2026-03-09- KSR - Hour 1

Next Monday, our 2026 iHeart Podcast Awards are happening live at South by Southwest. This is the biggest night in podcasting. We'll honor the very best in podcasting from the past year and celebrate the most innovative talent and creators in the industry. And the winner is... Creativity, knowledge, and passion will all be on full display. Thank you so much, iHeartRadio. Thank you to all the other nominees. You guys are awesome. Watch live next Monday at 8 p.m. Eastern, 5 p.m. Pacific, free at veeps.com or the veeps app. Ego Wodham is your host for the 2026 iHeart Podcast Awards live at South by Southwest. Hello, is anybody there? Raised by a single mom, Ego may have a few father-related issues. Are we supposed to talk about your dad? Her podcast, Thanks Dad, is full of funny, heartfelt conversations with actors, including fellow SNL alums, comedians, musicians, and more about life and their wonderfully complicated relationships with their fathers. I think and hope that's a good thing. Get to know Ego. Follow Thanks Dad with Ego Wodham and start listening on the free iHeartRadio app today. Hey, I'm Jay Shetty, host of the On Purpose podcast. My latest episode is with Hilary Duff, singer, actress, and multi-platinum artist. You desire in family, like, this picture, and that's not reality. My sister and I don't speak. It's definitely a very painful part of my life, and I hope it's not forever, but it's for right now. Listen to On Purpose with Jay Shetty on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Amanda Knox, and in the new podcast, Doubt, The Case of Lucy Letby, we unpack the story of an unimaginable tragedy that gripped the UK in 2023. But what if we didn't get the whole story? How did this have been made to fit? The moment you look at the whole picture, the case collapsed. What if the truth was disguised by a story we chose to believe? Oh my God, I think she might be innocent. Listen to Doubt, The Case of Lucy Letby on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. From Netflix and Hulu, Comedy Off-Broadway in Lexington welcomes Ashley Gavin, February 27th and 28th. Then from TV and the movies, he's one of the kings of comedy. Catch D.L. Hughley, March 6th through the 8th. And from the Nate Land Podcast and the Grand Ole Opry, don't miss Aaron Weber, March 12th through the 14th. For tickets to all Comedy Off-Broadway shows, call 859-271-JOKE or visit ComedyOffBroadway.com. Comedy Off-Broadway. This is Kentucky Sports Radio presented by Stockton Mortgage. Now, here's Matt Jones. Welcome, everyone. It is Kentucky Sports Radio Monday, March the 9th on a massive show of SEC Tournament Week here in Lexington, Kentucky. you can give us a shout although i'm not sure we're going to take calls for a while 859-280-2287 a vision auto glass text machine is 772-774-5254 and this is sponsored by the tj smith law office if you call tj he'll make them pay let me give you a little road map of the show all right first of all you got to have your mic on is it on does not sound it is not on so billy if you will come and and try to get Ryan to where he can be on the air. That will help. Until then, we'll talk to Drew. Here's what we're going to do. We're going to start with the basketball game from 10 to 1030, maybe 1040. Then we're going to switch over to Knucklehead Sports Radio for just a few minutes. Okay. And then we are going – there he is. You there? Check one, two, baby. And then at 11 o'clock, we have Will Stein coming on. Nice. And we'll do the thing, Shannon, where we do two segments in a row, right? You know how we do it. And then at 1130, we'll open up the phones and people can talk about what they want to talk about. How's that for a plan? That's a Monday crackdown beatdown. What? I don't know what that means. I'm not going to beat down or crackdown anyone. We're going to talk about the world of UK sports because it's SEC Tournament Week, one of my favorite weeks of the year. And it will get started quicker than it's ever gotten started before. I don't love the situation, but I'll admit I woke up smiling knowing it's SEC tournament week. I'd rather not play Wednesday, but this is my favorite week of the year, and I'll be there. I love it. And you know what? If we're the first team eliminated, I'll still be in Nashville. Just with a lot less to do, Shannon. Possibly a really short party, but you know what? We'll make the best of it. If they lose in the first round, then Nashville's just going to get four days of the Cowboy hat. I'll tell you what, if they lose in the first round, my party might be triple what it would have been. Yeah, I mean, in some ways, it'll be a much wilder week. You won't be anxious? We'll be distressed? No, I'll have nothing to do. We'll do the show. We'll be done at noon, and then it's just me with the cowboy hat riding mechanical bulls the whole time, Shannon. You've got to make that happen. Have you ever been on one of those? No, no. Okay, this is your week. I think I would break a hip. I can't do that. I'd love to see it. But, you know, Mario and I are staying down there, and Drew, anyway. So it could just be me, Mario, and Drew take on the city. I book Wednesday to Saturday. That money is gone. I'm not getting it back, so I'll be there, whatever happens. And if I need to stay until Sunday, I'll figure that out. But I'm at least through Saturday. All right. Well, so let's talk about – let's go back to Saturday against Florida. It was over before I even got to watch the game. Right? So when they start on ESPN News, I don't – I just don't know ESPN News. I think I have it, but I don't ever turn it on there. So I'm sitting there watching, and who played before us? Vandy in Tennessee? Is that who was before us? Arkansas. No, Arkansas, Missouri was at noon. Who was at two? I was at Rupp, so I wouldn't come up. Well, whoever