Mitch Barnhart on Kroger Field Upgrades, Conference Realignment and More

Mitch Barnhart is continuing his lengthy tenure as the UK athletics director for the foreseeable future. Friday morning KSR reported Barnhart signed a contract extension to remain in Lexington through June 2028. He is the second-longest tenured athletic director in the Power Five.

“There’s no place we would rather be…,” Barnhart shared Friday morning. “…This place is incredibly special to us. We feel like we’re in the fabric of the Commonwealth, more importantly of Lexington and the university.”

Shortly after the news became official, Mitch Barnhart joined Kentucky Sports Radio with Matt Jones to discuss where the Wildcats stand on a variety of issues. There will be some changes coming to Kroger Field for the upcoming Kentucky football season, but there are still a few upgrades Barnhart wants to tackle.

“There’s certain amenities, obviously the Wi-Fi piece is something that hangs out there. A distributed sound system for Kroger Field is something we’d like to do,” said Barnhart. “They’re both highly expensive items and there are some other things we’ve got to do in our program. Those things are on the docket, in our thought processes, but there are also some things we got to attack in other areas before we get to that.”

The biggest task at hand right now is the 18-month project to modernize the almost 75-year-old Memorial Coliseum, which is currently gutted, moving multiple teams to different venues this year.

Kroger Field Prepares for Alcohol Sales to General Public

One thing that will be new at Kentucky football games this fall is alcohol sales to the general public. Beer and seltzers will be served through the end of third quarter. Kentucky was one of the last hold outs in the SEC. His team has planned ahead for the roll-out next Saturday, but Mitch Barnhart is preaching patience in the opening weeks of the new venture.

“There will be selected venues (for beer and seltzers). They are not going to be every concession stand because we’ve got some concessions that will be merely food and soft drinks. There will be some opportunities that will help get people in and out quickly, so hopefully there won’t be many back-ups,” he said.

“Obviously, this is our first try at it. Hopefully there’ll be two things: one, patience on every level as we as we learn how to do it efficiently, and we do it safely and make sure we get everybody served properly. So I think that our staff got a really good opportunity to work with it during baseball last year. That’s why we sort of ‘soft’ rolled it out, if you will. Obviously, that will extend to Rupp Arena this year. We got a lot of our women’s events down there and so that’ll give us a chance to preview that as we move into Rupp Arena.”

Listen to the entire conversation with Mitch Barnhart on the Kentucky Sports Radio podcast.

Kentucky Comfortable Within SEC Footprint

The latest wave of conference realignment started when the SEC added Texas and Oklahoma. The ripple effects caused the destruction of the Pac-12 this summer, leaving his former school, Oregon State, without a home in 2024.

“My heart breaks for our friends at Oregon State. I was there for five years and have incredible friendships out there and to see them left out, that hurts. I don’t like that,” said Barnhart. “It saddens me a little but for some of the rivalries that disappear in this. Some say, ‘Things change, get over it.’ There are times where I’m a little bit of a traditionalist and I think some of those things are pretty special and you just lose some of that.”

The ACC is considering options to expand. Some are turning back to the SEC to see if the league will grow in the near future. Speaking only on Kentucky’s behalf, Barnhart echoed the sentiment shared by Greg Sankey.

“I love our footprint, what we’ve got. We’ve added two really dynamic programs in Oklahoma and Texas that have well-rounded, well-balanced programs that have elite level athletes, win national championships and conference championships where they currently reside.

“I love what we’ve got geographically. It makes good sense for our student-athletes to travel and the way that they get to and from (schools). The trip from Kentucky to Austin, Texas is by plane 10 minutes longer than any trip that we currently have, which makes good sense to me. That makes sense. I don’t like the thought of running our athletes coast to coast. Maybe others are okay with that. I’m fine with where we are. I like the footprint that we have. I think it fits us, the institutions we brought into our conference fit our league. And there’s good camaraderie and good connection there.”

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