Mike, Sam, and two unnamed money bags sat right in front of me and discussed this as if it was a war story where they were reliving glory days.
I always assumed Rich Brooks arranged that succession plan. Things were going relatively well, by old standards, and Joker was considered the star recruiter on that staff (again, old standards). A lot of fans did not want to lose Joker. If Brooks had not wanted it, it would be hard to see Mitch making that happen.
Yes and no. The president (the board) need to approve the hire. Full stop. Now, Todd did not say he convinced Mitch to hire Billy Clyde. So, Mitch still gets strapped with that mistake. Calipari was not the only good option. That said despite fans who believe UK can get any coach it wants. LOL
Exactly. We are supposed to believe the President of UK picked BCG? Now I can accept he possibly vetoed Calipari but no way in hell do I believe he picked BCG. Barnhart took him to them because BCG had just beaten UL and it would be easy.
I never really disliked Barnhart much until this year. Sure he did some aggravating things but I still thought he was trying. The way he catered to Stoops in his low performance and acted like fans were awful for wanting him gone kinda broke the straw.
Now we are in yet another Barnhart boondoggle.
Yeah, well I think Todd was acknowledging that we would have had Cal rather than BCG, so he takes that blame. A lot of people thought BCG was an exciting up and coming coach. That was wrong.
Yeah, because Kentucky could do no better than Billy G, Joker, and Pope. There is a LOT of real estate between any coach we want and those 3. It's nothing but laziness, non-stop excuses, and one sided sweetheart contracts with Kentuckys athletic department.
As I said, “Calipari was not the only good option.”
The jury is still out on Pope for objective fans. He did very well last season forced to grab a brand new roster, creating a historic run of victories over ranked opponents and returning UK to the sweet sixteen out of the toughest conference in the history of the sport, by many observers calculations, despite a number of bad luck injuries.
This season has been a frustrating roller coaster ride. But he is not judged by one season alone. Next season will likely add clarity for those who are objective.