Will history repeat itself with a beloved Kentucky coach watching his time in Lexington come and go as fans beg for a fresh start, grateful for the memories but ready for change? Mitch Barnhart is confident he learned and grew from John Calipari‘s breakup with the Wildcats as pressure mounts for something similar with Mark Stoops midway through year 13 leading the football program.
Their overlaps are obvious. Both coaches were the faces of historic highs, Coach Cal going to four Final Fours in five years with a national championship in basketball and Stoops going to eight straight bowls with a pair of ten-win seasons in a four-year span as the school’s all-time winningest coach in football.