There have been so many idiotic, corrupt, naive decisions by Kentucky's AD that they are hard to rank.
Here's my attempt:
1. Hiring Billy Clyde Gillispie. This showed an almost complete lack of understanding of the Crown Jewel of Kentucky athletics. Almost any AD would be fired for this. At Kentucky, it was seen as just a warm up for nearly two more decades of stupidity.
2. Naming Joker Phillips "Coach In Waiting." Football is not as important as basketball at Kentucky. But this decision, for sheer imbecility, rivals BCG's hiring.
3. Locking Kentucky into a ruinous deal with JMI. This could be No. 1 if some competent sports journalist does link Mitch to undisclosed personal gain from this deal. For now, it is simply another example of gross incompetence to inhibit Kentucky's ability to compete for stars in the NIL era by limiting their options to profit.
4. Hiring Mark Pope. It is still possible Pope turns it around. Possible. But even if he does, hiring a coach without an NCAA tournament win to take over the sport's most prestigious program was the act of a moron.
5. Giving John Calipari a lifetime contract. When he was hungry for several years, Calipari was on top of the sport. What could go wrong? Kill his motivation. Only a half-wit jackass could accomplish turning Calipari into a lethargic cypher. Well done Mitch!
6. Giving Mark Stoops a gigantic buyout. Stoops' record was always a bit of a mirage: If you only looked at SEC results he was never top tier. But if there was a way to make sure he failed, Mitch found it by removing his incentive to improve. Paying a guy like Stoops a $38 million buyout would rank as the all-time most foolish move by many ADs. For Millionaire Mitch it doesn't crack the Top Five.
Here's my attempt:
1. Hiring Billy Clyde Gillispie. This showed an almost complete lack of understanding of the Crown Jewel of Kentucky athletics. Almost any AD would be fired for this. At Kentucky, it was seen as just a warm up for nearly two more decades of stupidity.
2. Naming Joker Phillips "Coach In Waiting." Football is not as important as basketball at Kentucky. But this decision, for sheer imbecility, rivals BCG's hiring.
3. Locking Kentucky into a ruinous deal with JMI. This could be No. 1 if some competent sports journalist does link Mitch to undisclosed personal gain from this deal. For now, it is simply another example of gross incompetence to inhibit Kentucky's ability to compete for stars in the NIL era by limiting their options to profit.
4. Hiring Mark Pope. It is still possible Pope turns it around. Possible. But even if he does, hiring a coach without an NCAA tournament win to take over the sport's most prestigious program was the act of a moron.
5. Giving John Calipari a lifetime contract. When he was hungry for several years, Calipari was on top of the sport. What could go wrong? Kill his motivation. Only a half-wit jackass could accomplish turning Calipari into a lethargic cypher. Well done Mitch!
6. Giving Mark Stoops a gigantic buyout. Stoops' record was always a bit of a mirage: If you only looked at SEC results he was never top tier. But if there was a way to make sure he failed, Mitch found it by removing his incentive to improve. Paying a guy like Stoops a $38 million buyout would rank as the all-time most foolish move by many ADs. For Millionaire Mitch it doesn't crack the Top Five.
