A different side to Barnhart

Mitch Barnhart has taken a great deal of criticism since becoming the director of athletics at the University of Kentucky. People questioned his decision to hire Rich Brooks as head coach of the football program. Others wondered why he decided to stick by Tubby Smith after two very difficult basketball seasons. Then, when Smith left voluntarily for Minnesota, there was some relief with the hiring of Texas A&M's Billy Gillispie. However, after two rocky seasons, the heat was rising around Barnhart once again. But this time though, Barnhart pulled the trigger and sent Gillispie packing. Then, Barnhart finally hit it out of the park by hiring Calipari.

In hindsight, it seems Barnhart knows what he's doing. Rich Brooks has guided UK to three bowl wins a row, the first time in the history of the program. Meanwhile, life after Tubby was not near as rosey as so many had predicted it would be, which is most likely why Mitch was more than willing to keep him around for as long as he wanted to stay. And when all the chips were on the table, and Kentucky basketball missed the NCAA tourney for the first time in 19 years, he fired the wrong coach and hired the right one. Yeah, Mitch is doing okay.

Then, I read this quote about Mitch, and it made me think more highly of him than anything you've just read... "With all due respect to Coach Cal, my value in a lot of people’s eyes is driven by one man. Unfortunately, it’s the wrong man. The value that we drive is got to be from Jesus Christ and the value we gain is through that."