KSR - 2026-03-09- KSR - Hour 1

Episode Date: March 9, 2026

Matt, Ryan, Drew, and Shannon talk Kentucky's loss to Florida, the SEC Tournament, and Mitch Barnhart "eating hay."See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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This is Kentucky Sports Radio presented by Stockton Mortgage. Now here's Matt Jones. Welcome, everyone. It is Kentucky Sports Radio Monday, March the 9th on a massive show of SEC Tournament Week here in Lexington, Kentucky. You can give us a shout, although I'm not sure we're going to take calls for a while. 859-2-80-22-87. A-Vision Auto Glass Text Machine is 772-7754 in this edition sponsored by the T.J. Smith Law Office. If you call T.J., he'll make them pay. Let me give you a little roadmap of the show. First of all, you've got to have your mic on. Is it on?

It does not sound on. It is not on. So, Billy, if you will come and try to get Ryan to where he can be on the air, that will help. Until then we'll talk to Drew. Here's what we're going to do. we're going to start with the basketball game from 10 to 1030 maybe 1040 then we're going to switch over to knucklehead sports radio for just a few minutes okay and then uh we are going there he is you there check one too baby the uh and then at 11 o'clock we have will Stein coming on nice and we'll do the thing Shannon where we do two segments in a row right that you know how we do And then at 1130, we'll open up the phones and people can talk about what they want to talk about. How's that for a plan?

That's a Monday crackdown beatdown. I don't know what that means. I'm not going to beat down or crackdown anyone. We're going to talk about the world of UK sports because it's SEC Tournament Week, one of my favorite weeks of the year. And it will get started quicker than it's ever gotten started before. I don't love the situation, but I'll admit I woke up smiling knowing it's SEC Tournament Week. I'd rather not play Wednesday, but this is my favorite.

favorite week of the year and I'll be there. I love it. And you know what? If we're the first team eliminated, I'll still be in Nashville. Just with a lot less to do, Shannon. Possibly a really short party. But you know what? We'll make the best of it. If they lose in the first round, then Nashville's just going to get four days the cowboy hat. I'll tell you what, if they lose in the first round, my party might be triple what it would have been. Yeah, I mean, in some ways, it'll be a much wilder week. You'll be anxious? We'll be distressed. No, I'll have nothing to do. That's right. We'll do the show.

We'll be done at noon. And then it's just me with the cowboy hat riding mechanical bulls the whole time. You've got to make that happen. Have you ever been on one of those? No, no. Okay. This is your week. I think I would break a hip.

I can't do that. I love to see it. But, you know, Mario and I are staying down there and Drew anyway. So it could just be me, Mario, and Drew take on the city. I book Wednesday to Saturday. That money is gone. I'm not getting it back. So I'll be there.

Whatever happens. And if I need to stay until Sunday, I'll figure that out. but I'm at least through Saturday. All right. Well, so let's talk about, let's go back to Saturday against Florida. It was over before I even got to watch the game. Right. So when they start on ESPN News, I don't, I just don't know ESPN News.

I think I have it, but I don't ever turn it on there. So I'm sitting there watching and who played before us, Vandy and Tennessee? No, it was before us? Arkansas. Yeah. No, Arkansas, Missouri was at noon. Who was at 2? Oh, is at Rupp?

So I went to... Well, whoever it was, the game would not end. And I just kept looking in the corner and seeing numbers at them. Yep. Yep. It was like, oh, 2-0, 4-0, 7-0. And I was like, fine. Because I went to all the pre-game.

And let me say Rup was hype. Yeah. I left right before... Actually, it was 4-0 when I got home. I left right before it started. Everybody said the environment pregame was outstanding. Outstanding. And people there early.

I mean, that was one of those, I think everybody, half hour, the place was full. Yeah, we get a couple of those a year where it's Rupp Arena's best. I mean, the little light things, that was a nice addition. That was a cool addition. You got Marlena Van Hoose. As you said, the crowd was downtown in the arena early. That was one of Rupp's best crowds.