it was, the game would not end. And I just kept looking in the corner and seeing numbers add up. It was like, oh, 2-0, 4-0, 7-0. and I was like fine because I went to all the pregame and let me say Rupp was hype I left right before actually it was 4-0 when I got home I left right before it started everybody said the environment pregame was outstanding and people there early I mean that was one of those half hour the place was full yeah we get a couple of those a year where it's Rupp Arena's best I mean the little light things that was a nice addition you got Marlena Van Hoos As you said, the crowd was downtown in the arena early. That was one of Rupp's best crowds. They had the thing at the Taylor Swift concert. I say this. It's what people told me. I've bought Taylor Swift. God, good grief. But I didn't go. But you put the thing on, and it blinks. Lights. You're looking at me like I'm crazy. You know what I'm talking about? I've not seen it. They got these things, and you wear them on your wrist, and then it lights it up, so it'll be blue and white. and then during the star single band it was red white and blue did it work yeah it looked cool like it like it i think it executed well i think we got those for wrestlemania that you and i went we did have them for wrestlemania that's right because they turned the lights off and you just see the the it's a very it's a cool little feature so they did that senior day was very nice it was actually you know it still makes your heart uh what is it palpitate during the uh during the my old Kentucky home. Are you supposed to take your hat off from my old Kentucky home? I had a moment where I looked around because I started to and no one else did. That's how I was. Because you take it off for the National Anthem. But why don't we take it off from my old Kentucky home? Is there a reason? It is the state's song for the Kentucky ones. First of all, why do we take our hat off? I saw Trump didn't take his hat off. That used to be a respectful thing back in the day. Now I don't know that we do it much. Like you wouldn't get at a dinner table with a hat on back in the day. You had to take the hat off. But I feel like everybody takes it off for the national anthem, though. Yes. We still do that. But other things in life. Well, I am of the opinion we should take our hat off for my old Kentucky home. And as a valid hat wearer, I still think you should do it. Nevertheless, it was very pretty. Marlena Van Hoose, that was great. And I'm thinking, okay, here we go. 11-0. Then we fight back. Yes. it's 20 to 19. I think it's a ball game. It's on like Donkey Kong. 13-0 run in two minutes. Yeah, very fast. Two minutes, 33-19 and then it's over. Ball game was over. It's over. Kind of like the game down there in the sense of we fought pretty well with them for the vast majority of the game, but a run just, it was over. The beginning killed you. Kentucky won like the last 38 minutes of this game, but when you went down 11-0 and just never had the lead. Never took the lead. That was a key. They never took the lead. I know Florida's awesome and all that. Kentucky's not there. But home, senior day, at least lead at some point with that kind of crowd and that energy and what's at stake. 80 minutes against Florida this year. Haven't led one second. That's bad. Their dudes are better than our dudes. Their dudes are great. There's no shame in losing to Florida. I do think there's a shame in being blown out. I know the final score was seven, and we actually ended up covering the opening line, which is one of the craziest backdoor covers of all time. I don't think we were within seven much at all. Not at all. And then we finished within seven. Disappointing, too, because everything else prior to the game kind of set up for us. You know, Arkansas beat Missouri. No, everything set up. If we had won that game, we'd be the four seed. That's crazy. Everything's set up for us. We'd be the four seed. We'd have a double bye. We'd be dancing. instead we play the first game against i would argue the best of the bad teams lsu i think lsu i don't think we could have come out worse like even if we'd been the 10 seed we would at least been on the other side of the bracket from four you were down 18 to that team in the game they played in the regular season yes we're down to the we were down 18 to the 16 we were down 18 to the 16th seed. So, yeah, he couldn't set up worse. And, you know, I give Mark Pope credit he said we're going down there to win, but phew. So now we're 19 and 12 on the year. I said after the game, I give the season like a C- or a D+. I'm kind of still there. I can't give it an F because we're going to make the tournament and we have some really good wins. We won at Arkansas, beat Tennessee twice, beat Vandy, beat St. John's who's going to be probably a two seed in the tournament, beat Indiana. So I can't give it an F. I can't give it though higher than like a C- because of the losses to all. If you want to know what was the problem with our season. Go look at the fact that all these teams tied with the same record and we were last in the tiebreaker. Why is that? Because we lost to mediocre teams all year. We lost to Georgia at home. We lost to Missouri at home. We lost to A&M when we should have won. That's the problem. The problem with this year was not Saturday, even though we should never lose by that amount. the problem was everything else that leads to us playing at one o'clock on Wednesday do you agree completely agree I know the SEC is better and I mean I still say well Florida has figured it out I don't like that excuse but it's not so good that Georgia should be ahead of you and Missouri should be ahead of you and these teams that have been at the bottom forever you've lost your grip that much that you're now in the bottom half of the standings you lost those teams