Mitch Barnhart will not step into proposed executive role with Kentucky athletics, per report
By Ethan Stone
Published:
Mitch Barnhart announced in March that he would be retiring from his role as AD in June after 24 years leading the Kentucky athletics program. However, after his retirement, it was proposed that Barnhart would become the executive-in-residence of the UK Sport and Workforce Initiative, which comes with a yearly salary of $950,000.
Obviously, this move drew a ton of backlash from Kentucky fans and even Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, who had the following to say earlier this week: “My concerns include the creation of a new $1 million job that has no defined duties… I am losing confidence and growing increasingly concerned with the management and decision-making at the University of Kentucky.”
Because of this, the University of Kentucky announced on Thursday that Barnhart will not enter this new role following his impending retirement.
Here’s what UK President Eli Capilouto had to say regarding Barnhart’s decision to step away from this proposed role, via KSR:
“Mitch Barnhart came to me earlier this week to share his concern that the discussion surrounding his future role leading our sports workforce initiative has become a distraction from the work of our university. Mitch and his family care deeply about this institution and our state, and they want the focus to return to the work that matters most for our students and the Commonwealth. With that in mind, Mitch has informed me that he will retire from his position of Athletics Director on June 30 and step away from the proposed ongoing role leading the Sports Workforce Initiative at the university. Over the next several weeks, he and I will work through the terms of his departure, through a process guided by his contract.”
Ethan Stone is a Tennessee graduate and loves all things college football and college basketball. Firm believer in fouling while up 3.
