KSR - Kentucky Sports Radio - 4.12.2024 - Mitch Barnhart Interview

Episode Date: April 12, 2024

Mitch Barnhart joins Matt Jones to discuss the hiring of Mark Pope as UK's new Men's Basketball head coach.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL'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 podcast. 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 SportsSlice 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 headlines. 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 Sports Slice on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your And for more, follow Timbo Slica Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. What's up, guys? This is Clivert Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee.

We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me. He goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue with 42. A rep, my mama want you to wave at her. What?

Where's he at? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clifford Show on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Kentucky Athletics Director and Mitch, I'll start with this, a very simple question. You have a new coach, I assume, and it's Mark Pope. Tell me how you ended up getting there and why you ended up picking him. Yeah, that's a long question. The process is complicated and all these things and they move rapidly.

And obviously on Saturday night we didn't anticipate being in this kind of search this week. And so obviously you start on Monday and when you get news that things are moving. So you're prepared in terms of things that people that you might want to talk to and in conversations you might want to have. But at the end of the day, I think people have this notion that the pool is massively big. really more like a puddle of names because the folks that would would could want to do a job like the University of Kentucky is smaller than you would surmise. And so you get to that and then you begin the process of working your way through availability and people that you want. You've got a lot of big personalities involved in these things. And that includes not only the coaches,

but the representatives as well. And so you're working your way through all that. And And then obviously you've got the media and the public piece of that. So a lot of moving pieces. And we sort of vetted a few, not a few, several folks and then walked through it and got to a spot where I had a really good conversation with Mark Pope, which we've known Mark for years from the times that he's been back around our campus. And he and Leanne, we had a chance to visit with Leanne. She was in Houston, and so we had an opportunity to bring her into the conversation and really enjoyed the opportunity to spend more time with them and felt like he had the energy and the passion and understands this place at a really, really high level. There's not a lot of people that can say they captained a national championship team in any sport, and he did that for the University of Kentucky, and he brings an amazing passion and energy. for this place.

And, and, and, and, and, and, and, and then he has got the skill set that goes with it in terms of the offense and style of ball that he plays and the things that he does and the relationships that he has here. And once Mark gets here, and we're hopeful to get him here in the next day, hopefully tomorrow and in some way, shape, or form. And getting here, people get to see him and see his, his heartbeat for Kentucky. He's one of ours. And that means a lot to all of us and to the players that played here.

And to people who saw what he did as he represented as a student athlete, he'll do that and more as a coach. When you, if I'm a fan that's listening right now, and I'm saying Mitch Barnhart, give me one thing to get really excited about Mark Pope as the next coach of Kentucky beyond the fact that he played here. What would it be? Well, I think there's two pieces to the puzzle. So if you said one, I'd probably go two different sides of the coin. you know, one is the personality side and the other is the technical side. When you talk to the people in the basketball community, they talk about the unique offense that he runs and the way he forces teams to defend. And then he makes them defend all the way out, 27 by 50.

So they come all the way out and the way they break it down and they shoot the threes. They have, they led their third in the country and made threes. They were first in, I think, a three point field goal percent or a three point field goal percent. So they were up there at least in the top five all year. Their offensive efficiency is high level. They were 81 points a game. So when I talk about why that fits in today's landscape of college basketball, obviously we had a team that was upper 80s this year.

And sometimes on the defensive end, we didn't get as much on the defensive end as we used to. And so I think what Mark does, he brings a little bit of his style as a player when he was here. And he's matched it with some nuances to. the offense that I think are really, really cool. And we talk technically a lot about three on one side of the court and two on the other. It's the new move of the NBA and where the NBA is going. It's some of the things that they're doing. The players like to play that way.

And he has already put that in his stuff. And it's really good. And so as you talk to some of the basketball, I'll say junkies, but if you talk about some of the people that are sort of the nuances of the game, Mark's on the cutting edge of those things offensively. And defensively, he likes to do some of the things that his team was famous playing for and how they put pressure on people and turn them over. So from a technical perspective, I'd say you're going to see a little bit of a throwback

to some of the things that look like a team that Mark played for. And not exactly the same because he's tweaked it a little bit and puts him his own stuff in there. And then on the other side of the coin, Matt, I think what he has done is he brings the tenacity, the toughness and the positive energy. He is a positive guy. You can't be around Mark Pope very long with. If you don't hear the positivity in his voice, he uses words like, we're crushing it.

