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Mitch Barnhart

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Anon726530

Sophomore
Mar 29, 2026
35
108
33
Mitch Barnhart could not possibly take too much criticism for this situation.

Half of our fanbase has already turned on our former national championship player, because you were too lazy to do the job that we have payed you millionSSSS to complete. You tried loser *** Scott Drew and then pivoted to Mark Pope. Don’t ever again show up to any games of any of our teams, you have completely screwed the program in your cushy retirement
 
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Starrcade

Starrcade

All-Conference
Jun 4, 2026
643
1,118
93
Same song and dance sung a different way, lol.

two minions are standing next to each other and the words muted lol are visible
 
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A

Anon1768287303

Sophomore
Jan 13, 2026
86
117
33
Anon726530 said:
Mitch Barnhart could not possibly take too much criticism for this situation.

Half of our fanbase has already turned on our former national championship player, because you were too lazy to do the job that we have payed you millionSSSS to complete. You tried loser *** Scott Drew and then pivoted to Mark Pope. Don’t ever again show up to any games of any of our teams, you have completely screwed the program in your cushy retirement
Click to expand...
Can't say that I disagree with much of what you've said, but why dig this up? How is it going to change or improve the current landscape of Kentucky men's basketball?
 
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Im The Village Idiot

Im The Village Idiot

All-American
Sep 7, 2025
2,699
6,744
113
Dr. H Lecter said:
Is this the same Mitch that hired Will Stein?
Click to expand...
Yes the same Mitch that hired Rich Brooks, Joker Phillips, Mark Stoops, Will Stein, Billy Gillispie, John Calipari and Mark Pope. “Yeah, but only the good ones count for whatever reason…” That’s not how the real world works — when you are the athletic director, you are responsible for overseeing the department. Whether you delegated a task to someone else or did it personally (rarely happens), you are deserving of the hiring responsibility and recognition, wherever that ends up falling.

Im not a Mitch hater. I do hate that he has poisoned the fanbase with his philosophical approach that belies our historical standard, but I digress. The man isn’t Satan and he also isn’t Moses. He did a lot of bad and a lot of good. His track record for basketball was unacceptable imho, but he is on the shortlist of greatest ADs in Kentucky history for football and the non-revenue sports.

Him leaving meant nothing — the fanbase has already overdosed on the Mitchness. We have tens of thousands of Mitches now — no need for the OG anymore.
 
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paulcalhoun_rivals397471

paulcalhoun_rivals397471

All-American
Aug 23, 2024
3,172
6,764
113
Im The Village Idiot said:
Yes the same Mitch that hired Rich Brooks, Joker Phillips, Mark Stoops, Will Stein, Billy Gillispie, John Calipari and Mark Pope. “Yeah, but only the good ones count for whatever reason…” That’s not how the real world works — when you are the athletic director, you are responsible for overseeing the department. Whether you delegated a task to someone else or did it personally (rarely happens), you are deserving of the hiring responsibility and recognition, wherever that ends up falling.

Im not a Mitch hater. I do hate that he has poisoned the fanbase with his philosophical approach that belies our historical standard, but I digress. The man isn’t Satan and he also isn’t Moses. He did a lot of bad and a lot of good. His track record for basketball was unacceptable imho, but he is on the shortlist of greatest ADs in Kentucky history for football and the non-revenue sports.

Him leaving meant nothing — the fanbase has already overdosed on the Mitchness. We have tens of thousands of Mitches now — no need for the OG anymore.
Click to expand...
Brooks, Stoops, and Stein were all good hires. Brooks made a strong push for Joker to be his successor. At the point Joker was made head coach in waiting so we did not lose him as a coordinator for another head coaching job it was a reasonable move. We moved on from him pretty quickly when it did not work out.

The school president has taken responsibility for blocking Mitch from hiring Cal when BCG was hired and we moved on quickly when it did not work out. Cal was a homerun hire. Pope was hired when we were in a pinch to move quickly and had been turned down by others. The book is still out on Pope at this point.
 
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S

Skyguyb27

All-American
Feb 12, 2008
4,994
8,337
113
theKybluedude said:
Pope’s story isn’t written yet. It takes a couple years to get going. Ask K, Hurley, Golden or Oats.
This is a big year for him and he has his type roster. I like the look of it. We’ll see.
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Actually it doesn’t take 2 years with the budget Kentucky has for NIL. If you gave Cal this budget to buy players at Kentucky, what he assembled at Kentucky would be ridiculously good and I say that as a guy that wanted Cal gone for 6-7 years. Thats old pay em under the table thinking. NIL has eliminated years to build a team. You can buy them now on Temu and compete the next day.
 
