Myron MedcalfApr 23, 2026, 01:59 PM ETClose Covers college basketball Joined ESPN.com in 2011 Graduate of Minnesota State University, MankatoFollow on XMultiple Authors
Evaluating where SEC’s new coaches stand ahead of season (2:22)SEC Network analysts Matt Stinchcomb and Jordan Reid discuss how Kentucky’s Will Stein, Auburn’s Alex Golesh and Arkansas’ Ryan Silverfield are preparing for the fall. (2:22)
Days after the state’s governor criticized the move, University of Kentucky athletic director Mitch Barnhart announced Thursday that he will forgo a $1 million retirement gig that had been widely criticized.
On Tuesday, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear added to the controversy when he released a statement that questioned the recent actions of the university, including Barnhart’s proposed retirement job.
“I am losing confidence and growing increasingly concerned with the management and decision-making at the University of Kentucky,” Beshear said in a statement Tuesday. “My concerns include the creation of a new $1 million job that has no defined duties.”
Despite pushing back on backlash in recent months, Barnhart and Capilouto collectively had a different tone in Thursday’s announcement.
Beshear’s words also put a bigger spotlight on Barnhart’s turbulent tenure. He’s credited with hiring Mark Stoops, who orchestrated two of the program’s four 10-win seasons in football, and John Calipari, who led the men’s basketball team to the national title in 2012.
Barnhart was also named in a 2024 Title IX lawsuit involving former swim coach Lars Jorgensen, who’d been accused of sexual assault by multiple swimmers. They also accused the university of failing to address the sexual assault allegations against Jorgensen, who resigned in 2024 and has been banned from coaching by the U.S. Center for SafeSport.
Evaluating where SEC’s new coaches stand ahead of season (2:22)SEC Network analysts Matt Stinchcomb and Jordan Reid discuss how Kentucky’s Will Stein, Auburn’s Alex Golesh and Arkansas’ Ryan Silverfield are preparing for the fall. (2:22)
SEC Network analysts Matt Stinchcomb and Jordan Reid discuss how Kentucky’s Will Stein, Auburn’s Alex Golesh and Arkansas’ Ryan Silverfield are preparing for the fall. (2:22)
Myron MedcalfApr 23, 2026, 01:59 PM ETClose Covers college basketball Joined ESPN.com in 2011 Graduate of Minnesota State University, MankatoFollow on XMultiple Authors
Close Covers college basketball Joined ESPN.com in 2011 Graduate of Minnesota State University, MankatoFollow on X
Earlier this year, Kentucky president Eli Capilouto announced that Barnhart would retire June 30 before accepting a seven-figure gig as executive in residence for the UK Sports and Workforce Initiative, an assignment with few contractual details that prompted major Kentucky boosters to demand a reversal of the decision.
Capilouto said Thursday that Barnhart will no longer accept the role.