Kentucky sports and beyond.
(H-L photo)
Update: Barnhart says “I don’t have any interest” in UT job.
This showed up in my inbox this hot afternoon:
They are talking about it everywhere but on Kentucky.com. Any chance Mitch leaves for UT? He would succeed Pitino for most hated traitor if he did.
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile
Well, actually, on Kentucky.com, I addressed that subject in my apparently not-read-by-everyone notes column this morning.
Continue reading ‘Question of the day: Would Barnhart go to Tennessee?’
Wiz of Odds is publishing a survey about bowl expenses from last season.
A recent post involved Kentucky’s trip to the BBVA Compass Bowl, a game the Cats lost 27-10 to Pittsburgh last year.
The post lists Kentucky’s expenses, etc., and even allows you to download the entire survey. It also includes survey comments from UK athletics director Mitch Barnhart.
Among the tidbits:
When asked what the bowl can do to improve the experience, he wrote: “There were many requirements for the Head Coaches on the day before the game. The Children’s Hospital should be on another day. The Pep Rally should not be required for players or the head coach. The bands and cheerleaders are plenty for that event. The gameshow-type event at the Comedy Night was nearly a disaster.”
Regarding gifts, he wrote that the “bowl watch was a bit expensive as compared to our previous experiences.”
Big Blue Links for Friday:
- The Kentucky women play LSU at 3:30 today in the SEC women’s tournament in Nashville. Fox South South is televising the tournament. Also on tap today is a UK basketball media opp this afternoon previewing Sunday’s game at Tennessee. Check back on the blog for video, etc. Kentucky baseball plays Rice in Houston tonight at 8:00.
- Brandon Knight leads this blog’s UK Most Valuable Player voting, with Josh Harrellson currently running second.
- Stan Simpson scores 16 points as Kenny Payne looks on, reports Scott Anderson of Nation of Blue.
- Kentucky’s remaining basketball targets get the list treatment from Kentucky Sports Network.
- Here are the 15 conference figures with the most to worry about in 2011-12, according to Mr. SEC. Joker Phillips and Mitch Barnhart are both on the list.
- Kentucky lost more than $250,000 on its bowl game, says a Herald-Leader wire report. I can remember Hal Mumme being furious when we ran a 1998 story saying that UK would lose money on the Outback Bowl. He never denied the facts of the story, he was just made we reported it.
- John Calipari is the highest-paid college basketball coach, reports Forbes.
- Kentucky women are made for tournament play, says Jennifer Smith of the Herald-Leader. Matthew Mitchell thinks the Cats’ high-energy, aggressive style will pay benefits thanks to a first-round bye. He hopes UK gets a tired LSU in the quarters today.
Continue reading ‘BBL: Phillips, Barnhart make worry list; Simpson shines’
(H-L photo/Jonathan Palmer)
Big Blue Links for Thursday:
Continue reading ‘BBL: UK women at Georgia; UK men need to stop the 3′
Who knew Mitch Barnhart had such power?
The UK athletics director tweeted this afternoon that UK will no longer approve the camera position which caused Kentucky basketball fans to reach for the Dramamine on Tuesday night. The World Wide Leader’s decision to use a SkyCam hanging from the bottom of Big Bertha brought an avalanche of complaints from viewers annoyed by the overhead viewer.
So this afternoon, Mitch tweeted:
Videos of Lee Todd and Mitch Barnhart from today’s press conference announcing Barnhart’s contract extension.
(H-L photo/Mark Cornelison)
Big Blue Links for Wednesday:
Winthrop faces tough challenge in Cats, writes Karl Lyles of the Rock Hill Herald.
There’s no question tonight’s game at 13th-ranked Kentucky represents the best opponent Winthrop will see in this regular season. Kentucky (8-2) is one of the least experienced teams in the country, and one of the most talented. The team is young because five players off last season’s NCAA Elite Eight squad were drafted in the first round of the 2010 NBA Draft. But don’t feel too bad for Kentucky. Coach John Calipari has restocked the team with point guard Brandon Knight and forward Terrence Jones, both freshmen, leading the way. Another freshman guard, Doron Lamb, is a key reserve.