They had the thing where, like, at the Taylor Swift concert. I say this, what people told me. I've been to, I bought Taylor Swift God's good grief, but I didn't go. But you put the thing on and it blinks lights. You know what? You're looking at me like I'm crazy. You know what I'm talking about? I've not seen it. They got these things and you wear them on your wrist and then it'll like, it lights it up.

So it'll be blue and white. And then during the Star Sangleband, it was red, white and blue. Did it work? Yeah. It looked cool. Like it, like it, I think it executed well. I think we got those for WrestleMania that you and I went. We did have it for WrestleMania.

That's right, because they turn the lights off and you just see the, it's a cool little feature. So they did that. Senior Day was very nice. It was actually, you know, it still makes your heart to, what is it, palpitate during the, during the, the, my old Kentucky home. Are you supposed to take your hat off from my old Kentucky home? I was, I had a moment where I looked around it because I started to and no one else did. Yeah, that's how I was. Because you take it off for the national anthem.

But why don't we take it off? from my old Kentucky home. Is there a reason? It is the state's song for the Kentucky one. Or is it like, first of all, why do we take our hat off? I saw Trump didn't take his hat off. That used to be a respectful thing back in the day. Now I don't know that we do it much. Like you wouldn't get at a dinner table with a hat on back in the day. You had to take the hat off. But I feel like everybody takes it off for the national anthem though. We still do that. But other things in life.

Well, I am of the opinion we should take our hat off for my old Kentucky home. And as a valid hatwear, I still think you should do it. Nevertheless, it was very pretty. Marlene Van Hoose. That was great. And I'm thinking, okay, here we go. 11-0-0. Then we fight back.

Yes. It's 20 to 19. I think it's a ball game. It's on, like Donkey Kong. 13-0 run in two minutes. Yeah, very fast. Two minutes, 33-19 and then's over. game was over.

So, kind of like the game down there in the sense of we fought pretty well with them for the vast majority of the game, but a run just, it was over. The beginning killed you. Kentucky won like the last 38 minutes of this game, but when you went down 11-0 and just never had the lead. Never took the lead. That was a key. They never took the lead.

I know Florida's awesome and all that, Kentucky's not there. But home, senior day, at least lead at some point with that kind of crowd and that energy and what's at stake? 80 minutes against Florida this year. I haven't led one second. That's bad. Their dudes are better than our dudes. Their dudes are great.

There's no shame in losing to Florida. I do think there's a shame in being blown out. I know the final score was seven, and we actually ended up covering the opening line, which is one of the craziest backdoor covers of all the time. I don't think we were within seven much. Not at all. And then we finished within seven.

This is one, too, because everything else prior to the game kind of set up for us. You know, Arkansas beat Missouri. No, everything set up. If we had won that game, we'd be the four seed. That's crazy. Everything's set up for us. We'd be a four seat. We'd have a double buy.

We'd be dancing. Instead, we play the first game against, I would argue, the best of the bad teams, LSU. I think LSU, I don't think we could have come out worse. Like, even if we'd been the 10 seed, we would at least been on the other side of the bracket from Florida. And you were down 18 to that team in the game they played in the regular season. Yes. We were down to the We were down 18 to the 16th.

We were down 18 to the 16 seat. Yeah. So yeah, it couldn't set up worse. And, you know, I give Mark Pope credit. He said we're going down there to win, but. So now we're 19 and 12 on the year. I said after the game, I give the season like a C minus or a D plus.

I'm kind of still there. I can't give it an F because we're going to make the tournament. And we have some really good wins. We won at Arkansas, beat Tennessee twice, beat Vandy, beat St. John's, who's going to be a probably two seed in the tournament, beat Indiana. So I can't give it an F. I can't give it, though, higher than like a C minus because of the losses to all. If you want to know what was the problem with our season, go look at the fact that all these teams tied with the same record

and we were last in the tiebreaker. Why is that? Because we lost to mediocre teams all year. We lost to George at home. We lost to Missouri at home. We lost to A&M when we should have won. That's the problem. The problem with this year was not Saturday,

even though we should never lose by that amount. The problem was everything else. else that leads to us playing at 1 o'clock on Wednesday. Do you agree? Completely agree. I know the SEC is better. And I mean, I still say, well, Florida has figured it out. I don't like that excuse.

