Mitch Barnhart (Vicky Graff Photo)
University of Kentucky President Dr. Eli Capilouto went on WLXG-ESPN Radio’s “Wildcat Drive” Wednesday to make his first public comments about the search for a new athletics director after the resignation of Mitch Barnhart.
Capilouto said Deputy Athletics Director Marc Hill, Executive Associate Athletic Director Rachel Baker and others currently at UK would be considered for the job but that there will also be a national search.
“I would imagine that in a position like this, we look national. And that doesn’t mean you exclude folks who are local,” the UK president said.
He also made it clear that former UK athletics department employees under Barnhart would be considered.
“One of the things that I did in my research is that in Mitch’s tenure here, we have a number of really strong people that have gone on from their workings here for the university as associate or assistant athletic directors,” he said on WLXG-ESPN Radio. “People like Greg Byrne in Alabama, Rob Mullens from Oregon, Scott Stricklin of Florida, John Cohen at Auburn, Mark Coyle at Minnesota. All these people worked under and with Mitch and have gone on to do other things.
“So, obviously, Mitch’s tree — let’s call it that way — has been pretty darn successful. And his way of doing things has, I think, been very positive in the majority of what’s happened here at UK.”
One name being mentioned by Kentucky basketball fans a lot is DePaul athletics director DeWayne Peevy, a favorite of many UK basketball fans to be the new UK AD.
“Mitch will be the first to tell you that his job, as is mine, is quite different than it was five or 10 years ago. He’s adapted. Whoever we choose is going to have to be nimble and agile,” Capilouto said on the show. “But hold dear, what I’ve heard from my interviews, the traditions that are held in reverence in Kentucky.
“Many people have said to me, this person needs to understand Kentucky, what the University of Kentucky means to our fellow citizens. That’s something that Mitch exhibited in numerous ways, and I certainly expect that with his successor.”
To me, that describes Peevy but DePaul does not have a football program. Still, he could be “nimble and agile” and that obviously means a lot to the UK president.
