What is Mitch Doing

[BigblueDrew]

I must admitt that Billy Donovans statement that nobody from Kentucky ever approached him about the job is VERY DISTURBING. He is either a liar, or our Athletic Director is botching the most important task of his career. We are a high profile job, maybeTHE high profile job in college basketball. If Mitch Barnhart put our coaching search on hold for two weeks because the best man available had indicated he was interested fine. If he did so however based on a hope that Donovan would come and nothing more(which is exactly what Donovan is implying he did)then I must question his fitness to hire a coach at all. In the two week interim several coaches have been forced to manuever into positions that make them much more difficult to hire. Example BOTH Gillespie and Calapari have been given contract exstensions by nervous ADs to preempt a UK call. It also hieghtens the national perception that "somethings wrong at Kentucky". If we wait two weeks and hire Donovan it evaporates instantly but since we didn't and he states publically that we never were even seriously considered it begins to turn into a two thousand pound elephant. That Barnhart wasn't smart enough or perceptive enough to see this is a big concern. I feel he will feel pressure expand exponentially DAILLY from now on. As this pressure increases it could easily turn to desperation and a bad hire ensues. Think Matt D at UNC. I hope i am wrong but I am becoming alarmed. I wish I had some idea just exactly what mitch was planning at this point, and I HOPE THE PLAN IS BETTER THAN HIS FIRST ONE>

[TrueblueCATfan]

he is doing exactly what the fans have wanted for the past 2 years ..HIRE A NEW COACH

I suspected all along that Donovan would stay at Florida and who could blame him.....his family has been there for 11 years and he just won 2 titles back to back

[phoenix]

Agree with BBD about MB if this is how the coach search has gone. I expected MB to have his ducks sorted and lined up and Duck @2 behind Donovan should have been a lock. I cannot see an AD not supporting his coach as Mitch had made clear by distancing himself from Tubby, and then not having contingency plans in place if that coach left on him, as Tubby did. In fact I wouold call it stupid and grounds for firing. If you really want your coach to be around you don't lukewarm or chill him when the fans are out there throwing stones.

I still think Barnhart should be smart enough to have his fallback position ready and waiting but, no, I am not fully confidant he does.

[RV]

http://media.scout.com/media/image/24/242735.gif

Mitch

[BlueBalls]

This brings up the question of this search firm. It was my understanding that hiring this search firm was a way to identify people who were interested and not interested. So, either the search firm confirmed to Mitch that Donovan wasn't interested and he went after him anyway.......or, the search firm took UK's money and told Mitch what he wanted to hear. Either way, Mitch has egg on his face. I can't believe Donovan had NO interest in the job at all, and nobody connected with UK knew it.

Actually, now, Mitch has about 2 phone calls left to make a good hire. After 2 weeks, there is no reason for this to drag out. There should have been a plan B with interested coaches identified and lined up. Mitch should have had a list of coaches to call once Donovan turned us down. I hope he does anyway.

[TrueblueCATfan]

BlueBalls wrote: This brings up the question of this search firm. It was my understanding that hiring this search firm was a way to identify people who were interested and not interested. So, either the search firm confirmed to Mitch that Donovan wasn't interested and he went after him anyway.......or, the search firm took UK's money and told Mitch what he wanted to hear. Either way, Mitch has egg on his face. I can't believe Donovan had NO interest in the job at all, and nobody connected with UK knew it.

Actually, now, Mitch has about 2 phone calls left to make a good hire. After 2 weeks, there is no reason for this to drag out. There should have been a plan B with interested coaches identified and lined up. Mitch should have had a list of coaches to call once Donovan turned us down. I hope he does anyway.



you bring up very good points..............BUT just maybe Donovan was NOT interested in the UK job and that is exactly what he told him......we can't fault him for that

[kyjohn]

It's all about the agents people.The agent approaches his client to determine if the client is onterested,the agent in turn reports back to the potential employer.The potential employer can only go on what the agent tells him.Why can't people understand this?

[BigblueDrew]

kyjohn wrote: It's all about the agents people.The agent approaches his client to determine if the client is onterested,the agent in turn reports back to the potential employer.The potential employer can only go on what the agent tells him.Why can't people understand this?
OkayI see. The agent did it in the conservatory with a candlestick. Mitch is off the hook.