We're going to crush that. We're going to, you know, he gets to get after it. And his positive energy for anybody that comes into contact with him is contagious. And I think, you know, if you back, I went back and looked at a couple of his pressures. From other things that he'd done, you know, words like relentless and tenacity and toughness, roll off his tongue easily because that's what his teams do. and he went to some really in a league that arguably maybe right or wrong. You can say arguably they were the best basketball conference this year in the deal.

That's what they all said and went in. And that Big 12 did not have anybody in the Final Four. But they had a lot of teams in that conversation in terms of the NCAA tournament. And he went in to venues and hosted teams in the venues. And in his first year in that league and probably should have been named Big 12 coach of the year. He did not get that, but he went places. He beat teams that we didn't beat, and he beat teams that were people that we interviewed. So, you know, I just say he has a lack of fear of the situation.

He is ready to take everything on, and he knows how big this job is, and he knows how important it is to this state. And so that's more than one. He means a lot to him, Matt. Well, let me ask you this, because I'm going to give you, if the average fan, sort of thought, concern I've heard, and maybe you can address some of them. I think that school he was at has unique challenges in recruiting. Do you believe he can bring the best talent to Kentucky?

I think most people believe in his exes and O's. Can he get the players here that people think you need to win a title? Yeah, well, I think that the person in the pudding, obviously, we've got to go get that done. So I get off the phone with him last night, and he already talked to me about two players that he couldn't get to come to have a conversation with him at BYU that already called him back and said, Coach, I'll come to Kentucky. So it is about the name on the front. It's about the name on the front of the jersey, right?

And there's something about that brand. So if you go back and you look at, and if you look at just in the social impressions from Monday at 3 o'clock until Tuesday at 3 o'clock, the University of Connecticut won the national championship, obviously. and they had 17 million impressions in that 24-hour period of time. Kentucky basketball coming off something that everyone would agree is not where we want to be. In the same 24-hour period of time, we had 37 million impressions. Over double. So my point is the brand is real, and it is really, really important.

And we've got to effectively use it, and we use it. We combine some things in recruiting with the tenacity and recruiting, a staff in recruiting, the brand that we have, and then the NIL space, and we've got some people that have already stepped up over the last 24 hours. We've got several donors that have stepped up to put over $4 million in our NIL portfolio for coach to work with. To get started. That was reported earlier. You can confirm that's true? I can confirm that's true. Gotcha. So that's hugely, that's hugely important for us as we go forward, obviously, in terms of roster management of the current roster as in the roster management going forward. Everyone talks what we can, we can say that these are

weird conversations. This is stuff we've really never talked about on the air. before it's new but it's real and so yes so that is part of our our deal now and we and we continue to move forward we've got we've got more coming people want to get involved we can tell them how to do that through um our avenues well can you i mean i how can you do it you want to do that you want to club blue yeah you can do it through club blue if you go to club i put it on my social there's a link to club blue if you want to go to that you all you do is is um you go to and i'm not plugging my twitter page because i really don't you know that's not my deal but um there's if you go there you'll find uh on my social there is a

link to club blue i'll put it out later i'll that way people can uh can can get it yeah yours is probably more popular than my partner well thank let me ask you this question because this is going to be this is going to be what people are going to talk about there is that over the last few years everybody knows what it has been like do you feel like what are some things in the last couple years that were weaknesses maybe around the program that you think Mark Pope makes better with his presence. Everybody knows the strengths of the Cal era. What about some things you think will get better with Mark Pope as the coach? Well, I don't, I think as we look forward, and that's why I want to be really focused on that.

And I think that's where you're headed to, man. I really appreciate Mark's desire to bring the Big Blue Nation and all of us together as we galvanized to go back and be who we want to be. And when I, I taught the first thing when we sat down, he says, Mitch, thanks for the opportunity to sit down with you. That place changed my life. He says the trajectory of Mark Pope's life changed the day I walked on the campus at the University of Kentucky. he said that place means more to me than you can possibly imagine that no one can replicate that DNA no one can and so it's passionate and it's emotional and that's what you get when he told and i don't want to steal all of his stories because he's got some great stuff but when he talks about the

autograph signing line after the national championship and what it meant the people was they stood in line to catch a chance to have a glimpse of a national champion. That's the heartbeat of all of our fans from border to border in the state. And Mark gets that. And that's what I want to make sure that we galvanize that. We galvanize our department around that. There's been, you know, some things that have happened that we need to be banded together better.

