Mitch Barnhart (born August 27, 1959) is the

athletics director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches and ...

for the

Kentucky Wildcats The Kentucky Wildcats are the men's and women's intercollegiate athletic squads of the University of Kentucky (UK), a founding member of the Southeastern Conference. The Kentucky Wildcats is the student body of the University of Kentucky. 30,47 ...

athletics program at the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a public land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentucky, the university is one of the state's ...

Lexington, Kentucky Lexington is a city in Kentucky, United States that is the county seat of Fayette County. By population, it is the second-largest city in Kentucky and 57th-largest city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 28th-largest ...

. Barnhart was hired by the university in 2002 succeeding

Larry Ivy Larry Ivy (born 1943/1944) is a former athletic director for the University of Kentucky. Ivy, an alumnus of the University of Alabama, was hired by the University of Kentucky in 1969 as director of student housing. In 1976, he began working ...

. Barnhart served in the same capacity at

Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degree ...

from 1998 to 2002. He is the university's tenth athletics director. In August 2023 Barnhart signed an extension on his contract which will keep him at Kentucky until 2028.

Education

Barnhart received his

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

from

Ottawa University Ottawa University (OU) is a private Baptist university with its main campus in Ottawa, Kansas, a second residential campus in Surprise, Arizona, and adult campuses in the Kansas City, Phoenix and Milwaukee metropolitan areas. It was founded in ...

and a

Master of Science A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast ...

in sports administration from

Ohio University Ohio University is a public research university in Athens, Ohio. The first university chartered by an Act of Congress and the first to be chartered in Ohio, the university was chartered in 1787 by the Congress of the Confederation and subsequ ...

Tenure at Kentucky

Barnhart is currently the longest serving AD in the SEC. For the 2016–17 school year, Kentucky athletics finished 10th nationally in the

NACDA Directors' Cup The NACDA Directors' Cup, known for sponsorship reasons as the NACDA Learfield Directors' Cup or simply as the Directors' Cup, is an award given annually by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics to the colleges and univer ...

, more than 100 student-athletes graduating, and finishing five straight years with an average GPA of over 3.0. As of 2017, several coaches and administrators who have worked under Barnhart at Kentucky are now serving as athletic directors at other universities, including: *

Greg Byrne Greg Byrne, K.C. (born April 14, 1960, in Harvey, New Brunswick) is a lawyer and former MLA in the province of New Brunswick, Canada. Byrne was educated at Fredericton High School, Saint Thomas University (where he received a Bachelor of ...

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = " Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County , LargestMetro = Greater Birmingham , area_total_km2 = 135,7 ...

Mark Coyle Mark Coyle (born 1969) is the 23rd director of athletics at the University of Minnesota, replacing Norwood Teague. He resigned as the athletics director at Syracuse University in May 2016 after spending only 11 months with the Syracuse Orange. ...

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the List of U.S. states and territories by population, 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minne ...

Rob Mullens Rob Mullens is the current athletic director at the University of Oregon. He has presided over the most successful period in Oregon history, dubbed by some as the "Decade of the Duck." He was hired on July 15, 2010 from Kentucky where he was t ...

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idah ...

* Scott Stricklin at

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, a ...

* John Cohen at

Auburn Auburn may refer to: Places Australia * Auburn, New South Wales * City of Auburn, the local government area *Electoral district of Auburn * Auburn, Queensland, a locality in the Western Downs Region *Auburn, South Australia * Auburn, Tasmania *A ...

* DeWayne Peevy at

DePaul Depaul, de Paul or DePaul may refer to: *De Paul (surname) * De Paul College, Eluru, in Eluru, Andhra Pradesh, India * DePaul University, in Chicago, Illinois, United States * DePaul College Prep, in Chicago, Illinois, United States * DePaul Catho ...

*Kevin Saal at

Wichita State Wichita State University (WSU) is a public research university in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It is governed by the Kansas Board of Regents. The university offers more than 60 undergraduate degree programs in more than 200 areas of stud ...

Barnhart was inducted into

Omicron Delta Kappa Omicron Delta Kappa (), also known as The Circle and ODK, is one of the most prestigious honor societies in the United States with chapters at more than 300 college campuses. It was founded December 3, 1914, at Washington and Lee University i ...

- The National Leadership Honor Society at the University of Kentucky in 2017. In April 2024, Barnhart would be named in a

Title IX Title IX is the most commonly used name for the federal civil rights law in the United States that was enacted as part (Title IX) of the Education Amendments of 1972. It prohibits sex-based discrimination in any school or any other educa ...

sexual violence lawsuit which accused him of complicity with former swim coach

Lars Jorgensen Lars Ploug Jorgensen (born September 1, 1970) is an American former competition swimmer Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in pools or op ...

, who was accused of being a sexual predator while he was a swim coach at the University of Kentucky between 2013 and 2023. Emails from June 2012 also revealed that Mark Howard, a former assistant swimming coach at the University of Toledo, informed both Barnhart and

Gary Conelly Gary Robert Conelly (born October 18, 1952) is an American former swimmer who represented the United States at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany. Conelly swam for the winning U.S. teams in the preliminary heats of the men's 4×100-me ...

, who at time served as University of Kentucky's head swim coach, that Jorgensen was accused of being involved in a sexual relationship with a female student he coached while employed at the University of Toledo.

References

External links

Kentucky profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barnhart, Mitch 1959 births Living people Kentucky Wildcats athletic directors Oregon State Beavers athletic directors Ottawa University alumni