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paulcalhoun_rivals397471

paulcalhoun_rivals397471

All-American
Aug 23, 2024
3,172
6,764
113
Skyguyb27 said:
Actually it doesn’t take 2 years with the budget Kentucky has for NIL. If you gave Cal this budget to buy players at Kentucky, what he assembled at Kentucky would be ridiculously good and I say that as a guy that wanted Cal gone for 6-7 years. Thats old pay em under the table thinking. NIL has eliminated years to build a team. You can buy them now on Temu and compete the next day.
Click to expand...
Has Cal's recruiting at UK or Arky actually been better with NIL than it was prior to NIL? I've said all along that this idea that it is so much easier now to load up on BB talent at a place like UK now that NIL is a thing is debatable and not the clear cut fact you consider it to be.
 
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H

HOLYFknShit

Redshirt
Oct 7, 2026
6
1
1
paulcalhoun_rivals397471 said:
Has Cal's recruiting at UK or Arky actually been better with NIL than it was prior to NIL? I've said all along that this idea that it is so much easier now to load up on BB talent at a place like UK now that NIL is a thing is debatable and not the clear cut fact you consider it to be.
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If Cal was here and had the same funds given to him he would have won another championship in theaters two years. Mitch amd boosters didnt provide the same way.

And he still had top talent. Mutch screwed UK like OP said.
 
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D

Damage_inc

All-Conference
Oct 4, 2019
591
1,065
91
Anon726530 said:
Mitch Barnhart could not possibly take too much criticism for this situation.

Half of our fanbase has already turned on our former national championship player, because you were too lazy to do the job that we have payed you millionSSSS to complete. You tried loser *** Scott Drew and then pivoted to Mark Pope. Don’t ever again show up to any games of any of our teams, you have completely screwed the program in your cushy retirement
Click to expand...
Mitch has been so wildly inconsistent with his hirings. How do you knock it out of the park with volleyball, baseball, and seemingly football and just totally let your bell cow (basketball) wander off into the road?
 
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V

vhcat1970

All-Conference
Jul 2, 2025
3,629
2,760
113
Anon726530 said:
Mitch Barnhart could not possibly take too much criticism for this situation.

Half of our fanbase has already turned on our former national championship player, because you were too lazy to do the job that we have payed you millionSSSS to complete. You tried loser *** Scott Drew and then pivoted to Mark Pope. Don’t ever again show up to any games of any of our teams, you have completely screwed the program in your cushy retirement
Click to expand...
You didn't pay a dam cent.
 
S

Skyguyb27

All-American
Feb 12, 2008
4,994
8,337
113
paulcalhoun_rivals397471 said:
Has Cal's recruiting at UK or Arky actually been better with NIL than it was prior to NIL? I've said all along that this idea that it is so much easier now to load up on BB talent at a place like UK now that NIL is a thing is debatable and not the clear cut fact you consider it to be.
Click to expand...
That is true and it definitely is debatable. I didn’t say what I actually meant clearly I guess. I don’t think Cal now is the same as the younger version of Cal. The intent was IF you have a good coach with a fire to beat the world anmd some swag with the backing of UK it shouldn’t be this hard to compete year one. It’s realistically 8-10 players you need to recruit to compete.
 
Resignmarkpope

Resignmarkpope

Senior
Mar 13, 2026
483
429
63
Anon726530 said:
Mitch Barnhart could not possibly take too much criticism for this situation.

Half of our fanbase has already turned on our former national championship player, because you were too lazy to do the job that we have payed you millionSSSS to complete. You tried loser *** Scott Drew and then pivoted to Mark Pope. Don’t ever again show up to any games of any of our teams, you have completely screwed the program in your cushy retirement
Click to expand...
Mark pope HAS turned Kentucky into the Indiana Hoosiers
 
Resignmarkpope

Resignmarkpope

Senior
Mar 13, 2026
483
429
63
Dr. H Lecter said:
Is this the same Mitch that hired Will Stein?
Click to expand...
Stein is a great hire. He’s had several good hires. 1. Cal-multiple final fours and the championship. 2. Volleyball coach. 3. Brooks has women’s basketball consistently in the top 25. 4. Baseball coach, made cws…5. Stoops had a couple of 10 win seasons. I’ll add mark pope is the worse hire in the history of Kentucky basketball.
 
