Mitch Barnhart on his relationship with John Calipari, state of basketball program

Amid reports that his relationship with John Calipari is at an all-time low, Mitch Barnhart did something he hasn’t done in years: called Kentucky Sports Radio to clear the air. Barnhart covered several topics during his 18-minute conversation with Matt Jones, ranging from his relationship with Calipari, the state of the basketball program, his handling of Calipari’s “basketball school” comments last summer, and Calipari’s request for a new practice facility. We’ll be rolling out coverage all afternoon, but let’s start with the biggest takeaway: how he and Cal are doing.

Barnhart dismissed the notion that he and Calipari are on the outs, telling Matt that although the two are not best friends, they still have a good working relationship.

“I don’t think it’s true. I think that we come at the world from different lenses and in different ways. And because we’re different, I don’t think that necessarily means it’s bad. You know, I look at it from one way, he looks at it from another way and I think that’s what makes the world sort of go around.

“We talk all the time,” Barnhart said. “I visit with him after every game. I sit in his office and we chat about what’s going on at the game. My closing question is, what can I do to help you? And that doesn’t make it a perfect relationship. Do we share coffee time every day or do we go to dinner often? No, it’s not. I don’t do that with most of my coaches, I’d say hardly any of my coaches. I let them do their deals. They have all-consuming jobs. And I think it’s important that there’s a little bit of separation there for them to do that. But I will check in frequently and just say, ‘Man, what’s going on,’ stick my nose in. I have watched practice from up above in the observatory on many occasions.”

Barnhart said that during his 26-year career as an athletics director, his style has always been to stay out of the way and let coaches do their thing, helping whenever asked. He compared his 13-year relationship with Calipari to a marriage, admitting that even if they’re in a “rough patch,” it’s still one that works.

“At the end of the day, I do care deeply about Cal. I want to make sure that he knows how much we appreciate what he’s done here and I want him to know, man that this is probably one of the top five or six hardest jobs and all of college sports and certainly, it’s one of the top most pressure-packed jobs of sports in general. And so yeah, I want him to know I care.

“And I don’t think it’s for anybody on the outside to judge my relationship with him. That’s for him and me and if it works for us, then like any other marriage, sometimes marriages look different for different people. They work in different ways. And the way some people have managed their relationship is much different from others, but ours has worked for 13 years. Doing pretty good. And because we’re going through a rough patch, all of a sudden we have a marriage that’s in disarray, and I would disagree wholeheartedly with that.”

Barnhart still confident Calipari can turn season around

Even the most optimistic fan would admit this season has not gone as planned. Kentucky is 10-6, 1-3 in the SEC, the worst start to conference play since the 1986-87 season. Barnhart said Calipari’s track record gives him faith that the team will turn things around.

“Obviously, we all want to win,” Barnhart said. “We’re not where we want to be and no one is, but Cal is a Hall of Fame coach and he’s been unbelievable in the past in finding a way to get our team better as we go through the season. And so we’re in a tough stretch right now and we got to find our way through that.”

Like Calipari has done several times in the past few weeks, Barnhart recalled how Kentucky turned things around in the 2013-14 season to make an incredible run to the national championship game.

“I’ve seen Cal do this many, many times. I think back to the season we went to Dallas for the Final Four. We were in a similar spot midseason, and we were able to turn it around and get it going. And so I have confidence that this guy has done it before, he can do it again.”

When asked if he believes there are changes that need to be made around the program, Barnhart once again expressed his confidence in Calipari and said he won’t micromanage.

“I’m confident that Cal knows the buttons to push to get us in the right spot. We battled some injury bugs and we battled some confidence bugs and hopefully, we can get those things put behind us. We’ve got 14, 15 games left in the regular season. We can get this where we want to get it for the postseason to make a run, which is what we’re famous for doing and Cal’s teams are famous for doing that. And so I’m looking forward to that.”