The House of Blue

Yup, there is just no way UK can even remotely keep up with the rest of the SEC when the university has to pay for projects straight out of their pocket.

Tomorrow's installment is all about the bonding and financial issues they face.

Am I to assume you put Rich Brooks into the "idiot" category? Wasn't one of the big reasons he left when he did because Barnhardt didn't listen to Papaw's "stupididy" about things that were needed?

Thanks for the article Matt. Now let the bashing begin.

Just a curious subject, the explanations as to why things don't get done. If the problem is the inability of the UK AA to self bond projects without state approval....why is that being pointed at NOW as the one single problem holding back football upgrades? Why hasnt this been a topic of conversation that needs to be changed previously? Us UK fans are pretty passionate, if this has been a problem then we should have been asked many years ago to help get it fixed via pressuring politicians and taking action at the ballot box.

Just like the bond request this past legislature session, not one word was said that it was going to be attempted. Why not promote the request, ask UK fans to contact their reps/senators to approve it? Or was the fear that the opposite would occur, the backlash against athletics getting funding would have been greater? So the best plan to suceed was to keep it hush-hush, keep it quiet so it might be snuck through?

That's yet another point that I've argued and never had answered. Why are we just finding out this is an issue. (and by just finding out, I mean in the last year for those of you that would use that statement as a way to say my opinion wasn't factually based) Problems don't get solved until they are accepted as problems. I've never been one who thought "fixing" UK football would be easy, but I at least want to see the people in positions of power make an effort to find cretive ways to adress problems.

And the thing is, I hope with all my heart and soul that Joker manages to pull this thing together and be succesful despite the limitations of UK football, but even if he is, unless we hold the atheltics directors nose to the fire for positive change, our success will be brief and we will lapse backwards yet again. A total culture change has to occor for this program to reach the hights most fans want it too.

I love it Catmando... How does UofL have much better facilities than us because they do? Oh yea, they don't care to do the band-aids because they know it will help now... Heck even WKU has a recruiting room and we don't that's a D___ shame... Do they have to get bonded? Why can't we leave good enough alone and try to build some FB tradition. Do we have to have a new BB arena? No, we don't but we all know we will see one of the most state of the art BB arenas far before we will ever see a renovation to CW, large recruiting budget or legit SEC funding for our FB team... Tradition isn't 40 or 50 years to 18 year olds and we all know that, to alot of 18 year olds tradition is relative to thier HS years... If we could start getting 8-10 wins a year 18 year olds would forget all about the first 100 years of bad FB... Money is what gets the elite recruits, and Joker deserves more...

Does TN and Vandy have to get bonded? I know Vandy has poor facilities but it seems like they have some major projects in the works... TN has some of the best facilities in the country yet we are suppose to beat those guys... My question is what happens to all the SEC money we are given? If a big chunk of that money can't be given back to the FB team, than lets please leave this conf, I love SEC FB more than anything, but how is it realistic to expect to win when we don't produce enough talent in our state nor do we have middle of the pack facilities... If we can't get the much needed upgrades I would much rather see us play and compete with the ACC's best in VT, GT, Clemson or Miami than I would ARK, BAMA, LSU, SC or GA...

What about putting all the "boosters" money into one pot? Is it already done that way? I have a lot of questions, like most do. I'm sorry but 5-6 wins and 1 or 2 SEC Wins are not enough to keep me buying season tickets every year, yet for some reason I always do... I also come to all the FB events I can, the truth is we all want better FB. I really wish Mitch could do something, I know he wants the RR done when he gets CW the major face-lift but if the major face-lift obviously isn't possible then lets go ahead and get what Mitch and others are calliing band-aids. If in the future the state will do Bonding then Heck Mitch could then turn the "ole" RR into something else. Like I said if we can't get CW the major Face-lift UK FB needs then heck lets go ahead and do everything else we can now... That's just my opinion but for some reason I really feel that Mitch and the rest of the shot callers don't feel that way...

This. Just mention his name and people who can't even see the information being put out will come out to bash. The fact of the matter is that these people just want to bitch and that is the only thing left unknown for them to point at and that is why they doing it. Part of me wants Barnhart just to lay it out and detail his every plan to shut these people up, but I know they will just move to something else to bitch about at that point (LOD).

Does Mitch Barnhart have to explain exactly what he is doing to get it done? No. If he says he's trying to get the shit done then frankly why not believe this is the case? Why do you guys have to assume he isn't doing enough when you don't have a clue? The answer to that is that you are just waiting to spin everything negatively, so until details come out then he's guilty (LOD).

You guys are ridiculous, now that there is something tangible to point to as a very real reason why things aren't getting done in regards to football (and an AD who is saying he is doing everything he can to get around it), you have to move on to generalities and your bashing has reached pathetic levels. When you are left talking about obstacles in life and comparing that to this then you know you should probably stop. Just saying.

Now all we have to do is find someone to make a 12 million dollar donation for the women's softball complex!

Easy-peasy.

Also, I can't read the article, and so I won't pretend it does or does not address the many questions I have about what is going on.

Glad to hear questions are being asked though, I imagine that I've asked some of the same ones of the Board of Trustees (with no response as of yet) and like someone said earlier, the first step to solving a problem is to identify the true source.

Because he's been UK's A.D. for quite some time and HASN"T gotten it done! Surely you are smart enough to understand that? Why do you assume that he is doing something he never has before? If your gonaa b*tch and complain about anti Barnhart post, at least answer the questions we propose instead of accusing people of being LOD because they are asking questions that have never been answered. From what I can tell, you are just another uniformed fan with an opinion, and despite what you may think Moss, my opinion is just as valuable as yours.

So you don't have an opinion because you haven't read the story and then proceed to spend the rest of the thread giving your opinion? That makes sense. Seems your opinion - as well as several of the other usual suspects - is pretty simple and clear: Mitch Barnhart sucks and nothing he's ever done or ever will do will ever be enough to cause you to examine the situation in an unbiased, clear way.

You don't know of anything he's done? So you don't know of the $15 million they've put into upgrading football facilities in the last five years, not counting the increased money that's been put into the coaching staff? So you don't know about the new practice fields, new Commonwealth Stadium surface, new locker rooms at Nutter Training Facility and Commonwealth, new meeting rooms, new A/V system in Nutter, new video boards and sound system in Commonwealth, new surface/lighting for the Fieldhouse, etc.? Yeah, sounds like UK's administration has done nothing to change UK football, right? But hey, a nice place for recruits to eat before the game is going to suddenly make them a BCS contender.

The fact of the matter is I almost didn't even want to post these interviews because the anti-Mitch crowd is always going to hijack the thread with the same uninformed propaganda as always no matter how little evidence there is to support their claims. What's worse, is most of those people acknowledge they haven't even read his comments. They just bash to bash because they don't know any better and they want to blame someone.