[TransientAlum]

BigblueDrew wrote: kyjohn wrote: It's all about the agents people.The agent approaches his client to determine if the client is onterested,the agent in turn reports back to the potential employer.The potential employer can only go on what the agent tells him.Why can't people understand this?
OkayI see. The agent did it in the conservatory with a candlestick. Mitch is off the hook.
LOL :thumbup

[Houstoncat]

The search firm got TS a job and saved us millions and much adverse publicity.

[BigBlue75]

All I will say about this is there is NO WAY I'm going to believe that Billy Donovan was not made aware of UK's interest. This notion that Mitch Barnhart was just marking time and doing absolutely NOTHING is just plain absurd. The man KNOWS this is the single most important hire he will make during his tenure at UK, if not his whole bleetin' career! I have no doubt that there were no OFFICIAL offers made to BD, but I can just about guarantee that his agent's phone wasburning up with calls from Lexington. If Mitch is guilty of anything, he's guilty of not wanting the hiring of the next UK coach to turn into a media circus like it did when certain football coaches that we're all aware of were hired, and he's also guilty of not cow-towing to the press who think that every word spoken in the AD's office ought to be common knowledge.

What I want to know is, from all indications, Donovan never had the faintest intention of leaving Florida, and that's fine. If that were the case, why in the world didn't he immediately say "I'm not interested and I'm not leaving" the first time his name surfaced? He could have spared himself and our AD a lot of hassle.

[Will Lavender]

Mitch shouldn't be blamed one iota for what happened with Donovan.

He knew whether he was going to come or not. Nothing Mitch could have done -- no money, no promises, nothing -- would change his mind.

No blame here. There isn't a strategy in the world to hiring a coach like Donovan. You put the money out there, you make sure he realizes what's involved, and then you hope.

[yitbos]

and we wonder why the media portrays UK fans poorly

[colonelcatfan]

Will, yitbos, you both nailed this situation. Donovan just turned the job down TODAY. Can we wait until at least tomorrow before we lynch MB for trying to do what us crazy fans want and do it with some dignity and decorum?

[poodoo]

Will Lavender wrote: Mitch shouldn't be blamed one iota for what happened with Donovan.

He knew whether he was going to come or not. Nothing Mitch could have done -- no money, no promises, nothing -- would change his mind.

No blame here. There isn't a strategy in the world to hiring a coach like Donovan. You put the money out there, you make sure he realizes what's involved, and then you hope.

Thanks for being a voice of reason, Will. Too, it seems that Mitch Barnhart was doing something and actually did quite well. :)

[TransientAlum]

colonelcatfan wrote: Will, yitbos, you both nailed this situation. Donovan just turned the job down TODAY. Can we wait until at least tomorrow before we lynch MB for trying to do what us crazy fans want and do it with some dignity and decorum?

....

Lynching postponed due to good decision making.

Will wait for next big coaching search to reform.:ggrin:

[eman484]

Doesn't surprise me that the trash talkers didn't return to this thread to eat some crow. Sometimes I feel like people just complain for the sake of complaining.

[BigblueDrew]

eman484 wrote: Doesn't surprise me that the trash talkers didn't return to this thread to eat some crow. Sometimes I feel like people just complain for the sake of complaining.




Why should we we have a LEGION of folks like you to point out our many shortcomings to us. Sometimes I think some of our fans get off on complaining about our fans.

With that said I for one will cop to unfairly criticizing Mitch. He got the job done and my hats off to him. Well done.

[TransientAlum]

When Billy said no, I was concerned as to whether Mitch would move fast enough and said it. He did just as I believed he needed to do. BZ and see my above. :lol:

[titleist_guy]

[poodoo]

TransientAlum wrote: colonelcatfan wrote: Will, yitbos, you both nailed this situation. Donovan just turned the job down TODAY. Can we wait until at least tomorrow before we lynch MB for trying to do what us crazy fans want and do it with some dignity and decorum?

....

Lynching postponed due to good decision making.

Will wait for next big coaching search to reform.:ggrin:


:ggrin:, TransientAlum.

Too, I read in the CJ that Coach Donovan commended Mitch Barnhart for the "CLASSY" way he had handled things. So "lynching" is furtherpostponed for good decision-making AND behaving in a classy manner. :)Seriously, :thumbup:thumbupto Mitch Barnhart.

[WildcatinNC]

I came back to this thread just out of curiosity but love your statement.:thumbup

Many other good statements in the thread, loved the delay of lynching. I think it turned out to be a good thing to delay.