< PreviousOne of the foremost leaders in college athletics and SportsBusiness Journal’s reigning Athletic Director of the year, Mitch Barnhart is in his 18th year at the helm of the University of Kentucky Athletics Department. Since his arrival in Lexington, Barnhart has steadily invested in the growth of all 22 UK teams while maintaining a singular commitment to the holistic development of Wildcat student-athletes. Matching resourc- es to expectations has been a hallmark of his tenure, with the proof coming in the form of $300 million in facility improvements since 2007 and his bold pursuit of Elite 1-3-5. At the heart of everything are the core values Barnhart has instilled in the department he leads: character, integrity, knowledge, stew- ardship and competitiveness. The aim of Elite 1-3-5 is for each UK team to be No. 1 by winning a conference or national championship, sustain a depart- ment-wide 3.0 grade-point average and rank in the top five of the Learfield IMG Direc- tors’ Cup standings by 2022. It’s an ambi- tious undertaking, but UK students, coaches and staff have proven themselves capable of unmatched achievement. Four UK teams have won championships towards Elite 1-3- 5, most recently with volleyball winning a second consecutive SEC championship and men’s soccer sweeping Conference USA reg- ular-season and tournament titles. UK Athletics continues to excel in the ac- ademic component of Elite 1-3-5, as Wild- cat student-athletes on scholarship have combined for a GPA of better than 3.0 in 14 consecutive semesters. In spring 2019, UK achieved a cumulative GPA of 3.201, the second best in school history. UK athletes have set records for graduation rates and maintained a perfect mark in the 15-year his- tory of the NCAA Academic Progress Rate, making UK one of just two SEC schools to never incur an APR penalty. Elite 1-3-5 is the successor to Barnhart’s 15 by 15 by 15 Plan, set forth in 2008. The 15 by 15 by 15 Plan called on UK Athletics to rank among the nation’s top 15 athletics programs and win 15 conference or national championships by 2015. At the same time, Barnhart set goals of a 3.0 composite GPA for Wildcat students and an even greater commitment to community service. The academic goal was first achieved in the spring semester of 2010, with grades hit- ting a peak in spring 2014 with a school-re- cord 3.218 composite GPA. Community service has risen to more than 4,000 hours annually and includes outreach to the Lex- ington area, the Commonwealth of Kentucky and as far away as Ethiopia, the Dominican Republic and Panama. The Directors’ Cup objective was reached a year early when UK checked in at a then- school record No. 11 in the 2013-14 nation- al all-sports standings. The final goal was reached when UK men’s basketball claimed the 2015 SEC Tournament title, the 15th championship won by Wildcat athletes since 2008. In addition to being one of four NCAA Division I Athletics Directors of the Year in 2015, Barnhart also was one of four finalists for Athletics Director of the Year as chosen by the SportsBusiness Journal and he received the Sports Business Award from the Bluegrass Sports Commission that year. Four years after his first nomination by the SportsBusiness Journal Barnhart was named 2019 Athletic Director of the Year, but he has always been more interested in the achieve- ments of UK student-athletes than his own. On that count, UK has had plenty to celebrate. During a 2018-19 season that saw five teams (men’s soccer, men’s basketball, rifle, volleyball and softball) post top-10 finishes and the football program post its best season in 41 years, Wildcat student-athletes excelled. Barnhart is always seeking improvement. One recent example is UK’s newly launched Student-Athlete Experience Division. Through the division’s work, UK has renewed its com- mitment to prepare student-athletes to enter life after UK by equipping them with requisite professional skills and helping them identify and pursue internship and work opportunities while continuing to provide the academic sup- port that has made UK Athletics a trendsetter in college athletics for the last four decades. Even with the department’s growth and the increasingly competitive nature of col- lege sports, UK Athletics has remained finan- cially self-sufficient under Barnhart’s man- agement, operating with a balanced budget and with the help of no state or University funds. Seeing pressing facility needs on cam- pus as well, Barnhart has made a $65 mil- lion commitment for athletics to fund nearly two-thirds of the new Don & Cathy Jacobs Science Building on campus. He also directs an annual $1.7-million contribution to the University’s scholarship program. Millions more dollars from the athletics budget stay on campus each year through athletic schol- arship payments, administrative support pay- ments, merchandise royalties and other ave- nues. Additionally, UK has also completely phased out the athletics fee previously paid by students as part of their tuition. A steadfast believer in the transforma- tional power of college athletics, Barnhart is influential on the national level. Already having served on numerous committees and boards for the NCAA and the National As- sociation of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA), Barnhart completed his third year as a member of the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee in 2019, which brings responsibility for selecting, seeding and bracketing teams, along with administration of the NCAA’s highest-profile event. With his extensive previous experience on the NCAA Division I Council, as chair of the NCAA Competition Oversight Commit- tee and as a member of the NCAA Division I Baseball Committee, in addition to several other leadership groups, Barnhart has prov- en himself well suited for the task. Now the longest-tenured athletics direc- tor in the Southeastern Conference, Barnhart arrived at UK from Oregon State, where he served four successful years (1998-2002) as athletics director. Before OSU, he worked in athletics administration posts at Tennessee (1986-98), Southern Methodist University (1983-86), Oregon (1983) and San Diego State (1982-83). Barnhart is a native of Kansas City, Kansas. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Ottawa University (Kansas) in 1981 and a master’s in sports administration from Ohio University. Barnhart and his wife, Connie, also ac- tively serve and support the Christian Student Fellowship and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes on campus in an effort to minister to young people. The Barnharts have three chil- dren, Kirby Willoughby, Blaire Jansen and Scott; Kirby’s husband, McKenzie; grand- sons, Cooper and Reece; Blaire’s husband, Andrew; and Scott’s wife Cassie. Mitch Barnhart n Athletics Director of the University of Kentucky 66 @KentuckyMBBLike us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter and Instagram for complete UK Sports Network coverage of the Cats. 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