Kentucky Athletic Director Mitch Barnhart is patient when it comes to supporting his coaches and staff.
“We’ve been a place that’s embraced our coaches,” Banrhart said Friday. “We’ve got longevity with our coaches, and we’ve never overreacted to things. Maybe that’s something that people don’t particularly like about me. I’m not particularly caring at this point.”
During a football press conference on Friday, Barnhart admitted that last year’s 4-8 mark, including a 1-7 finish in the Southeastern Conference, wasn’t acceptable.
“We’ve got to get better,” he said. “We’ve got to fight and find our way to some more wins in a really, really difficult schedule. I was looking at our schedule the other day, and they said that — I’ve heard everybody say that we’ve got the second- or third-most difficult schedule in the SEC. I’ve heard fifth or sixth. Regardless, if you look at the schedule, it’s a difficult schedule.”
The schedule, Barnhart said, doesn’t afford coach Mark Stoops and his staff the luxury of looking ahead.
“You take one week at a time — don’t try and get ahead of it,” he said.
As for Stoops, who is entering his 13th season and the longest-tenured coach in the SEC, Barnhart is confident he can bounce back from last year’s dismal season.
“We’ve been in this spot where we’re coming off tough moments where we didn’t get what we wanted to do, and Mark is really, really good at fighting through adversity,” Barnhart said. “I’ve been so pleased with how hard our staff has worked, the way our players have worked, the roster we have in place.”
Kentucky offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan is back for a second season, and he seeks more chemistry within his offensive unit as the Wildcats blend in 30 newcomers with 27 returnees on offense.
“It's a good challenge (and) it's a good blend, but again, I think there's year one issues,” he said. “When you get to year two, the ability for everybody to be on the same page is critical."
Defensive coordinator Brad White agreed.
"The reality of the situation is you just have to figure it out," he said. "We've got a whole bunch of pieces on the table right now, and we just have to piece them together. And we have to figure out, 'Hey, what are the new guys do best? What are they comfortable with?'"
Kentucky’s schedule isn’t doing the Wildcats any favors as Stoops works with a rebuilt roster stocked with transfers and a mixture of freshmen newcomers. However, Barnhart isn’t putting a number on what would be considered a successful season.
“We have to do it on the field, and our league is unforgiving,” he said. “It is an unforgiving place to play football, but we’ve got to find a way to get better. You know me well enough to know I’m not going to sit here and say, it’s this number of wins, it’s this number of things. I’m not doing that. I’ve never done that. I’m not going to start doing that now.”
Kentucky football coach Mark Stoops and the Wildcats met the press at Media Day on Friday. (Keith Taylor/Kentucky Today)