at home yes You got those games at home. The Missouri loss, which was the second game of the SEC, and then the Georgia loss, which was two weeks ago, those are the ones that ultimately killed us. I know you read Aaron Fleener's tweet on the postgame show, but that's it. Well, Aaron Fleener hit it. He's caddies on the PGA Tour, and then he makes good points. He's a great point. He said, watching Florida is what we used to be. I miss that. I miss that. That's it. That's a fair point. And you can put everything else aside. That summarizes the point. Florida has done it. There was a guy that called the postgame show, and he was like, college basketball is different now. And he was kind of using that to excuse it. And I said sort of in the moment, and I agree. So, Dukes figured it out, right? Florida's figured it out UConn's figured it out Houston's figured it out Those teams are good every year Every year And in the last couple years Michigan figured it out Right Alabama. Why can't Kentucky? Kansas. So, that's really not an excuse. The SEC's better. But look at a team like Houston. Houston's good every year. Every year. And the Big 12 is this year the best conference. and they're good every year and it's Houston. So why can't we be? And they don't even spend money like we do. Why can't we do it? There's no doubt the sport's completely different and the SEC teams are better. But we can't just be like, well, everybody's better. Let's go home. I guess we can't compete now because it's changed. No, figure it out and continue to dominate. Maybe you won't be winning every single year in the SEC like you were because teams are better. But ninth, you can't just say it's changed. well we're ninth everyone's better that's the loser mentality so if you like college basketball history like i do you can look at college basketball as there are the seismic shifts over history in the structure of the sport so you start when college basketball first starts kentucky starts to take it seriously before everybody else and that's why we're so good in the 40s and 50s we take the business of college basketball seriously before anybody else and we dominate early. Then integration is the next big change. And Kentucky is slow on it. And UCLA specifically jumps in and says, and they treat recruiting as big business. And then UCLA has a period of dominance. Then you get to the late seventies and early eighties and recruiting becomes national and kind of dirty, right? And some teams jump on it. Indiana, Georgetown, Kentucky, North Carolina, and they then become the cream of the crop. And then it switches, and all the games end up on national television, and it becomes a sport based on brands. And in the 90s, if you're a brand, you matter. Duke, Kentucky, North Carolina. There's your 90s. Then it kind of switches again to the one and done world. And we are at the forefront again. Kentucky, Kansas, Duke. North Carolina kind of holds back on that and they slip well now we're in the next seismic change which is NIO and Portal really post-COVID and for the first time maybe in history since integration we were slow to integrate and it hurt us for 10 years we've been slow on this we were at the forefront when college basketball Started the nationalization of college basketball, the sort of blue blood era of every game being on television, and the one and done era. Kentucky was at the forefront. We were not at integration and it hurt us. So four eras, we did it. One we did not. And now this is era number six. And we've not been at the forefront. and because of it we're watching these other teams leap to the top and we're now doing what in history programs have done when they haven't adapted we're finding ourselves in the middle and we gotta change it quick hearing you go through all that just makes me scratch my head because this coaching staff when they came in I thought they were going to be way ahead of the curve proactive they're smart they know all about modern basketball analytics algorithms everything and yet it hadn't happened It hasn't happened. So that's what worries me. There's a seismic shift and you have to do it early or you get left behind. It's early and we're getting left behind. We'll take a break. Be right back. KSR. Next Monday, our 2026 iHeart Podcast Awards are happening live at South by Southwest. This is the biggest night in podcasting. We'll honor the very best in podcasting from the past year and celebrate the most innovative talent and creators in the industry. And the winner is... creativity, knowledge, and passion will all be on full display thank you so much iHeartRadio thank you to all the other nominees, you guys are awesome watch live next Monday at 8pm Eastern, 5pm Pacific, free at veeps.com or the veeps app hey I'm Jay Shetty host of the On Purpose podcast my latest episode is with Hilary Duff singer, actress, and multi-platinum artist, Hilary opens up about complicated family dynamics motherhood, and releasing her first record in over 10 years. We talk about what it's taken to grow up in the entertainment industry and stay grounded through every chapter. It's a raw and honest conversation about identity, evolution, and building a life that truly matters. You desire in family like this picture and that's not reality a lot of the time. It's for people. My sister and I don't speak. It's definitely a very painful part of my life and I hope it's not forever. but it's for right now. Listen to On Purpose with Jay Shetty on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. In 2023, a story gripped the UK, evoking horror and disbelief. A nurse who should have been in charge of caring for tiny babies is now the most prolific child killer in modern British history. Everyone thought they knew how it ended. A verdict, a villain, a nurse named Lucy Leppie. Lucy Letby has been found guilty. But what