Mitch Barnhart: Kentucky's NIL order "first step" of long journey

Next week, college athletics as we know it will change; based on Mitch Barnhart’s comments today, the University of Kentucky is going to ease its way into it. Kentucky’s athletic director spoke with reporters for 30 minutes this afternoon about name, image, and likeness rights, and even though Governor Andy Beshear signed an executive order yesterday putting Kentucky on the starting line with six other states with NIL laws going into effect July 1, Barnhart said UK will exercise caution and follow the NCAA’s lead when it comes to the details.

“I think it’s really important as we walk through this to understand what yesterday was and what yesterday wasn’t,” Barnhart said. “Yesterday was the first day, and it sort of gave us the ability to step forward with policies and with procedures and I think the journey is a long one. We’re still awaiting NCAA governance next week. They will probably come through with some new language in some way, shape, or form as to what that is.

“[Beshear’s executive order] is a bridge that gets us to January when we can put legislation firmly in place through the state legislature. The last piece is obviously, the hope is at some point there will be federal legislation which ties all 50 states together and gives us the opportunity to all sing from one hymn book…I think we gently begin to walk the journey and I think that’s what we’re trying to do here and as you know, we’ve done most of our work here, we’ll take gentle steps with this and try to find a way not to rush into mistakes.”

Okay, so as of July 1, what will the process be for student-athletes who want to sign endorsement deals? Barnhart said UK is still ironing out its policies but it will start with a branch of the compliance department led by Rachel Baker and move through the rest of the athletics department for approval.

“Rachel Baker will be the lead person as we talk through these challenges and the new era we’re in. She’ll work at that and that’s the starting point. There will be a clearinghouse. We’ve got software and all of that that’s in place that will be a part of this. We’ll obviously have some sign-offs and things we’ll sign off on too and work our way through that. It’s the protection of the student-athlete and it’s the protection of the institution. So really, really important. With these new rights come massive responsibilities. It’s important that we marry those two things together, the rights and the responsibilities are together in the right spot.”

Obviously, there will be more opportunities for some student-athletes, like basketball and football players or track stars like Masai Russell, who has the largest social media following of any student-athlete on campus. Barnhart wants to make sure UK finds a balance — and harmony — between the student-athletes who intend to take advantage of NIL opportunities and those who don’t.

“I think there will be some opportunities for some young people will be greater than others and the relationship for all of those folks in a locker room is going to be really, really important to find a way to make sure you maintain that and that doesn’t become the focus rather than the ability to go out and do something really, really uniquely cool together competitively.”

“There are young people in our program that have no interest in this. This is not something that they’re interested in. And there are some that are going to be very interested in it. And we’ve got to make sure we meet both those needs.”

A concern that Barnhart voiced repeatedly in the press conference is maintaining relationships between student-athletes and their institutions (i.e., they didn’t come here just for an endorsement deal), student-athletes and their coaches, and student-athletes in the locker room.

“I do believe at the end of the day, we’re still a relationship enterprise. If a young person, if the only reason they’re coming to an institution is because of their NIL deal or their opportunity to do that, then I don’t know where you establish your relationship. Your relationship with your coaches, the relationship with the other teammates in your locker room, I hope, continue to be first and foremost as we try to build quality departments and quality teams, and have quality experiences and we’re having national championship opportunities like we did in volleyball.”

In less than a week, the NIL floodgates will open, and thanks to Governor Beshear, Kentucky will be part of it. Mitch Barnhart’s prudent approach has resulted in widespread success at UK over the past 19 years; let’s hope it doesn’t backfire as college athletics turns into the wild, wild west.