If Kentucky AD Really Dragging Down Basketball, Is Different Reason There?
It's a good bet the almighty dollar tops winning basketball championships for Kentucky's Mitch Barnhart.
If that name doesn't leap immediately to mind, he's the Wildcats' athletics director and reports keep hanging out there he's John Calipari's biggest pain in the backside.
Aaron Torres of the Aaron Torrest Podcast was on ESPN Arkansas last Friday and he's heard the whispering ... for years.
Pay attention because it could get suddenly interesting in the Bluegrass. I can guarantee you Mark Stoops has somebody keeping him aware of what all's happening.
Kentucky football could possibly reap the benefits.
The new media rights deal the ESPN will unveil sooner or later with Texas and Oklahoma coming into the league (more and more reports keep sounding like around 2024 not 2025) is going to be very heavily football-centered.
Whether anybody that bleeds blue wants to admit it or not, for the league as a whole that's the fuel that charges the revenue machine.
Nearly every athletics director likes winning because that makes it easier to collect the big money donations that everybody drools over the most.
They don't cozy up to any coach because, well, they simply don't have to do that these days. Barnhart and Calipari probably haven't been drinking buddies, but may speak to each other through third parties.
Shoot, ol' Mitch may have called Chris Del Conte down in Austin to give Cal a glowing recommendation for their opening after they dumped Chris Beard a week or so ago.
This Wildcats' team isn't headed to any Final Four appearances.
Stoops and Calipari have already traded barbs over Kentucky becoming a football school all of a sudden.
They do appear to be getting a major chunk of the resources there. The Wildcats are also winning ballgames a lot more than they have in years.
Meanwhile, the basketball team got blown out at home by South Carolina. That can't happen and anybody survive.
How this plays out could affect the entire SEC ... in something other than basketball.
allSEC TODAY FEED:
WHAT EVERYBODY WAS SAYING AHEAD OF NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
GEORGIA COACH KIRBY SMART CAN'T WIN EVEN BRINGING TROPHY BACK TO ATHENS
SEC NEARLY AVOIDED NIGHTMARE OF TEXAS A&M HAVING AN OFFENSE, NOW THEY'VE GOT TO DEAL WITH IT
BILLS' DAMAR HAMLIN LEAVING FIELD ALIVE DUE IN PART TO A COUPLE OF OTHER TRAGEDIES IN SPORTS WITH ARKANSAS, ALABAMA TIES
OHIO ST. LEARNED LESSON TEXAS, OKLAHOMA NEED TO LEARN BEFORE JOINING SEC
OK JOSH HEUPEL, THAT WAS GREAT, NOW DO IT AGAIN
HOW DO TCU-GEORGIA MATCH-UP AGAINST EACH OTHER IN NATIONAL TITLE GAME?
SKIP BAYLESS HAMMERING ON STETSON BENNETT MID-GAME MAY HAVE JINXED OHIO STATE
KIRBY SMART MAY HAVE MADE COLLEGE FOOTBALL'S MOST IMPACTFUL PLAY OF THE YEAR