But it's not so good that Georgia should be ahead of you and Missouri should be ahead of you. And these teams that have been at the bottom forever, you've lost your grip that much that you're now in the bottom half of the standings. And you lost those teams at home. Yes. You got those games at home. That's that, the Missouri loss, which was the second game of the SEC, and then the Georgia loss, which was two weeks ago, that's, those are the ones that ultimately killed us.

I know you read Aaron Fleener's tweet on the postgame show, but that's it. Well, Aaron Fleener hit it. You know, he's caddies on the PGA tour and then he makes good points. It's a great point. He said, watching Florida is what we used to be, I missed that. I miss that. That's it. It's a fair point.

And you can put everything else, essentially. side. That summarizes the point. Florida has done it. There was a guy that called the postgame show and he was like, college basketball is different now. And he was kind of using that to excuse it. And I said sort of in the moment, and I agree. So, Duke's figured it out. Right? Florida's figured it out. UConns figured it out Houston's figured it out those teams are good every year every year

and in the last couple years Michigan's figured it out right Alabama why can't Kentucky Kansas so that's really not an excuse the SEC's better

but look at a team like Houston Houston's good every year. Every year. And the Big 12 is this year the best conference. And they're good every year. And it's Houston.

So why can't we be? And they don't even spend money like we do. Why can't we do it? There's no doubt the sport's completely different. And the SEC teams are better. But we can't just be like, well, everybody's better. Let's go home. I guess we can't compete now because it's changed.

No, figure it out and continue to dominate. Maybe you won't be winning every single year. year in the SEC like you were because teams are better. But ninth, you can't just say it's changed. Well, we're ninth. Everyone's better. That's the loser mentality. So if you like college basketball history like I do, you can look at college basketball

as there are the seismic shifts over history in the structure of the sport. So you start when college basketball first starts. Kentucky starts to take it seriously before everybody else. And that's why we're so good in the 40s and 50s. We take the business of college basketball seriously before anybody else and we dominate early. Then integration is the next big change. And Kentucky is slow on it. And UCLA specifically jumps in and says, and they treat recruiting as big business.

And then UCLA has a period of dominance. Then you get to the late 70s and early 80s. and recruiting becomes national and kind of dirty, right? And some teams jump on it. Indiana, Georgetown, Kentucky, North Carolina, and they then become the cream of the crop. And then it switches. And all the games end up on national television.

And it becomes a sport based on brands. and in the 90s, if you're a brand, you matter. Duke, Kentucky, North Carolina. There's your 90s. Then it kind of switches again to the one and done world. And we are at the forefront again. Kentucky, Kansas, Duke. North Carolina kind of holds back on that.

and they slip. Well, now we're in the next seismic change, which is NIO and portal. Really, post-COVID. And for the first time, maybe in history since integration, we were slow to integrate and it hurt us for 10 years.

We've been slow on this. We were at the forefront when college basketball started, the nationalization of college basketball, the sort of blue blood era of every game being on television and the one and done era. Kentucky was at the forefront. We were not at integration and it hurt us. So four eras, we did it.

One we did not. And now this is era number six. And we've not been at the forefront. And because of it, we're watching these other teams leap to the top. And we're now doing what in history programs have done when they haven't adapted. We're finding ourselves in the middle. And we've got to change it quick. You know, hearing you go through all that just makes me scratch my head because this coaching staff

when they came in, I thought they were going to be way ahead of the curve, proactive, they're smart. They know all about modern basketball, analytics, algorithms, everything. And yet it hasn't happened. So that's what worries me. There's a seismic shift and you have to do it early or you get. get left behind. It's early and we're getting left behind.

We'll take a break. Barry back. KSR. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending. Opinions are flying and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in.

I'm Timbo. Every episode we're cutting through the noise. Breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody. gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered.

Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slic Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark.

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Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you. you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year.

Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Welcome back, Tucky Sports Radio. 859-28027. One person writes, Matt, I agree with your point that we should be more consistent, but UCon was in eight last year and lost in the second round.