if we didn't get the whole story? The moment you look at the whole picture, the case collapses. I'm Amanda Knox, and in the new podcast, Doubt, the case of Lucy Letby, we follow the evidence and hear from the people that lived it to ask what really happened when the world decided who Lucy Letby was. No voicing of any skepticism or doubt. It'll cause so much harm at every single level if the British establishment of this is wrong. Listen to Doubt, The Case of Lucy Letby on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Clayton Eckerd, and in 2022, I was the lead of ABC's The Bachelor. Unfortunately, it didn't go according to plan. He became the first Bachelor to ever have his final rose rejected. The internet turned on him. If I could press a button and rewind it all, I would. But what happened to Clayton after the show made even bigger headlines. It began as a one-night stand and ended in a courtroom, with Clayton at the center of a very strange paternity scandal. The media is here. This case has gone viral. The dating contract. Agree to date me, but I'm also suing you. Please search warrant. This is unlike anything I've ever seen before. I'm Stephanie Young. This is Love Trapped. This season, an epic battle of he said, she said, and the search for accountability in a sea of lies. I have done nothing except get pregnant by the f***ing bachelor. Listen to Love Trapped on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back to eSports Radio. 859-280-2287. One person writes, Matt, I agree with your point that we should be more consistent, but UConn was an eight last year and lost in the second round. But they were coming off back-to-back titles. I mean, you're not going to be good every year, but you've got to be good some year. And they're back good again this year. They're six years since COVID. We've had one really good regular season in six years, and we lost to St. Peter's in the tournament that year. So we've been to the second weekend once. That was last year. but it's objectively if you were to list post-COVID what have been the best programs and you were to just blind resume it and not have the names on it I think we would struggle to be in the top 20 we would probably be somewhere between 17 and 20 if you're talking about consistent over those years you know in the SEC during those years we would be behind Alabama, Florida, Tennessee, and Auburn. We would probably be fifth in those years. I don't think there's any debate about that. So, you know, that is what it is. And why it is, is I think a variety of things. Downfall of Cal and sort of how his years went. Kentucky being slow on NIL. and then Kentucky being, once they got the NIL where they needed to do with Pope, being poor in its distribution on this year's team. So I think last year's team, pretty good, all things considered. Yeah. And with the way things move now, for one, in your big picture thoughts, you can get left behind faster than you would 10 years ago. Teams can catch up in just a couple of months in an offseason now. You can. You can. You used to take a slow build. Look at Jay Lucas at Miami. In one year, he turns that around. Yeah, that's impossible 10 years ago. But the same, when you hire a new coach and you have that excitement, you need to capitalize on it. Those bucks that came in, you need to perform and keep that energy going. And if it dips, that's where you start to get left behind a little bit. When you have a new hire, that's the time to make your move. It's like when you meet a new woman or a new mate. if it's not sexy and hot at the beginning it ain't going to get better like if after the first eight dates you're still like that ain't going to get better over time right? now it might continue but you gotta there's gotta be sparks maybe not one but by moment date 10 or they're probably not coming out of the woodwork and if you nail the hire in this era I look at like a Michigan. I mean, there's several young and new coaches that are doing great right now. When I watch Michigan, I think to myself, man, they have it. Like you can just – and they're going to be good. They're going to be good every year. I mean, they just run guys. You know, we talk about Yaxl, but there are other dudes on that team that just – like you just watch it. And the coach, they call a timeout. Watching Michigan, Michigan State yesterday, I watched that whole game. after every timeout, Izzo, because Izzo, he doesn't have the talent that Michigan does, but he's really smart. Sure he is. And you watch those two, and they're exiting. If you call timeout, you knew that play was going to work coming out of the timeout on both teams. You just knew it was. Michigan State's problem is they just got the same lumbering dudes they've had for 25 years there. See Izzo after the game? Izzo said, I ain't nobody's little bro. yeah because they were chanting little brother at him i don't know if that works though shannon they're just gonna chant it at him more now yeah yeah when you let somebody know that that gets yeah he was like i ain't nobody's little brother yeah they're just gonna do it more but but i but you know and i thought mark would do that and and he can at moments but he just hasn't gotten it done with this group so you're right we did have it was a sexy and hot at the beginning why is it faded then as the because we're not good and he thought it was good so what what michigan did in year one is hot i mean we had a good first year i'm not downplaying that well it was year two for him but still i mean we haven't reached hot with pope we had a good first year but i mean they went straight up yeah i mean they you know they after every loss you get you get this group of people online who are like you know matt jones ksr ran off a hall of fame coach put that to the side that's an absurd argument and the hall of fame coach