LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — It was only four or five paragraphs ago when I mentioned there was nothing like a list to fill the empty calendar created by a worldwide pandemic.
Well, if you doubted me after I found issues with the Big Ten all-decade basketball team, I can draw Louisville and Kentucky fans into the list discussion Wednesday.
Thank you, Stewart Mandel, national college football writer for The Athletic.
Thank you to Jeff Goodman and Brett McMurphy, the college football and basketball writers at WatchStadium.com.
What did they do?
Glad you asked.
Mandel made a list, that magic word, of his dream college football coaching staff. He started with the head man (Nick Saban of Alabama over Dabo Swinney of Clemson and Ed Orgeron of Louisiana State), moved to his top coordinators and then included the top assistant coaches for every position.
(His story can be read at TheAthletic, but it requires a subscription.)
I believe I found a name U of L fans will recognize — and enjoy discussing.
No, that name was not Brian VanGorder. It’s early. There’s time for VanGorder, in year 2 as defensive coordinator at Bowling Green after leaving U of L, to make a future list.
A name that Mandel picked at linebacker was the guy who preceded VanGorder as the Louisville defensive coordinator.
That would be Peter Sirmon, the coach that Bobby Petrino (sorry, I had to say it) recruited from Mississippi State to fix the crumbling Louisville defense in 2017.
It did not work.
In fact, the move failed in what you can say was spectacular fashion. Proof of that came when Sirmon left after one season for an assistant coaching job at California.
To be replaced by the underwhelming VanGorder, who came to Louisville after his spectacular failure at Notre Dame.
Maybe Sirmon is a terrific assistant coach in the inside linebacker spot, the position Mandel recognized. Maybe he is an unstoppable force as a recruiter. Maybe he just was not the right fit at Louisville.
But his one season at Cardinal Stadium did not deliver any evidence that Peter Sirmon belonged on an all-star list with Nick Saban, Clemson defensive coordinator Brett Venables or LSU offensive coordinator Steve Ensminger.
In 2017, Louisville ranked 10th in the ACC in total defense, scoring defense and passing defense. They were ninth in rushing defense.
That was a Louisville defense that allowed more than 600 yards by Clemson and Wake Forest and more than 500 yards by North Carolina State and Boston College.
That takes me to List No.2 — the list of the nation’s top athletic directors put together by Goodman and McMurphy.
Top 20 Athletic Directors (in order) based on their career football and men’s basketball hires. Oklahoma’s @soonerad gets the slight nod for the No. 1 spot. https://t.co/icuzlcE9oB
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) June 30, 2020
I understand that it’s important to remember the criteria they used to rank the Top 20 in the nation as well in their lists for every league.
The ADs were graded on the coaching hires they made across their careers in football and men’s basketball.
Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione, one of five ADs to earn an ‘A’ ranked first not only for hiring Lincoln Riley and Bob Stoops to coach the Sooners’ football program but also because he hired Larry Smith at Missouri.
Got it.
Congratulations to Vince Tyra of Louisville as well as Todd Stewart of Western Kentucky. Tyra finished No. 12 nationally while Stewart was 15th.
But there is one name missing from the list who should not be missing from the list — Kentucky athletic director Mitch Barnhart.
Not only did Barnhart miss the national Top 20, he also ranked 10th in the Southeastern Conference with at C-plus grade.
Why?
Because he hired Billy Gillispie at UK and two mediocre basketball coaches at Oregon State.
That would seem to be outweighed by his hirings of John Calipari to coach UK basketball and Rich Brooks and Mark Stoops to develop the UK football program.
Barnhart has thrived as a fundraiser, program builder and facility developer at Kentucky while maintaining a strong level of respect from a demanding and sometime fickle fan base.
Ask yourself this question:
If you were looking for a guy to fill an opening at another ambitious powerhouse program, would Mitch Barnhart be one of the 10 guys you would consider?
We know the answer to that.
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