But they were coming off back-to-back titles. I mean, you're not going to be good every year, but you've got to be good some year. And they're back good again this year. There's six years since COVID. We've had one really good regular season in six years, and we lost to St. Peter's in the tournament that year. So we've been to the second weekend once. That was last year.

But it's objectively, if you were to list post-COVID what have been the best programs and you were to just blind resume it and not have the names on it, I think we would struggle to be in the top 20. We would probably be somewhere between 17 and 20 if you're talking about consistent over those years. You know, in the SEC during those years, we would be behind Alabama, Florida, Tennessee, and all. We would probably be fifth in those years. I don't think there's any debate about that. So, you know, that is what it is. And why it is, is, I think, a variety of things. Downfall of Cal and sort of how his years went.

Kentucky being slow on NIL, and then Kentucky being, once they got the NIL where they needed to do with Pope being poor in its distribution on this year's team. So I think last year's team pretty good, all things consider. Yeah. And with the way things move now, for one, in your big picture thoughts, you can get left behind faster than you would 10 years ago. Teams can catch up in just a couple of months in an off season now where you used to take a slow build. Jay Lucas at Miami in one year, he turns that around. Yeah, that's impossible 10 years ago. Yeah.

And but the same, like, when you hire a new coach and you have that excitement, you need to capitalize on it. Those bucks that came in, you know, they might not keep going. You need to perform and keep that energy going. And if it dips, that's where you start to get left behind a little bit. You are exactly right about that. When you have a new hire, that's the time to make your move. It's like when you meet a new woman or a new mate. If it's not sexy and hot at the beginning, it ain't going to get better.

Like if after the first eight dates, you all are still like, eh, that ain't going to get better over time. Right. Now, it might continue, but you got to, like, there's got to be Sparks moment, maybe not one, but by moment date 10, or they're probably not coming out of the woodwork. And if you nail the higher in this area, look at like a Michigan. I mean, there's several young and new coaches that are doing great right now. When I watch Michigan, I think to myself, man, they have it. Like you can just, and they're going to be good.

They're going to be good every year. I mean, they just run guy. You know, we talk about Yaxel, but there are other dudes on that team that just, like, you just watch it. And the coach, they call a timeout. Watching Michigan, Michigan State, you say, I watched that whole game. After every timeout, Izzo, because Izo, he doesn't have the, talent that Michigan does, but he's really smart.

Sure he is. And you watch those two and they're exes out. Like if you call it time out, you knew that play was going to work coming out of the timeout on both teams. You just knew it was. Michigan State's problem is they just got the same lumbering dudes they've had for 25 years there. CISO after the game. Isso said, I ain't nobody's little brother. Yeah. Because they were chanting little brother at him. I don't know if that works though, Shannon. They're just going to going to chant it at him more now. Oh yeah, yeah. When you let somebody know that that gets yeah, he's going to double down and he was like, I ain't nobody's little brother. Yeah, they're just

going to do it more. But, but, you know, and I thought Mark would do that and, and he can at moments, but he just hasn't gotten it done with this group. So you're right, we did have, it's a sexy and hot at the beginning. Why is it faded then as the date's going to? Because we're not, good. And he thought it was good. So what not hot. What Michigan did in your one is hot. I mean, we had a good first year. I'm not downplaying that. Well, it was year, too, for him. But still, I mean, we haven't reached hot with Pope.

We had a good first year. But, I mean, they went straight up. Yeah. I mean, they, you know, after every loss, you get, you get this group of people online who were like, you know, Matt Jones, KSR ran off a Hall of Fame coach. Put that to the side. That's an absurd argument. And the Hall of Fame coach wasn't going to work here anymore. But everyone listening knows.

that this isn't right. Yes. Everybody knows that. I mean, at the game Saturday, it was interesting. It wasn't anger. It was like sadness. Did you get that sense? I should have taken a picture.

I couldn't believe how many people were leaving at the seven and a half mark. Now, the ones that stayed, got into it and had some belief there when they're trying to come back. But Mario, you're there. At seven and a half timeout, you could look up in the upper level steps had a lot of people on their way out on senior day. But do you blame them? I mean, like, I don't blame the fans. because we have had so many games this year where we've just been losing the whole game.