wasn't gonna work here anymore but everyone listening knows that this isn't right yes everybody knows that i mean at the game saturday it was interesting it wasn't anger it was like sadness did you get that sense i should have taken a picture i couldn't believe how many people were leaving at the seven and a half mark now the ones that stayed got into it and had some belief there when they're trying to come back but mario you're there at seven and a half time out you could look up in the upper level steps had a lot of people on their way out on senior day blame i mean like i don blame the fans because we have had so many games this year where we just been losing the whole game So I said on the postgame show, and I have not checked this, so I'm going to assume the person is correct, but they could be wrong. But I said I wish somebody would add up the amount of minutes we've been losing and we've been winning this year. Now, we're 19-12, and this includes games against bad teams. where presumably we were winning almost the entire game. But weren't. Not always, but most of the time we were. We were winning most of those games. We've still been losing more minutes. We have a winning record, so that does say we come back. But in power conference play, 60% of the minutes we have played in the power conference play, we've been losing. 60% of the minutes. which means fans have been watching us just lose a lot and a lot you know some they came back but a lot of this looking up at the scoreboard is in rup arena and you're losing to logos where you never see them winning in rup arena like being 0-2 against georgia pope that's insane georgia has been a joke of the sec for as long as i can remember it wasn't that long ago 10 lost tubby they were ready to run him out of town and if i'm not mistaken billy gillespie's two-year record is not much different. Billy Gillespie's two-year record is two games worse than this. Two games worse. And we ran those two guys ready to run them out of town. I do think Billy would have been back if not for the off-court stuff. I think they would have given him a year. But he made it to where they couldn't. Now, with all that said, we do have to talk about the other part of this, which is knucklehead sports radio. That's next. TJ Smith, personal injury attorney. call tj he'll make them pay now more of kentucky sports radio presented by stockton mortgage here's matt jones welcome back to kentucky sports radio 859-280-2287 text machine 772-774-5254 one person writes matt you say that cow wasn't going to work here and we're supposed to take it as fact that's your opinion i'm sure it was going to work out with cow look at self at ku i was ready to say that until we lost to oakland and st peter's two out of three years yep i mean And I'll remind you, Self did have a lot of bad losses in the tournament in the early part of his career. And there was some pressure on him. Like people were ready to run him off. The difference was it was the early part of his career. This was the late part of Cal's career. By the way, but if you want to say it would have worked here, that's fine. I will remind you that Arkansas last year was the non-seed in the SEC tournament. And by the way, if you want to have confidence going into the tournament, just look at Arkansas. Last year they were the nine seed, nearly lost that first game, should have lost. South Carolina was ahead and had a chance to win, and then Arkansas came back. They won. They then lost their next game. But then they made a run to the Sweet 16 in the tournament. So you could say, well, could that beat Kentucky? Could we beat LSU, lose to Missouri, go to the tournament and win two games? Yeah, we could. We could. So that's the confidence part. But you can't sit there and look at me and go, should have kept Cal. If you're so mad about this year, that's the year he had last year. They started the conference one and six last year. So, you know, the disappointment in this program starts for me at COVID, which spans two coaches. Right? now let's talk about Mitch Barnard for a second so Mitch Barnard has his going away press conference which we were not able to uh uh to go to I snuck in there oh you went yep I heard it was a nice affair there's a lot going on a lot it was a lot it's a big celebration big celebration a bunch of people talked right yeah well why didn't President Capilouto come Eli sent a video and then Mitch talked for a long time but you know I'm not gonna I'm not gonna hang on his moment Eli may have had something to do i'm kind of surprised the president's not there like you guys have been partners for a decade you send a video i mean you know i would understand if like the president sent a video but like he said he was quote president united states the president university you would think would be there but he was not what'd he say i think they said he was out of town i think he's in alabama okay well but out of town they got they got planes All right, so it's actually a fine affair. And in classic Mitch Barnhart, he can't quite get through it without expressing grievances. And here is what he had to say. All I've ever done in my life is work. So this notion that this golden parachute is falling from the ceiling and I'm going to sit in the rocking chair and eat hay is ridiculous garbage. and that notion that started by some couple two or three knuckleheads needs to end i'm excited about working i'm not done that's why i have many comments about this like literally i could take almost every word okay is it a golden parachute yes of course it is of course it is even if he does everything that the executive for the commissioner of the initiative of sports and workforce does it's still a golden parachute would they hire someone off the street and pay them nine hundred and fifty thousand dollars for that job to do a job