One Reason John Calipari Can't Leave Now: Mitch Barnhart

John Calipari is in the midst of his worst stretch as a college basketball coach. Just when you thought the nine-win season was bad, the Cats followed it up with a first round loss to Saint Peter’s, the worst NCAA Tournament loss in Kentucky basketball history. The stink from the Peacocks is lingering. UK is still winless against Quad 1 opponents, fresh off a 26-point loss to Alabama, the largest defeat to the Crimson Tide in school history. Now Texas has reportedly reached out to Calipari about their head coaching vacancy.

If you think things are bad now, they could be worse. Mitch Barnhart could be running another coaching search.

Barnhart is one of the longest tenured athletic directors in America, second only to Oklahoma’s Joe Castiglione. Since 2002 he’s improved the overall health of almost every UK Athletics program. There have been major facilities upgrades on both ends of campus for almost every sport. He is responsible for hiring the winningest coach in Kentucky football history and the most successful basketball coach in a generation.

Mitch Barnhart deserves credit for making those historic moves… more than a decade ago.

The college sports landscape is dramatically different than it was when Barnhart made his last major hires. It’s not just the transfer portal and new NIL rules that he was slow to embrace. The next Kentucky basketball coach will be paid less than its football coach. The money made by college football has realigned conferences and minimized the significance of college basketball for 11 months out of the year.

If John Calipari chooses to walk, there isn’t another John Calipari chomping at the bit for this opporuntity.

Following the firing of Billy Gillispie, Barnhart had a long list of exciting candidates to choose from. I can still envision the Courier-Journal sports section that featured the images of John Calipari, Billy Donovan, Mark Few, Tom Izzo and Jay Wright. Those kinds of Hall of Fame options just aren’t out there in this new college basketball landscape that’s in flux.

Even if you believe there’s a suitable pool of coaches to replace John Calipari, do you trust Mitch Barnhart to hire another coach? Or better yet, should he hire another basketball or football coach? Absolutely not.

The second-longest tenured athletic director cannot hold his position forever. He’s currently under contract through the 2025-26 season (but he could retire sooner). In this hypothetical John Calipari departure scenario, Mitch Barnhart’s next basketball coach would have three seasons before there’s a new UK athletic director, one who will be quick to cut the cord and hire their own head basketball coach. Instead of hitting the refresh button, the BBN could get stuck in a cycle of changing coaches.

Mitch Barnhart is a good man that has done so much for the University of Kentucky. I appreciate his service. I would just rather not see him hire another football or basketball coach. Most athletic directors get to hire one, maybe two apiece. He’s hired five basketball and football coaches. It’s time for somebody else to take a turn or the next coach could end up being another Billy Clyde.