So I said on the post game show, and I have not checked this, so I'm going to assume the person is correct, but they could be wrong. But I said, I wish somebody would add up the amount of minutes we've been losing and we've been winning this year. Now, we're 19 and 12,

and this includes games against bad teams. Or presumably we were winning almost the entire. entire game. But weren't. Not always, but most of the time we were. We were winning most of those games. We've still been losing more minutes. Oh, yeah.

Which we have a winning record. So that does say we come back. But in Power Conference play, 60% of the minutes we have played in the Power Conference play we've been losing. 60% of the minutes, which means fans have been watching us just

lose a lot. and a lot, you know, some they came back, but a lot of this looking up at the scoreboard is in Rupp Arena and you're losing to logos where you never see them winning in Rupp Arena. Like me and O and 2 against Georgia, Pope, that's insane. Georgia has been a joke of the SEC for as long as I can remember.

It wasn't that long ago, 10 lost tubby, they were ready to run him out of town. And if I'm not mistaken, Billy Gillespie's two-year record is not much different. Billy Gillespie's two-year record is two games worse than this. Two games worse. We ran those two guys ready to run them out of town. I do think Billy would have been back if not for the off court stuff.

I think he would give him a little year. But he made it to where they couldn't. Now, with all that said, we do have to talk about the other part of this, which is Knucklehead Sports Radio. That's next. T.J. Smith, personal injury attorney. Call T.J. He'll make them pay. Now, more of Kentucky Sports Radio presented by Stockton Mortgage.

Here's Matt Jones. Welcome back, Tucky Sports Radio. 859-2-80-22-87. Text machine, 772-7-4-1 person writes, Matt, you say that Cal wasn't going to work here and we're supposed to take it as fact, that's your opinion. I'm sure it was going to work out with Cal. Look at Self at KU.

I was ready to say that until we lost to Oakland and St. Peter's two out of three years. Yep. I mean, and I'll remind you, Self did have a lot of bad losses in the tournament in the early part of his career, and there was some pressure on him. like people were ready to run him all. The difference was it was the early part of his career. This was the late part of Cal's career.

By the way, but if you want to say it would have worked here, that's fine. I will remind you that Arkansas last year was the nine seed in the SEC tournament. And by the way, if you want to have confidence going into the tournament, just say what, look at Arkansas. Last year they were the nine seed, nearly lost that first game. Should have lost. South Carolina was ahead and had a chance. to win and then Arkansas came back. They won. They didn't

lost their next game. But then they made a run to the Sweet 16 in the tournament. So you could say, well, could that be Kentucky? Could we beat LSU, lose to Missouri, go to the tournament and win two games? Yeah, we could. Absolutely. We could.

And that's, so that's the confidence part. But you can't sit there and look at me, look at me and go, should have kept Cal. If you're so mad about this year, that's the year he had last year. Remember they started the conference one and six last year. So, you know, the disappointment in this program starts for me at COVID, which spans two coaches.

Yeah. Right. Now let's talk about Mitch Barnardt for a second. So Mitch Barnard has his going away press conference, which we were not able to go to. I snuck in there. Oh, you went? Yep. I heard it was a nice affair.

It was a lot going on. It was a lot. It was a big celebration. Big celebration. A bunch of people talked, right? Yeah. Well, why didn't President Capoludo go? Eli said a video and then Mitch talked for a long time.

But you know, I'm not going to, I'm not going to hate on this moment. Eli may have had something to do. I'm kind of surprised the president's not there. Like, you guys have been partners for a decade and you send a video. I mean, you know, I would understand if like the president sent a video. But like. they said he was quote President of the United States

the President of University you would think would be there but he was not what did he say I think he said he was out of town I think he's in Alabama a lot of justice okay well but out of town

they got planes so it's actually a fine affair and in classic Mitch Barnhart he can't quite get through it without expressing grievances

and here is what he had to say All I've ever done in my life is work. So this notion that this golden parachute is falling from the ceiling, and I'm going to sit in the rocking chair and eat hay is ridiculous garbage. And that notion that started by some couple two or three knuckleheads needs to end. I'm excited about working. I'm not done. That's why I have many comments about this.