that does absolutely nothing would they hire someone for nine hundred and fifty thousand dollars to be a career placement officer not unless your name is mitch barnhart no i don't know what the career placement officers that UK make, but it ain't $950,000. What is it, you think? $80,000, $120,000 maybe? A tenth of that. So, yes, it's a golden parachute, period. Now, some people may deserve golden parachutes. Maybe Mitch Barnhart does. But don't insult me and say it's not a golden parachute. It is. Then he says, going to sit in a rocking chair and eat hay. First of all, I don't even think you eat hay. who eats horses just chew on it did i at ever any point suggest he was going to eat hay i don't think anybody did i i will go on record and say i do not believe mitch barnhart's gonna eat hay rocking chair maybe nothing wrong with rocking chair i like a good rocking chair some people's problem with my problem with this is that not that i don't think he's going to work sure i'll give you he's work he's gonna work shannon i'll give you works 40 hours a week yeah on paper all right yeah answering emails i don't think this is a job that is worth nine hundred and fifty thousand dollars a year it's allegedly in the academic department but being paid by athletics why why i think it was originally going to be paid by academics and the school and linda blackford wrote her article and people are like oh that's a bad look if we're sending out emails that says we're doing budget and staff cuts and we're now paying this guy to come and place people at kodak you know on the same day on the same day kodak kodak They're coming back. So they were like, well, wait a minute. We'll put it back in athletics. What? Is this UK Athletic? People's problem is not that you're going to do nothing. Here's a secret, Mitch. People are going to be worried you're going to do something. They're worried you're going to shadow the new AD. Stick your nose right in the middle of it. That's what people are worried about. When people get mad at criticisms and then respond to the criticism that people are not making, it shows that they don't really have an answer for the criticism. they are making. You cannot tell me he will have no role in athletics and then pay him from athletics. If you want to pay him from academics and say he's over there, that's fine. But then you have to deal with the people who say, should we be paying this guy a million dollars from academics? But if you're going to be paying him from athletics, then people are going to say, well, now I'm worried he's going to be this. The word sports is in his title. I understand. Executive Residence for UK Sports. I'm not saying he's going to put his nose into whoever the new AD is, but you can understand why people would say that. Especially if it's somebody that has worked underneath him. Let's then go to the next sentence. Started by two or three knuckleheads. Okay. Hello, knucklehead number one. Just because I have a legitimate concern about this contract that so far no one from the university has publicly made a statement about or taken one question, that doesn't make you a knucklehead. If it does, then I'll wear a t-shirt that says, a hoodie that says knucklehead. Is Linda Blackford a knucklehead? She's probably knucklehead number two. Is Drew? Is Ryan? Okay, how about the amount of fans who have a question? Are they all knuckleheads? One of their biggest donors used the golden parachute word. Are you calling him a knucklehead? Brett Setzer's probably given the second or third most money to UK athletics in the last 20 years. Is he a knucklehead? There's a lot of people that have these questions. And what happens with these leaders at the end is they just decide, I am king, and the mere fact you're asking me a question makes you a knucklehead. I don't care if you've got every MAGA hat in the world. you know that's what Trump does. You know it. Cal did it. Mitch does it. Every question is like, I give credit. Pope doesn't do this. Every question is like, you are questioning my authority. Ty? Great video. You are allowed to ask questions. And it doesn't make you a knucklehead. If we get to the point in society that it is not good to ask a question of your leader, we become something completely different. This is a public university, man. You get to ask questions. You need to ask questions. Now, maybe there's a good answer. But answer it. Don't say that the question is somehow a knucklehead. Right? And then finally, he ends it by going, needs to stop. Why? Why? Why should we listen to you and ask no question? Who made you king? You are an official paid for by the people in this state. You get to ask questions and it doesn't get to stop just because you say so. It doesn't. Mitch Barnhart is a great man. He is. He does a million things for this community. He's done a million things for UK athletics. But he is not above questioning. And neither is President Capilouto, Eric Monday, Andy Beshear, Donald Trump, anybody. That's what we're supposed to do. You ask questions. And what you should do is answer it. Not yell at people for asking the question. That's what I'm tired of. And in all that celebration of Mitch, which he deserves, he deserves all of it. You got to end it by out the door going, pay me a million dollars a year and shut up. Shut up. And by the way, yeah, on my way out, they gave me $150,000 a year raise for four years. That's $600,000. They gave me a $250,000 bonus. That's $850,000. And they added another year to my contract, which is $950,000. Which means on the way out the door, they added $1.8 million in salary that the school was not required to pay me, and they just did it. And don't ask one question about it. If that makes me a knucklehead, then I'm glad to be the head knucklehead. We'll be right back. Your 2026 I heart podcast awards are happening live