Resignmarkpope

Resignmarkpope

Senior
Mar 13, 2026
483
429
63
theKybluedude said:
Pope’s story isn’t written yet. It takes a couple years to get going. Ask K, Hurley, Golden or Oats.
This is a big year for him and he has his type roster. I like the look of it. We’ll see.
Click to expand...
More proof Kentucky is Indiana. Pope got the fans happy with 10 losses and an early exit from the tournament that’s Indiana. Tubby smiths worst season is better than mark popes best season. Let that sink in Mark Pope’s best finish at the end of the AP poll is 12. Let that sink in. He’s been coaching over a freaking decade.
 
B

Beatle Bum

Heisman
Sep 1, 2002
43,610
66,317
113
Damage_inc said:
Mitch has been so wildly inconsistent with his hirings. How do you knock it out of the park with volleyball, baseball, and seemingly football and just totally let your bell cow (basketball) wander off into the road?
Click to expand...
Isn’t that true of just about every AD? In 2023, J Batt hired Damon Stoudamire on a five-year contract to replace Josh Pastner. Batt later left for Michigan State in June 2025, and Georgia Tech subsequently parted ways with Stoudamire in March 2026. 😬
 
O

OGtruebluewildcat

Senior
Aug 4, 2025
490
659
93
Dr. H Lecter said:
Is this the same Mitch that hired Will Stein?
Click to expand...
…and Kenny Brooks, Matthew Mitchell, John Calipari, Rich Brooks, Mark Stoops…

3 of the best football hires in program history.

Cal, say want you want, saved the program.

Mitchell put WBB on the map. Brooks could win a title.

Skinner has built one of the best VB programs in the country.

Baseball has been pretty good and seen some great seasons.

I mean I know there are fair criticisms but ole dude made some good calls.

The program didn’t make a lot of money when he took over, he made it profitable and ended on a half billion dollar media contract…

Folks who whine about MB just don’t fully understand how unique the position it is.

There’s 50-60 P4 ADs…only about 30 big time P2 ADs…

It is a big job and not a lot of people have done it or can do it.
 
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B

Beatle Bum

Heisman
Sep 1, 2002
43,610
66,317
113
OGtruebluewildcat said:
…and Kenny Brooks, Matthew Mitchell, John Calipari, Rich Brooks, Mark Stoops…

3 of the best football hires in program history.

Cal, say want you want, saved the program.

Mitchell put WBB on the map. Brooks could win a title.

Skinner has built one of the best VB programs in the country.

Baseball has been pretty good and seen some great seasons.

I mean I know there are fair criticisms but ole dude made some good calls.

The program didn’t make a lot of money when he took over, he made it profitable and ended on a half billion dollar media contract…

Folks who whine about MB just don’t fully understand how unique the position it is.

There’s 50-60 P4 ADs…only about 30 big time P2 ADs…

It is a big job and not a lot of people have done it or can do it.
Click to expand...
Good point about football hires. Brooks, Stoops and hopefully Stein will all be seen as history changing chain breakers for UK football. Joker is the aberration, but I think Brooks approved it, so it’s understandable.
 
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BlueVelvetFog

BlueVelvetFog

Heisman
Apr 12, 2016
14,599
20,276
78
Damage_inc said:
Mitch has been so wildly inconsistent with his hirings. How do you knock it out of the park with volleyball, baseball, and seemingly football and just totally let your bell cow (basketball) wander off into the road?
Click to expand...
Depends on what sport you perceive as the "bellcow"
 
Pygmy Sasquatch

Pygmy Sasquatch

Heisman
Mar 27, 2009
9,833
11,053
113
HOLYFknShit said:
If Cal was here and had the same funds given to him he would have won another championship in theaters two years. Mitch amd boosters didnt provide the same way.

And he still had top talent. Mutch screwed UK like OP said.
Click to expand...
Well the boosters were getting tired of ponying up for cal, so it's unlikely he would have had those same funds.
 
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E

Eagles_Ball_69

All-American
Dec 19, 2003
4,816
6,361
82
theKybluedude said:
Pope’s story isn’t written yet. It takes a couple years to get going. Ask K, Hurley, Golden or Oats.
This is a big year for him and he has his type roster. I like the look of it. We’ll see.
Click to expand...
Different eras for all of those guys. In the portal/NIL era it can happen in a year or two. There are some concerns with the way Pope has navigated this era which is probably directly related to our struggles. If he can figure out how to navigate that, he’s got a chance to be successful. But he’s got to be willing to make the changes.
 
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