Like literally I could take almost every word. Okay. Is it a golden parachute? Yes. Of course it is. Of course it is. Even if he does everything that the executive for the commissioner of the initiative of sports and workforce does, it's still a golden parachute. Would they hire someone off the street and pay them $950,000 for that job? To do the job that does absolutely nothing? Shannon, would they hire someone for $950,000 to be a career placement officer? Not unless your name is Mitch Barnhart. No. I don't know what the career placement officers at UK make. but it ain't $950,000. What is it, you think? 80, 100, 120 maybe.

10th of that. So, yes, it's a golden parachute, period. Now, some people may deserve golden parachutes. Maybe Mitch Barnhart does. But don't insult me and say it's not a golden parachute. It is. Then he says, going to sit in a rocking chair and eat hay. First of all, I don't even think you eat hay.

Who eats horses? Just chew on it. Did I at ever any point suggest he was going to eat hay? I don't think anybody did. I will go on record and say, I do not believe Mitch Barnhart's going to eat hay. Rocking chair, maybe. He might have a rocking chair.

Nothing wrong with a rocking chair. I like a good rocking chair. Some people's problem with, my problem with this is that not that I don't think he's going to work. Sure. I'll give you he's going to work. Shannon, I'll give he works 40 hours a week.

Yeah, on paper. All right. Answering emails. I don't think this is a job that is worth $950,000 a year. It's allegedly in the academic department, but being paid by athletics. Why? Why? I think it was originally going to be paid by academics.

Yes. And the school and Linda Blas. Blackford wrote her article and people are like, oh, that's a bad look. If we're sending out emails that says we're doing budget and staff cuts and we're now paying this guy to come and place people at Kodak, you know.

On the same day. On the same day. Kodak. Kodak. They're coming back. So they were like, well, wait a minute. We'll put it back in athletics. Well, what? Is this UK athlete? People's problem is not that you're going to do nothing. Here's a secret, Mitch. People are going to be worried you're going to

do something. They're worried you're going to shadow the new AD. Stick your nose right in the middle of it. That's what people are worried about. When people get mad at criticisms and then respond to the criticism that people are not making, it shows that they don't really have an answer for the criticism they are making. You cannot tell me he will have no role in athletics and then pay him from athletics. If you want to pay him from academics and say he's over there, that's fine.

But then you have to deal with the people who say, should we be paying this guy a million dollars from academics? But if you're going to be paying him from athletics, then people are going to say, well, now I'm worried he's going to be this. The word sports is in his title. I understand. That's for UK sports. So I can, I don't, I'm not saying he's going to like put his nose into whoever the new

AD is, but you can understand why people would say that. Especially if it's somebody that has worked underneath him. Let's then go to the next sentence. started by two or three knucklehead. Okay. Hello, knucklehead number one. Just because I have a legitimate concern about this contract that so far no one from the university has publicly made a statement about or taken one question, that doesn't make you a knucklehead. If it does, then I'll wear a t-shirt that says a hoodie that says knucklehead.

Is Linda Blackford a knucklehead? She's probably knucklehead number two. Is Drew? Is Ryan? Okay, how about the amount of fans who have a question? Are they all knuckleheads? One of their biggest donors use the Golden Parachute word. You calling him a knucklehead?

Brett Setser's probably given the second or third most money to UK athletics in the last 20 years. Is he a knucklehead? there's a lot of people that have these questions. And what happens with these leaders at the end is they just decide, I am king and the mere fact you're asking me a question makes them you a knucklehead. I don't care if you've got every maga hat in the world. You know that's what Trump does. You know it.

Cal did it. Mitch does it. Every question is like, I give credit. Pope doesn't do it. this. Every question is like you are questioning my authoritative

great video. You are allowed to ask questions and it doesn't make you a knucklehead if we get to the point in society that it is not good to ask a question of your leader we become something

completely different. This is a public university man. you get to ask questions. You need to ask questions. Now, maybe there's a good answer, but answer it. Don't say that the question is somehow a knucklehead. And then finally, he ends it by going, needs to stop. Why?