at South by Southwest. This is the biggest night in podcasting. We'll honor the very best in podcasting from the past year and celebrate the most innovative talent and creators in the industry. And the winner is creativity, knowledge and passion will all be on full display. Thank you so much. I heart radio. Thank you to all the other nominees. You guys are awesome. Watch live next Monday at 8 p.m. Eastern 5 p.m. Pacific free at veeps.com or the veeps app. Hey, I'm Jay Shetty, host of the On Purpose podcast. My latest episode is with Hilary Duff, singer, actress, and multi-platinum artist. Hilary opens up about complicated family dynamics, motherhood, and releasing her first record in over 10 years. We talk about what it's taken to grow up in the entertainment industry and stay grounded through every chapter. It's a raw and honest conversation about identity, evolution, and building a life that truly matters. You desire in family like this picture, and that's not reality a lot of the times for people. My sister and I don't speak. It's definitely a very painful part of my life, and I hope it's not forever, but it's for right now. Listen to On Purpose with Jay Shetty on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. In 2023, a story gripped the UK, evoking horror and disbelief. The nurse who should have been in charge of caring for tiny babies is now the most prolific child killer in modern British history. Everyone thought they knew how it ended. A verdict, a villain, a nurse named Lucy Letby. Lucy Letby has been found guilty. But what if we didn't get the whole story? The moment you look at the whole picture, the case collapses. I'm Amanda Knox, and in the new podcast Doubt, the case of Lucy Letby, we follow the evidence and hear from the people that lived it to ask what really happened when the world decided who Lucy Letby was. No voicing of any skepticism or doubt. It'll cause so much harm at every single level if the British establishment of this is wrong. Listen to Doubt, the case of Lucy Letby on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Clayton Eckerd, and in 2022, I was the lead of ABC's The Bachelor. Unfortunately, it didn't go according to plan. He became the first Bachelor to ever have his final rose rejected. The internet turned on him. If I could press a button and rewind it, all I would. But what happened to Clayton after the show made even bigger headlines. It began as a one-night stand and ended in a courtroom, with Clayton at the center of a very strange paternity scandal. The media is here. This case has gone viral. The dating contract. Agree to date me, but I'm also suing you. Please search warrant. This is unlike anything I've ever seen before. I'm Stephanie Young. This is Love Trapped. This season, an epic battle of he said, she said, and the search for accountability in a sea of lies. I have done nothing except get pregnant by the f***ing... Listen to Love Trapped on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back to Esports Radio. A lot of people have strong opinions about my rant. That's a good little rant you did right there. I'm not, I think I sounded angry. I'm not angry. But I also am a big believer in when you work for a public institution or a government job, they're like we have to put trust in you to do that right i don't think the general public should get to and like at make every decision everything doesn't go up to popular vote but that also means it's imperative if we're going to as citizens as uk fans put trust in you you have to explain to us what you're doing right right i think that is completely fair i think it's fair for coaches for everybody. I think that's why journalists are so important. They need to ask me there to ask these questions. And fans have these questions too. It's easy just to dismiss it, Drew, as it's a handful of people. This radio show is listened to by more people than any radio show for a local sports team in America. If they thought I was out of control and not positive and all this, they wouldn't listen. People don't want to listen to somebody just rail on the team. We want them to win. And if I got too negative, the fans would show me by tuning out. But they don't because they feel the same way. Not all of them, but most of them. Would you agree with that? Yes, especially on this one. I said recently, we can't agree on anything as a fan base. We fight over if Pope should have called a timeout or who should have taken a shot. But it seems like on this, we might be all 100% on, all right, what's going on? You may think he deserves this. I think I go back and forth. But the $1.8 million of extra money that we didn't owe him that we just all of a sudden gave him, that is sketch. It is. We didn't even owe him that. We just gave it to him. Why? And those 10 lifetime tickets aren't cheap. Yeah, but let me go back to $1.8 million. Some of this stuff we owed him in his previous contract. But we did not owe him this $1.8 million. They just added it. And the Board of Trustees did not approve it. Now, they don't have to under the bylaws. But only one person approved it, the president. and he didn't show up to the press conference. One person approved this deal and he didn't even show up. Hello? Does nobody think that's weird? Read between the lines, maybe. And I mentioned this during the break. Mitch went, I'll take a few questions. A few questions. And if I don't like them, it was like, my God, you're always telling on yourself. That's exactly right. you're telling on yourself he played it off as joking but i've seen a lot of mitch barnard press conferences this is what they are i i hated the one when he sat by stoops he called us in on a saturday to basically just yell at us about the stoops cow thing earlier or last fall whenever it was i think it was john hale's like hey is the nil thing good enough