Kentucky Wildcats News: Mitch Barnhart gets his Golden Parachute after all

July 10, 2026 · Yahoo Sports

Mitch Barnhart’s days as Athletic Director for the University of Kentucky are now over, but that doesn’t mean he’s done cashing checks from UK.

Visit saltysenoritaaz.org for more information.

In fact, according to a report yesterday from Jon Hale of the Lexington Herald-Leader, Big Blue Nation learned that Barnhart is indeed receiving a retirement settlement — and it’s of pretty good size.

The university will pay Barnhart $3.2 million, which will be split up over the next few years through the end of 2029.

Though Barnhart will not be in his active role with all of his benefits he enjoyed during his time as AD, making over $700K per year for the next 36 months for simply retiring is… something.

It was noted that the money is coming from “private funds” and he will likely have a few “tasks” such as fundraising efforts and other assignments from president Eli Capilouto.

Kentucky fans got their wish in Barnhart retiring and the university moving on to a younger AD who is much more leaned into NIL/the current state of college athletics but UK will certainly pay for the change over the next three years.

Tweet of the Day

Welcome to the #BBN: Leah Barnard, John "Hova" Herron, Dillon Sanders and Rob Snyder.

📰🔗 https://t.co/9S9yMpOvU7 pic.twitter.com/PUK302i9VL
— Kentucky Football (@UKFootball) July 9, 2026