Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear Questions UK's $1M Job for Retiring Athletic Director Amid Athletic Struggles
Governor criticizes university leadership for creating 'undefined' $1 million position for Mitch Barnhart, calls for transparency at board meetings
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- Kentucky Gov.
- Andy Beshear publicly criticized University of Kentucky leadership, questioning the decision to give retiring athletic director Mitch Barnhart a $1 million annual contract with no defined duties.
- The rare gubernatorial intervention comes as Kentucky athletics struggles, with football coach Mark Stoops fired in December after four consecutive losing seasons and men's basketball failing to reach the Final Four since 2015.
KI-generierte Zusammenfassung
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear has publicly questioned the decision-making at the University of Kentucky, including the seven-figure gig retiring athletic director Mitch Barnhart was recently given. Beshear's chastisement, rare for a sitting governor, comes at a turbulent juncture for Kentucky athletics, which is falling behind its peers on the gridiron and on the hardwood.
Barnhart, who will step down on June 30, was recently named executive in residence for the UK Sport and Workforce Initiative by Kentucky president Eli Capilouto. The contract for the gig, which will pay Barnhart $1 million per year beginning July 1, does not provide a concrete job description. That has prompted prominent supporters to ask the school to reverse the offer.
"I am losing confidence and growing increasingly concerned with the management and decision-making at the University of Kentucky," Beshear said in the statement Tuesday. "My concerns include the creation of a new $1 million job that has no defined duties and the announcement that the new dean of law was the only candidate not recommended by law school faculty.
"I've been told that despite previously saying the dean must be approved by UK's Board of Trustees, the university has shifted and now states approval is not needed. I worry that these actions are related to certain donors pushing partisan and undue outside influence onto the university. I hope students, faculty, trustees and the community attend this week's board meetings and ask the tough questions that should be answered."
Beshear's criticism also follows the recent firing of football coach Mark Stoops in December after four consecutive sub-.500 seasons. He was replaced by Will Stein, the offensive coordinator at Oregon.
It's also a difficult time for Mark Pope and the men's basketball program, which is the winningest Division I team in NCAA history but hasn't reached the Final Four since 2015. Last year, Pope made a run to the Sweet 16 in his first season. But that success didn't last as his second season was filled with injuries and inconsistent efforts, ending with a 19-point loss to Iowa State in the second round of the NCAA tournament in March -- only 48 hours after the team needed Otega Oweh's half-court heave at the end of regulation to force overtime in a win over Santa Clara.