it's like my goodness every time you talk we're getting yelled at one time i had a conversation with mitch that was a positive conversation okay it was not like a negative this was a few years back and in it he kind of started berating me a little bit not in a bad way he was not like it was we were and he said and at one point i said to him i say this respectfully mitch i don't work for you okay we are talking because i want this to be a good relationship because i want uk to win but i don't work for you I think he thinks everyone the media works for him and I think he thinks in some ways the fans if not work for him like and I think that's a mistake and I'm now switching a little bit I'm not so mad if somebody said to me Shannon here's two million dollars extra do you want it? You're going to take it you're going to take it. Of course you are anybody would but why did they give it to him? and how come And the people that gave it to him are not speaking. Yeah. Why? I'm all for giving a guy a retirement. A watch. Yeah. Or like Drew said, even just the country club memberships and maybe some tickets. I'm fine with that. Fine with that. Actually, the tickets don't bother me. A lot of people at the game brought up to me the tickets. The tickets seem to get at people. Tens a lot. Oddly, it doesn't bother me. But there are a lot of people that have brought up the tickets. That doesn't bother me as much. I'd be okay with it. tickets country club membership maybe there's a lot those ain't cheap and that's for life those could be sold yeah what about yeah what you have a well you know they gave like we brought up they brought see bought cm a house in the bahamas was that controversial at the time that feels like that would have been i'm gonna buy you a house in the bahamas of course you know this is before social media so it didn't get as much run as it probably would have okay but that's not that's not as excessive i think as this is no this is more yeah sure what i hate is this is a money game now even if he doesn't say a word to the new athletic director the new athletic director has 950 000 on the books every year when fans go to donate money we're gonna have to get over that hump before we start paying a shooting guard like this is owed to him through athletics and they're going to be asking people to help with their budget when no one wants to pay that and andy staples who's a national college football reporter he wrote i don't think you're going to get an ad that does not have a connection to Mitch Barnhart because no AD is going to want to come and have Mitch Barnhart in the building. Fair point. Looking over your shoulder the whole time? I mean, I don't know AD, so it's hard for me to know that. But I think, you know, if you were doing betting odds, the chances you get a person with no connection to the staff, I think, goes down. Also, whose job was it to place people in sports already? Because they just got thrown under the bus. And then not only did they get bump shit, and they were like, look, you've done such a bad job, we are quintupling the salary that we pay for this. The whole situation just does not, it's a bad look. And by the way, there might be, I want to be clear about this, there might be a reasonable explanation for all of this. Okay? There might be. And maybe one will show itself. But that's why you asked the question. You try it. That's why the question is important, right? You can have an answer, but that's why the question is important. And, you know, I don't want to be down this path. It puts me in a weird spot. It puts the people that I get along with in UK in a weird spot. It puts my employer in a weird spot. But you know what? It'd be a lot easier for me just to move on. But, you know, some things have to be brought up. Somebody's got to say it because the fans think it, at least a lot of. So that's where we are. Now, I do want to completely switch gears because I am excited about football and I am excited about talking to Will Stein. We haven't talked to him since he got hired. He's going to join us. Spring practice starts tomorrow. Yes. And he's going to join us. Cross your fingers on the technology because there's a lot happening here during the break. We'll be right back. It's KSI. nominees. You guys are awesome. Watch live next Monday at 8 p.m. Eastern, 5 p.m. Pacific, free at veeps.com or the veeps app. Ego Woda is your host for the 2026 iHeart Podcast Awards, live at South by Southwest. Hello, is anybody there? Raised by a single mom, Ego may have a few father-related issues. Are we supposed to talk about your dad? Her podcast, Thanks Dad, is full of funny, heartfelt conversations with actors, including fellow SNL alums, comedians, musicians, and more about life and their wonderfully complicated relationships with their fathers. I think and hope that's a good thing. Get to know Ego. Follow Thanks Dad with Ego Wodum and start listening on the free iHeartRadio app today. Hey, I'm Jay Shetty, host of the On Purpose podcast. My latest episode is with Hilary Duff, singer, actress, and multi-platinum artist. You desire in family, like, this picture, and that's not reality. My sister and I don't speak. It's definitely a very painful part of my life, And I hope it's not forever, but it's for right now. Listen to On Purpose with Jay Shetty on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Amanda Knox, and in the new podcast, Doubt, the case of Lucy Letby, we unpack the story of an unimaginable tragedy that gripped the UK in 2023. But what if we didn't get the whole story? Everything's been made to fit. The moment you look at the whole picture, the case collapsed. What if the truth was disguised by a story we chose to believe? Oh my God, I think she might be innocent. Listen to Doubt, The Case of Lucy Letby on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.