Tough defense leads to playing time, writes Jerry Tipton of the Herald-Leader.
When Kentucky freshman Stacey Poole took a turn applying single-minded defense on Notre Dame shooter Ben Hansbrough, he earned a promotion. His three-pointer in the same game, the only shot he’s made this season, was purely coincidental when Coach John Calipari said Poole would be the second perimeter player off the bench. Then UK played Indiana, a game that saw Poole nearly match his season’s total of four shots by launching three times in seven frantic minutes. Not so coincidentally, he never got off the bench in the next game as the Cats beat Mississippi Valley State last weekend.
UK basketball signee Michael Gilchrist is on ESPNU tonight, reports H-L.
Barnhart knows bowl date is difficult, writes the Advocate-Messenger’s Larry Vaught.
Kentucky fans have flocked to Nashville, Tenn., for the Music City Bowl in three of the last four years and took a hefty crowd to Memphis, Tenn., for the 2008 Liberty Bowl. But Birmingham to see a 6-6 team play that lost again to Tennessee after schools are back in session and holiday breaks are over? “The date is a little more difficult, to be real honest,” Barnhart said of the BBVA Compass Bowl. “We have sold a few thousand tickets so far, which is really good. We are doing OK. We are asking our fans to support a couple of things down there. This is our way of saying ‘Operation Thank-You.’”
UK women beat Arkansas Pine-Bluff by 72, reports Chip Cosby of the Herald-Leader.
The Kentucky vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff game didn’t seem like a good matchup on paper, and it wasn’t. But that doesn’t mean there was no value for Coach Matthew Mitchell in his team’s 107-35 win over the outmanned Lady Lions. With a road trip to No. 3 Duke and the start of the SEC schedule looming on the horizon in January, Mitchell wanted to see his 11th-ranked squad maintain a high intensity level for 40 minutes. And while the winless Lady Lions didn’t offer much resistance, the Wildcats did just that.
Herald-Leader photo gallery from UK women’s win last night.
Continue reading ‘BBL: Winthrop knows Kentucky a tough task’
Here’s the audio of my talk with UK athletics director Mitch Barnhart outside the interview room once Kentucky had lost 24-14 to Tennessee, ending the Cats disappointing regular season at 6-6.
Barnhart said he believes UK is close, that it’s hard to get to the next step, and (oddly) mentioned that Texas had suffered a bad season. He also complimented first-year coach Joker Phillips on his discipline, and said the team needs to get where both the offense and defense are at the same level in terms of depth and talent. One year, the offense is good, the defense is not. The next year, it’s the other way around.
Click here to listen to the interview (4:25).
“Being a Kansas native with family in the area, having gone to Ottawa University in Kansas and my wife, Connie being a Kansas alum, I have many ties to the state,” Barnhart said. “We have received calls from friends and supporters of the university about the athletic director position at Kansas. I have not been formally contacted by the University of Kansas. I am 100 percent focused on UK Athletics.”
. . . “We have made progress in many areas over the last eight years, but we need to provide our coaches and student-athletes with the facilities to compete at the highest level,” Barnhart said. “We have initiated the process of building a new track and are now focused on how we can upgrade Commonwealth Stadium and our football facilities. Our 22 sports receive unbelievable support from the Big Blue Nation and our fans deserve championship level success across the board.”
J. Brady McCullough of the Kansas City Star reports on the Kansas athletic director search.
In it, McCullough writes:
One logical candidate for KU would be Kentucky athletic director Mitch Barnhart, a Mission native who graduated from Shawnee Mission North High School in 1977 and attended college at Ottawa University in Kansas. At Kentucky the last nine years, Barnhart also has experience running a department that has a historically prominent basketball program as its lifeblood.
Evans would not identify who had interviewed for the job. But a source with knowledge of KU’s search told The Star that Barnhart is not likely to land the Kansas job.
“It’d be tough for him to get in there,” the source said. “I wouldn’t spend a lot of time on Mitch Barnhart.”
The source also said that the search committee’s current targets are, like Barnhart, sitting athletic directors with impressive resumes.
(Hat tip WHAS radio.)