And I've challenged Mark to really be thoughtful of how we do that. And that's important to me. That helps us as we create culture within our department and culture within our team in our locker room and we become a program that walks out with that name on the front of the jersey and we walk out there representing the big blue nation and the four million people in our state and worldwide that is so important that's what i think um hopeful that we can be as a department better and that's on me and as a as a as a basketball program that people feel that i want them to feel that when they walk in we understand the goal and we're going to have the the pressure in rep arena It's going to be in Rupp Arena. And it is very... So you're going to have the press conference in Rupp Arena. Do you know what day that'll be?

They're working on the logistics on that. Probably Sunday, Matt. Probably Sunday. So we're working on that probably Sunday. So working trying to get all the details pulled together. There's an event and Rup on money. And will that be like for the public? Like the public can come?

Absolutely. Absolutely. Okay. All right. So that's the first time I can remember that being the case. So that it'll be on Sunday. All right. So again, I'm kind of trying to channels.

I apologize. I apologize the media on that. I know it's not a great day for that, but we're trying to get everything going, get everybody going, and he needs, obviously the task at hand is, is rosters and recruiting.

All right, so let's talk for a second. One other thing, one of the thing that everybody understands. The process has to move really quickly because the dead period ends. You know, and so all of a sudden,

now everybody's out in recruiting to. That was critical mass as we move forward in terms of recruiting. like you could wait for someone, am I right? You can't wait long in this process because a lot of things happen. You know, people are, you know, all of a sudden you got people making decisions in the transfer world and that kind of stuff that are, you know, are critical to rosters. And, you know, you'll just give us time and no one's willing, no one's going to give you time. I mean, that's not a, it's not in the, they don't care who you are in that, in that deal.

It's, it's, it's moving quickly. Do you think there will be, have you all reached out to, or do you think there will be any players that were either currently on the team or potentially committed that you can be able to get to still be at Kentucky, play for Kentucky under Mark Pope? Well, I certainly, you know, obviously those are coaches' calls, and he's going to make those calls, but I certainly hope that everyone give this staff an opportunity

to be able to have a conversation before they do it. That's why getting it done quickly was really, really, not getting done quickly, but getting done efficiently and being ready to go, was really, really important because those, we're not crazy, this notion that no one's quote unquote tampering with your roster, that's gone. I mean, that's, NCAA says, you know, please call us if you hear that's happening. I don't know that they can handle the number of phone calls, that it happens on a daily basis from sport to sport.

It's not even something they can track. So, yeah, I mean, you've got to be, you've got to jump in the middle of this pretty, pretty heavily and get to your roster and manage that and he's doing it. He's going to do that. That's job number one, position number one, role number one, whatever you want to talk about. That's the first thing on

his list amongst other things who've got connecting with our fan base. I'm not sure if you're, if you moved or something, but you're a little harder to hear. So for the last question, if you go back to where you were before that question, that would be easier. I want to give you one, I want to say one last thing. Okay, so I got

online last night. when this got announced, a lot of skepticism, a lot of frustration, a lot of worry, to be honest with you. Seems much better this morning, but that's still out there. Part of as an AD, you want everybody to rally the troops. I'm going to get you to put on your Colonel, you know, Mitch Barnhart hat. Rally the troops. Why is Mark Pope going to be successful at Kentucky? I don't know that you can ever describe what it feels.

like to put the sea on a shirt and captain a group of guys to a championship. We're going to roll out at Ruppelin and we're going to have a spotlight on the banners that represent this place. There's very few people that can stand on a podium and say they were a part of that and they captained the team and now they're ready to leave the ship. this is our time to not bicker we've been vicar in a while about what we should do not do

it's time to say this is our guy he's one of ours and it is time to roll in get behind this guy and let's go win something together and let's make sure that we have a heartbeat of what's on the front of that jersey the right way

and this guy can do it he's got an unbelievable passion for this program. He's got an intelligence about the game, and he is absolutely the most positive people have ever been around. And the players, they're going to be at that pressure that have come out.

They believe in him. And so I don't ever want to cast away the opportunity to say, you know what? Ours aren't good enough to go lead our program. They are. And this guy's great enough to lead our program. And he is.

And we can go, win championships and we will. Mitch Barhart, thank you very much. I appreciate you calling in and I will see you Sunday. Thanks, Matt. Appreciate it. 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 Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where

Is 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 IHeart 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 headlines. 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 SportsSlicse. On the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. What's up guys? This is Clifford Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds

of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker walks up to me. and he goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue of 42.

Hey, rep, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Where's she at? Hey, Ms. Parker. Listen to the Cliverts show on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.