Through the early part of the rev-share era, Mitch Barnhart has heard the “speculation” about Kentucky’s plans. The UK athletics director said the goal is to keep things close to the vest, but said it’s receiving strong reactions from coaches. Barnhart assessed the “fluid” post-House settlement landscape. Starting July 1, schools were able to share […]
Through the early part of the rev-share era, Mitch Barnhart has heard the “speculation” about Kentucky’s plans. The UK athletics director said the goal is to keep things close to the vest, but said it’s receiving strong reactions from coaches.
Barnhart assessed the “fluid” post-House settlement landscape. Starting July 1, schools were able to share up to $20.5 million directly with athletes. Barnhart confirmed football, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, baseball, softball and volleyball will participate in revenue-sharing. He did not share specific allocations.
With regard to the speculation about how Kentucky will divide up those dollars, Barnhart said he understands fans want to know. But he also gets why opponents would also be curious, and he added UK will keep things “fluid.”
“I think that not only do the fans want to know, but our opponents want to know,” Barnhart said at Kentucky’s media day. “We’re going to sort of keep it fluid with us and keep it inside our framework. I will say this, our coaches are pleased with where we are and what we’re doing. And I think that’s the beauty of this cap system that we’re in is that it is pretty fluid from season to season, from sport to sport and it can change. To sit here and say we’re going to focus and put this number on that, it may change by the time we get to the end of the semester. It may change by the time we get to the end of the year based upon rosters, based upon who’s in your program and who’s not in your program.
“We want to be really thoughtful about how we do that, and we think our best advantage in being able to help our coaches in the best way possible is to be really, really nimble in what we do. We can only do that, we think if we structure it this way. … But strategically, [the compliance staff is] working really, really hard to make sure that our coaches get what they need and that we’re able to respond in a fashion that gives us [the] best advantage in terms of recruiting and bringing the right people to our roster. So as long as our coaches are engaged and happy and having good conversations with recruits, we feel really comfortable with just keeping it inside our family.”
Mitch Barnhart: UK wants to ‘be able to respond the right way’
In the first year of the House settlement, the rev-share cap is $20.5 million. That figure will increase by 4% annually under the 10-year agreement, though there are two “look-ins” during that time to ensure the cap is in line with revenue around college sports.
As a result, Mitch Barnhart said it’s paramount to be responsive as the landscape continues to shift. That means keeping close dialogue with coaches, and is another reason he’s avoiding “hard numbers.”
“That number is going to continue to grow, and we’ll just continue to move within our program,” Barnhart said. “So Coach [Mark] Stoops and I have had a great conversation, Coach [Mark] Pope, Coach [Kenny] Brooks. I think we sort of talked about it in baseball, we’ve worked with volleyball, women’s basketball.
“I think we just want to be able to respond the right way. Hard numbers, I don’t know, do anybody any good. Being really responsive to what we’re what we need is really, really important.”
Category: General Sports
