Mitch Barnhart on NCAA tampering hotline: 'I don’t think they can handle the number of calls'

Kentucky Athletics Director Mitch Barnhart hired Mark Pope as the next head coach of the Wildcats earlier this week.

Barnhart moved quickly to lock in Pope, in part because of tampering that is happening in college sports. Multiple Kentucky players have already entered the transfer portal, while others have requested to be released from their National Letter of Intent.

Mitch Barnhart is hopeful that Pope can limit the number of transfers and recruits looking elsewhere and keep the Wildcats roster mostly intact.

“I certainly hope everyone will give this staff an opportunity to be able to have a conversation. That’s why getting it done efficiently and being ready to go was really, really important,” Barnhart said Friday on KSR. “We’re not crazy. This notion that no one is ‘tampering’ with your roster – that’s gone. The NCAA says, ‘Please call us if you hear that’s happening.’ I don’t know that they can handle the number of phone calls.”

It’s not just college basketball or during a coaching change that tampering is happening, according to Barnhart. He insists that it is a constant issue, across multiple sports.

“It happens on a daily basis from sport-to-sport. It’s not even something they can track,” Barnhart said. “So yea, you’ve got to jump in the middle of this pretty heavily and get to your roster and manage that. And [Mark Pope] is going to do that. That’s job No. 1 and position No. 1, role No. 1. Whatever you want to talk about, that’s the first thing on his list.” 

Mitch Barnhart on Mark Pope’s ability to recruit: ‘It’s about the name on the front’

Mark Pope is not only trying to keep the Kentucky roster together but he also has the task of recruiting top talent to Lexington.

Mitch Barnhart feels good about Pope’s recruiting ability but is well aware that he has to go out and prove that he can do it, not just talk about it. With that said, having a brand like Kentucky to recruit to certainly helps.

“Well, I think the proof’s in the pudding. Obviously. We’ve gotta go get that done. So, we got off the phone last night and he already talked to me about some players that he couldn’t get to come [to BYU] … that called him back and said, ‘Coach, I’m coming to Kentucky,’ Barnhart explained.

“So, it’s about the name on the front. It’s about the name on the front of the jersey, alright? And there’s something about that brand. … the brand is real. And it is really, really important. And we’ve gotta effectively use it. And we use it, we combine some things in recruiting with the tenacity of recruiting, a staff in recruiting, the brand that we have, and then the NIL space.”