Ensuring Greater Trust, Transparency and Accountability

As the University of, for and with Kentucky, we hold heightened responsibilities of accountability and transparency to the people we serve.

With more than 33,000 employees, we are among the state's largest employers. We serve every community of the Commonwealth and extend care to all corners of Kentucky. Our students represent each of our 120 counties. Simply put, we are Kentucky's university.

To continue demonstrating our commitment to transparency to our community, we are putting issues, policies and documents related to the work we do to advance Kentucky on this page. 

The University of Kentucky will soon begin a search for new leadership for UK Athletics. And the change will be occurring at a time when college athletics is at an undeniable inflection point. 

Major college athletics programs must generate significant revenues to compensate student athletes, help students maximize the opportunities for Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) and manage rising expenses that place increasing pressure on budgets and increase the need for even more efficient operations.

Against this backdrop of change and challenge, President Eli Capilouto has initiated a leadership search for UK Athletics after 24 years of sustained excellence under Athletics Director Mitch Barnhart, who retires from the position on June 30. 

As he has done for more than two decades in conducting senior level leadership searches, President Capilouto is initiating a listening tour — a series of substantive conversations with experts on and off campus, here in the Commonwealth and throughout the country, regarding the attributes necessary to continue and sustain excellence in what has been one of the country’s premier collegiate athletics programs.

President Capilouto started the listening sessions this week, beginning with members of the UK Athletics team. They are on the frontlines of caring for — and coaching — our students. They help us make memories through incredible fan experiences and they are deeply committed to ensuring we sustain excellence in everything that we do in UK Athletics.

This site is one way you can follow along with that search process.

Below are the key questions President Capilouto is asking in each interview and listening session:

• What do you see as the most important priorities and challenges facing UK Athletics today?
• What are the key attributes we should look for in our next leader?
• Considering the pre-reads, do you have any suggestions on the future athletics operating model?

Additionally, prior to each interview, President Capilouto has asked participants to engage with a series of readings that cover four thematic content areas:

• Major Developments in College Athletics
  An overview of key events that have reshaped the college athletics environment over the past decade—including NIL legislation, the transfer portal, and the House v. NCAA settlement.
• Media Rights and Structural Reform Discussions
  A policy paper and commentary examining proposals to centralize college athletics media rights and the potential legal, financial, and operational implications of such changes for universities and conferences. The commentary from the University of Louisville provides a financial picture consistent with many universities and an alternative view on media rights.
• Champions Blue Strategic Context
  A short briefing prepared for the UK Champions Blue Board outlining how Champions Blue is helping the university adapt to the changing economics of college athletics while sustaining competitive excellence and long-term institutional alignment. 
• Illustrative Operating Model Options
  Representative organizational models that institutions are exploring to address new realities such as revenue sharing with student-athletes, commercialization of athletics assets, and the need for expanded financial and operational capabilities within athletics departments. 

You can access those readings here: https://pres.uky.edu/sites/default/files/2026-03/listeningtour-athletics-pre-reads.pdf 

These materials are not intended to prescribe a specific path forward. Rather, they provide background on the environment in which decisions will be made and examples of approaches being considered across the industry.

Periodically, during the search process, this site will be updated additional content that describing the current landscape for collegiate athletics as well as updates on the search.

University of Kentucky is an $8.7 billion enterprise and fulfills its land-grant mission through teaching, research, service and health care — from students discovering their passions, to researchers making breakthroughs, to clinicians providing critical care in communities of every size. Behind the work that most Kentuckians see, however, is a complex network of decisions, partnerships and operational systems that keep the university and UK HealthCare running every day. 

A new recurring feature on “Behind the Blue” called “The Business of UK,” is designed to take listeners inside that part of the institution. This series will break down major business questions and explore the principles and processes that guide UK’s financial and operational decisions. 

As we continue to advance our more than 160-year-old mission, we are seeking partners to help us expand, operate more efficiently or create opportunities for our students and employees. 

These partnerships are essential to our business and our mission. We know that there is so much more we can do together than we could ever accomplish on our own — for the Commonwealth we serve and for the people who rely on us to do what only we can do. These relationships are built on trust, engagement, a commitment to a shared mission for a better tomorrow. 

UK is reviewing how support services are provided across the enterprise. 

By integrating units across our campus, we seek to mitigate risk, maximize technology use, operate more efficiently and position UK to continue accelerating its growth. These efforts will strengthen not only how we work, but how we advance Kentucky and its communities.