Why? Why should we listen to you and ask no question? Who made you king? you are an official paid for by the people in this state. You get to ask questions. And it doesn't get to stop just because you say so. It doesn't. Mitch Barnhart is a great man.

He is. He does a million things for this community. He's done a million things for UK athletics. But he is not above. of questioning. And neither is President Capiludo, Eric Monday, Andy Bashir, Donald Trump, anybody. That's what we're supposed to do. You ask questions. And what you should do is answer it. Not yell at people for asking the question. That's what I'm tired of. And in all that celebration of Mitch, which he deserves. He deserves all of it.

You got to end it by out the door going, pay me a million dollars a year and shut up. Shut up. And by the way, yeah, on my way out, they gave me a $150,000 a year raise for four years. That's $600,000. They gave me a $250,000 bonus. That's $850,000. And they added another year to my contract, which is $950,000. Which means on the way out the door, they added $1.8 million in salary that the school was not required to pay me and they just did it.

And don't ask one question about it. If that makes me a knucklehead, then I'm glad. Glad to be the head knuckle. We'll be right back. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in.

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Join me, Kear Gaines, is we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose. On my new podcast, Learn the Hardway. Open your free, Our Heart Radio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. Jacob Kingston grew up in an isolated polygamous sect. We were God's chosen kingdom on earth. He felt destined for greatness. So when a swaggering Armenian businessman catapults Jacob into an extraordinary world, he doesn't look back.

Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, meeting the president of Turkey. I'm Michelle McPhee, and this is one of the most shocking criminal conspiracies I've ever come across. When Jacob met Levin this went to a billion-dollar fraud. But with two kings from entirely different worlds, just how long can their empire survive? The largest tax investigation in American history. You need to tell me what you know. Is somebody coming after me? Jacob told Levan, you're ruining my life.

Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the Aihar Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds.

I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back to Tughey Sports Radio. A lot of people have strong opinions about my rant. That's a good little rant you did right there. I'm not, I think I sounded angry. I'm not angry.

But I also am a big believer in when you work for a public institution or a government job, we have to put trust in you to do that, right? I don't think the general public should get to make every decision. Everything doesn't go up to popular vote. but that also means it's imperative if we're going to as citizens as UK fans put trust in you you have to explain to us what you're doing right right I think that is completely fair I think it's fair for coaches for everybody I think that's why journalists are so important they need to be there to ask these questions and fans have these questions too it's easy just to dismiss

it Drew as it's a handful of people this radio show is listened to by more people than any radio show for a local sports team in America. If they thought I was out of control and not positive and all this, they wouldn't listen. People don't want to listen to somebody just rail on the team. We want them to win. And if I got too negative, the fans would show me by tuning out. But they don't because they feel the same way. Not all of them, but most of them.

Would you agree with that? Yes, especially on this one. I said recently, we can't agree on anything as a fan base. We fight over if Pope should have called a timeout or who should have taken a shot. But it seems like on this, we might be all 100% on. All right, what's going on? You may think he deserves this. I think I go back and forth.

But the $1.8 million of extra money. money that we didn't owe him that we just all of a sudden gave him. That is sketch. It is. We didn't even owe him that. We just gave it to him. Why? And those 10 lifetime tickets aren't cheap.

Yeah, but let me go back to 1.8 million. Some of this stuff we owed him in his previous contract. But we did not owe him this one point. They just added it. and the board of trustees did not approve it. Now, they don't have to under the bylaws, but only one person approved it, the president. And he didn't show up to the press conference.

One person approved this deal. And he didn't even show up. Hello? Does nobody think that's weird? Read between the lines, maybe. And I mentioned this during the break. Mitch went, I'll take a few questions. A few questions. And if I don't like them, it was like, my God, you're always telling on yourself. That's exactly right. You're telling on yourself. He played it off as joking, but I've seen a lot of Mitch Barnhart press conferences. This is what they are. I hated the one when he's set by Stoops. He called us in on a Saturday to basically just yell at us about the Stoops Cow thing.

