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04/23 14:33 CDT Retiring Kentucky AD Mitch Barnhart won't take new high-paying
role at school
Retiring Kentucky AD Mitch Barnhart won't take new high-paying role at school
LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) --- Retiring Kentucky athletic director Mitch Barnhart
won't take on a new high-paying role at the school after all, an announcement
coming days after Gov. Andy Beshear questioned decision-making at the school
that included Barnhart's move.
Barnhart and University of Kentucky President Eli Capilouto issued statements
Thursday confirming Barnhart wouldn't become the executive-in-residence for the
UK Sport and Workforce Initiative. That job was set to pay Barnhart $950,000
annually through August 2030, according to contract details.
"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," Capilouto said.
"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."
Barnhart will retire June 30 as AD, a role he had held since 2002 as the
longest-serving athletic director in the Southeastern Conference. Capilouto
said he will raise private funds --- "not athletic funds, not funds that would
go toward NIL opportunities or university funds," Capilouto said --- to handle
compensation for Barnhart's exit tied to his contract terms.
"Work has already begun on the Initiative but recently it has become apparent
that now is not the right time and we would never stand in the way of what we
deem best," Barnhart said.
On Tuesday, Beshear released a statement saying he is "losing confidence and
growing increasingly concerned" about Barnhart's role and overall
decision-making at UK.
"My concerns include the creation of a new $1 million job that has no defined
duties," Beshear said in the statement, "and the announcement that the new dean
of law was the only candidate not recommended by law school faculty."
___
AP college sports: https://apnews.com/hub/college-sports
