Kentucky athletic director Mitch Barnhart is not on the good side of many Wildcats fans at the moment.
Barnhart’s decision to target BYU head coach and UK alum Mark Pope as the school’s new men’s basketball coach after more prominent options disappeared has elicited plenty of negative feedback on X/Twitter.
“Fire Barnhart,” said UK alum Derek Terry.
“I might be looking for a new college team to root for are you actually serious? Fire Mitch Barnhart for this bs,” another Kentucky fan said.
“Fire Mitch Barnhart right now. Get this clown out of Lexington. What an absolute disgrace. An embarrassment,” a third fan chimed in.
“I’m being dead serious. Somebody go fire Mitch Barnhart right now,” a fourth fan said.
“Okay maybe we should be in an uproar. Fire Barnhart,” a fifth fan added.
“Can we start a petition to fire Barnhart? Asking for a friend @KySportsRadio,” another fan wondered.
Pope, 51, was a member of Kentucky’s 1995-96 national championship team and has posted a winning record in eight of his nine seasons as head coach at BYU and Utah Valley. He also led the Cougars to two NCAA Tournament appearances and a trip to the NIT quarterfinals in the last four years.
That’s not enough to satisfy many BBN members right now though. Those who had visions of Scott Drew, Dan Hurley or Billy Donovan manning the sideline at Rupp Arena are disappointed at the moment, to say the least.
We’ll see if Pope can ultimately prove them wrong.