Earlier, or last fall, whenever it was, I think it was John Hale's like, hey, is the N I'll thing good? Enough. It's like, my goodness. Every time you talk, we're didn't yell at one time I had a conversation with Mitch that was a positive conversation okay it was not like a negative this was a few years back and in it he kind of started berating me a little bit not in a bad way he was not like it was we were and he said and at one point I said to him I say this respectfully Mitch I don't work for you okay we are talking because I want this to be a good relationship because I want UK to win but I don't work for you. I think he thinks everyone,

the media works for him. And I think he thinks in some ways the fans. If not work for him, like, and I think that's a mistake. And I, I'm now switching a little bit. I'm not so mad. If somebody said to me, Shannon,

here's two million dollars extra, do you want it? You're going to take it. You're going to take it. Of course you are. Anybody would. But why did they give it to him? You're not supposed to question. the people that gave it to him are not speaking. Why? I'm all for giving a guy retirement.

A watch. Yeah. Or like Drew said, even just the country club memberships or maybe some tickets. I'm fine with that. I actually, the tickets don't bother me. A lot of people, the game, brought up to me the tickets. The tickets seem to get at people. Tons a lot.

Oddly that it doesn't bother me. But there are a lot of people that have brought up the tickets. That doesn't bother me as much. I'd be okay with it. Tickets, country club members. membership. Tens a lot. Those ain't cheap, and that's for

a life. Those could be sold. Yeah. What about, what? You have a... Well, you know, they gave, like, we brought up, they bought CM a house in the Bahamas. Was that controversial at the time?

That feels like that would have been, I'm going to buy you a house in the Bahamas. Of course, you know, this is before social media, so it didn't get as much run as it probably would have. Okay. But that's not, that's not as excessive, I think, as this is. No, this is more, for sure. What I hate is this is a money game now.

Now, even if he doesn't say a word to the new athletic director, the new athletic director has $950,000 on the books every year. When fans go to donate money, we're going to have to get over that hump before we start paying a shooting guard. Like, this is owed to him through athletics, and they're going to be asking people to help with their budget when no one wants to pay that. And Andy Staples, who's a National College Football Reporter, he wrote,

I don't think you're going to get an AD that does not have a connection to Mitch Barnhart because no AD is going to want to come and have Mitch Barnhart in the building. Fair point. Looking over your shoulder the whole time? I mean, I don't know AD, so it's hard for me to know that. But I think, you know, if you were doing betting odds, the chances you get a person with no connection to the staff, I think, goes down. Mm-hmm.

You know. Also, whose job was it to place people in sports already because they just got thrown under the bus? And then not only did they get bumped shit and they were like, look, you've done such a bad job. We are quintupling the salary that we pay for this. The whole situation just does not. It's a bad. And by the way, there might be, I want to be clear about this, there might be a reasonable explanation for all of this. Okay.

There might be. And maybe one will show itself. But that's why you ask the question. That's why the question is important, right? You can have an answer. But that's why the question is important. And, you know, I don't want to be down this path. It puts me in a weird spot.

It puts the people that I get along with in the UK in a weird spot. It puts my employer in a weird spot. But you know what? It'd be a lot easier for me just to move on. But, you know, some things have to be brought up. Somebody's got to say it because the fans think it, at least a lot of. So that's where we are. Now, I do want to completely switch gears because I am excited about football and I am excited about talking to Will Stein.

We haven't talked to him since he got hired. He's going to join us. Spring practice starts tomorrow. Yes. And he's going to join us, cross your fingers on the technology. Because there's a lot happening here during the break. We'll be right back. It's KSI.

Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Lever. help make you funnier. This week, my guest, S&L's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group

perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind.

And nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo, and every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headline. And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to SportsSlic on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slicel Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. I'm Michelle McPhee, and I've been unraveling the strangest,

Alliance I've ever reported on, a Mormon polygamist and an Armenian businessman. Multimillion dollar house, Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, a billion dollar fraud. But how long can this alliance last? Tell me what you know. Is somebody coming after me? Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, what's good, y'all? You're listening to Learn the Hard Way with your favorite therapist, host Kear Games. This space is about black men's experiences, having honest conversations that it's really not safe to have anywhere, but you're having them with a licensed professional who knows what he's doing. How many men carry a suit or armor? It signals to the world that you

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