Mitch Barnhart, Director of Athletics

Mitch Barnhart is in his seventh year as Director of Athletics for the University of Kentucky, having set a clear course for making Kentucky one of the top athletics programs in the country.

Hired July 15, 2002, Barnhart has made the desire for overall excellence the cornerstone of Wildcat Athletics. His decision to fully fund all 22 varsity sports has produced a wave of firsts in a number of programs, while also allowing UK to achieve at a consistently high level.

Numerous sports have reached never-before-seen levels of success. Baseball won the school’s first-ever Southeastern Conference title in 2006, following in the SEC championship footsteps of women’s tennis, men’s golf and men’s basketball from 2005. Four Wildcat coaches earned SEC Coach of the Year honors in 2005-06.

The women’s soccer and rifle teams added league titles in 2006-07, with conference Coach of the Year honors going to Warren Lipka and Harry Mullins, respectively.

Perhaps the biggest on-field turnaround besides baseball has been in football, where Rich Brooks has led the Wildcats to back-to-back bowl wins (2006 and 2007) for the first time in more than 50 years. Barnhart’s support of Brooks and his staff has manifested itself in a string of wins over traditional football powers, including a victory over top-ranked LSU in October 2007.

Financially, Barnhart instructed his staff to seek out new revenue streams, and that resulted in a record $80 million multimedia rights agreement with Host Communications (now IMG College). The additional resources allow UK to continue its commitment to its student-athletes, a commitment Barnhart takes personally. Athletics spends $1.5 million annually on its nationally-renowned CATS Academic Center and each spring hosts the CATSPYs, an awards program designed to recognize the very best in UK Athletics.

Other initiatives begun under Barnhart’s leadership include the Big Blue Caravan, which connects UK to its vast fan base, the UK Athletics Hall of Fame, which honors past greats across all sports, a revamping of UK’s donor program that has resulted in record K Fund dollars, and a 10-year, $10-million commitment to help fund the University’s general scholarship program. UK also completed the Joe Craft Center, a $30 million expansion of Memorial Coliseum that includes new practice and office space for a variety of sports.

Barnhart’s connection to UK’s student-athlete is evident by his personal interaction and commitment to provide all support services necessary to meet the needs of these students.

Barnhart arrived at Kentucky from Oregon State, where he served four successful years (1998-2002) as athletics director. Before his tenure at OSU, he worked at Tennessee for 12 years (1986-98); served as assistant executive director of the SMU Mustang Club (1983-86); regional director for the Duck Athletic Fund at Oregon (1983); and was an intern for the Aztec Athletic Foundation at San Diego State (1982-1983). Barnhart, 49, is a native of Kansas City, Kan. He received his bachelor degree from Ottawa University (Kansas) in 1981 and a masters in sports administration from Ohio University in 1982. He and his wife, the former Connie Brown, have three children, Kirby, Blaire and Scott.