Contract extension for Mitch Barnhart could offer glimpse at next step for Kentucky AD

University of Kentucky Athletics Director Mitch Barnhart has signed a contract extension that could keep him in charge of the Wildcats’ athletics department through the 2027-28 school year while foreshadowing a possible next step for his career.

Barnhart’s previous UK contract was set to expire on June 30, 2026. The extension does not change his base salary for the next three years. He will be paid $1.275 million in 2023-24, $1.35 million in 2024-25 and $1.425 million in 2025-26. Barnhart’s salary for the two extension years will be $1.55 million in 2026-27 and $1.7 million in 2027-28.

““The landscape for college athletics is dramatically and rapidly changing — with complex and challenging issues ranging from NIL (Name, Image and Likeness) and the transfer portal to questions about the long-term financial model for athletics and the imperative to help prepare students for lives of meaning and purpose,” UK president Eli Capilouto said in a news release announcing the extension. “We have, in my judgment, the nation’s best athletics director. Continuing that leadership at such a critical juncture and ensuring ongoing stability amidst so much change is the right thing to do for UK Athletics. It’s the right thing to do for the University of Kentucky.”

Barnhart is also entitled to a retention bonus for any contract year he is still athletics director on June 30. That bonus was increased from $350,000 on June 30, 2024, to $450,000; from $400,000 on June 30, 2025, to $550,000; and from $450,000 to $600,000 on June 30, 2026. Barnhart would also earn retention bonuses of $600,000 if he is still athletics director on June 30, 2027, and June 30, 2028.

The contract extension adds a clause that would allow Barnhart to transition to a special assistant to the president role starting July 1, 2026. Barnhart is required to provide the university president with at least six months notice of his intent to make that move. As special assistant to the president, Barnhart would commit to assist UK in fundraising, public relations, marketing and promotional activities. UK would pay Barnhart $800,000 per year as special assistant to the president.

Kentucky men’s basketball coach John Calipari also has a clause in his contract that allows him move into a university ambassador role at any point after June 30, 2024.

The ability to transition to the special assistant role reflects Barnhart’s recent public comments promising he would remain near UK even after he retired as athletics director. Barnhart turns 64 on Sunday.

“We have a great affinity for this area,” Barnhart said last year. “Love this institution. ... If I’m not in this chair, we’ll be here in Kentucky. We want to do all we can to help this program be what all our fans want it to be. We love the commonwealth and have a deep love for the university and our young people.”

Barnhart has served as UK’s athletics director since 2002. During that span, UK has won six national championships and 54 regular season or conference titles. In recent years, Barnhart has become more involved in college sports beyond UK, serving a term as the chair of the NCAA’s men’s basketball committee. He currently is on the selection committee for the College Football Playoff.

Facility improvements have been a focus of Barnhart’s UK tenure with an $82 million renovation to Memorial Coliseum the department’s latest project.

“I am deeply appreciative of the faith in me expressed by President Capilouto and the university. It is an honor to represent this university and state and to guide our athletics department through a period of such consequential change in college athletics,” Barnhart said in the release. “My enthusiasm for the job and commitment to being the best program in the country is as strong as it has ever been and I remain incredibly passionate about helping our students succeed in the classroom, on the fields of play, and most importantly, in life. This is what we do. That is who we are. For me, it’s about putting championship rings on their fingers and UK diplomas in their hands. Kentucky is my home — my children grew up here; my grandchildren are being raised here — and I am gratified to be able to end my career here.”

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