Kentucky has already found an interim general manager to take over for the departed Pat Biondo.
Pete Nochta was named Kentucky football’s interim GM on Wednesday afternoon, getting promoted from assistant GM in the aftermath of Biondo’s resignation earlier in the week.
Biondo stepped down, citing “personal” reasons, after just 7 months on the job in Lexington and in the days leading up to Will Stein‘s first fall camp as Kentucky head coach. With Stein now searching for a new permanent GM, the school took immediate steps to landing a temporary solution by bumping up Nochta to Biondo’s position, at least for now.
Nochta is a home hire, being a Lexington Tates Creek alum who then left to play tight end for the rival school at Louisville from 2006-10. He has a long history with Stein, with the two being college teammates at Louisville. Nochta played in 35 career games for the Cardinals, catching 11 passes, before spending 2 years at Purdue in 2011 and 2012 in quality control and graduate assistant roles.
His time at Purdue was preceded by a graduate assistant role in 2013 at Western Kentucky. Nochta went back to his alma mater in 2014 and spent 12 years at Louisville in a variety of roles. He was a graduate assistant, director of on-campus recruiting, director of high school relations and director of recruiting when he got the opportunity to reunite with Stein at Kentucky.
Nochta’s assistant GM position at Kentucky paid him $230,000 when he took the job in January.
With Kentucky just trying to become relevant in the SEC in 2026, there are some conference powerhouses who will be competing for the SEC title in December. Here is what the Kalshi market is currently saying about those odds to be the team holding the conference trophy when the dust settles:
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
