Has UK Athletics Ever Seen Better Days?

On Thursday, Kentucky basketball fans have the privilege of watching four straight hours of UK basketball. Of course, ESPN will have the Cats' re-match at Rupp with Devan Downey and South Carolina at 9:00. But that isn't the only big game for the Blue and White which will be televised that night. At 7:00 on Fox Sports Net, Matthew Mitchell's 16th ranked UK Women's Hoops team brings their 23-4 record into Knoxville to face Pat Summit and the 5th ranked Lady Vols. The UK Women are firmly in 2nd place in the SEC Standings, behind only Tennessee. They were projected as a 4th seed in this weeks' ESPN Bracketology. With a win over the Lady Vols, they could break into the Top 10 and be in a pretty good position to earn a #2 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

It's unfortunate that the Women's team has risen in a year like 2010, when the success of Coach Cal's Cats grab all the attention in Lexington. Could you imagine the attention the Women's team could have had LAST SEASON if they were playing this well while the Men's team fell apart and missed the NCAA Tournament? It's also unfortunate because if they were this good about a decade ago, they might have a legitimate shot at a National Title. However, UConn's current Women's team is proving to be one of the greatest dynasties in the history of college sports and they show no signs of losing a single game anytime soon. Perhaps, the UK Women can luckily find themselves in the opposite side of the bracket as the Lady Huskies and be the 2nd straight team from the Commonwealth to lose to them in the National Championship game (The Louisville Lady Cards were the runner-ups a year ago).

When you think about Thursday's double header of two nationally ranked UK basketball programs, as well as the current nationally ranked and undefeated UK baseball team (with three wins in three games thus far over Virginia Tech, West Virginia, and #12 Coastal Carolina), and of course the unprecedented fourth straight Bowl appearance last December in Nashville for the football program, it makes me ponder whether or not the University of Kentucky Athletics' program is currently at an all-time high. The man responsible in leading this Athletic Department, Mitch Barnhart, found himself in jeopardy of losing his job at this time just a year ago despite the progress in virtually every sport at UK except one.

The one sport that was not making progress was Men's basketball, and every Athletics Director that has been here knows that the success of any A.D. in Lexington lingers directly on the state of Kentucky basketball, undoubtedly the premiere team of the school and of the entire Commonwealth. Mitch Barnhart knew that despite the success his teams have had across the board, that in order to keep his job, he couldn't afford to hire another Billy Gillispie. Last spring, he was able to preserve the Kentucky basketball program at a time that if it had continued under the same path it was taking, had the potential to lose it's elite status for a significant period of time if he did not make the necessary changes and hire the absolute right man for the job. Remember, it was not a popular decision at the time amongst the national media who blasted Barnhart and Kentucky for getting rid of an "up and coming" coach after just two seasons and they doubted his ability to bring in anyone else that would make UK basketball a Final Four contender anytime in the near future. Obviously, the media critics could not have been more wrong. Barnhart needed a slam dunk hire, and he hired the absolute right man for the job in John Calipari.

Yes, Barnhart made a terrific hire to restore the legacy of Kentucky's Men's basketball program. But let's not forget that he also stood by Rich Brooks through the two and three win seasons to eventually go to a school record four straight Bowl Games, and winning three of them. Let's not forget either that Matthew Mitchell was a slam dunk hire as well for the Women's program, that he appointed Joker Phillips as a "head coach in waiting" back in 2007 and the football program is now more stable than it has ever been since the Bear Bryant days in the 1950's. Do not look past the fact that the baseball program won the SEC Championship in 2006 and has been a contender ever since in college baseball's best conference. And what about the programs you might not even know about? Did you know Kentucky's Volleyball team won 29 games last year and was ranked as high as 7th in the nation? The Men's Soccer Team was nationally ranked as well. For years, UK has been known as a school that has won in absolutely nothing except in Men's basketball.

Currently, the Men's basketball team is enjoying one of their best seasons in its storied history while all of the other programs are enjoying very rare success as well. Big Blue Nation should be proud of Coach Calipari and his Cats, but they also should applaud Mitch Barnhart and the tremendous job he has done with every one of his programs at Kentucky. Thursday night should be a night in which the Cats take care of business in Rupp Arena against the South Carolina team that upset them in Columbia earlier this season, but hopefully the Women's team will come out of Knoxville with even a bigger win; a program changing win which would match the significance of the football team's win over #1 LSU in the 2007 season. I encourage all of Big Blue Nation to stand behind both Blue and White basketball teams this Thursday, starting at 7:00. Go Cats!

(Photo Courtesy of ESPN.com)