Mitch Barnhart hired Nick Mingione five years ago and gave him a three-year contract extension recently even though UK has not been in the NCAA Tournament since 2017. (UK Athletics Photo)
One nice thing about my place in life is that I can pick and choose what I want do when it comes to covering sports now. I am my own assignment editor.
I wanted to make that clear because softball, not baseball, is the spring sport that I pay the most attention to at the University of Kentucky. I like the faster pace of softball and UK has had some incredible players/athletes I have got to watch over the last five or six years.
Still, I keep up with baseball enough to know that the program has issues. Not only did it fail to make the NCAA Tournament again, but now eight players — Cam Hill, Dillon Marsh, Jimmy Ramsey, Trae Harmon, Ron Cole, Drew Grace, Jack Hicks, and Cole Daniels — have already put their names into the transfer portal. None were stars this season but Hill started 28 games in the outfield and hit .245, stole 13 bases, and drove in 15 runs while Marsh pitched 29 innings with a 4.34 ERA.
The team will definitely lose four fifth-year seniors — Jaren Shelby, Zeke Lewis, Zach Kammin, and T.J. Collett — and Collett was the team’s star. Seniors Oraj Anu, Sean Harney, Daniel Harper, Mason Hazelwood, Holt Jones, Coltyn Kessler, and Jimmy Ramsey have the option to return for another season but none have said yet what they would do. The Cats could also lose players to the Major League Draft.
Bottom line, that’s a lot of turnover for a team that cannot make the NCAA Tournament and for a coach who got a three-year contract extension earlier this year to add stability to the program. Or at least that’s why athletics director Mitch Barnhart hoped would happen.
But coach Nick Mingione has not had UK in the NCAA since 2017 when he was SEC Coach of the Year with a 43-23 overall record and 19-11 mark in SEC play. Since then UK is 100-80 counting the 29-23 record this season. However, the issue is UK is 32-59 in SEC play during that time span.
Kentucky softball continues to thrive. Coach Rachel Lawson continues to put the Cats not only into the NCAA Tournament but also gets to host NCAA regionals. Yet her base salary is $300,000 annually compared to $400,000 that Mingione gets along with a guaranteed $175,000 from media and endorsements.
Kentucky did not have a single player earn All-SEC honors this season. That says something about the talent on the team as well as the perception of Kentucky baseball across the SEC.
Whatever the reasons are for the issues, something has to be done. Barnhart has made a lot of terrific moves with coaches at UK and most Kentucky sports are on the rise. But not baseball and the offseason turmoil is not going to help that change.
8 Responses
Well said, Larry. It’s a shame to see baseball lagging behind when most other sports are on the rise at UK. As Mark Stoops said at the end of last season “It’s unacceptable. It’s losing football”. For UK Baseball it’s the same thing “it’s unacceptable. It’s losing baseball”.
Something really needs to be done about baseball. It was no fun to watch this season. Think Mr Barnett needs to speak to each of the baseball players individually. Could not hurt!
Hopefully that is happening shirley
I totally agree with you Larry, I too follow UK Softball in the Spring instead of UK Baseball. It’s a much more exciting game and as you said since 2017 UK Baseball has been mediocre at best.
Larry: This baseball team is in shambles. There is a lot of dissension of the way Nick Mingione ran this team this year. How he treated Jarren Shelby, who chose to comeback as a graduate Senior, and had just 18 at bats in 52 games was inexcusable. Shelby was a regular player over the last 3 years and chose to comeback to help the team. I don’t blame players like Cam Hill and Dillon Marsh go to the transfer portal because they saw the treatment that a veteran like Shelby received.
Unfortunately, Barnhart’s hasty decision to give Mingione an extension will insure more losing seasons in the SEC. After investing 49 million dollars on a state of the art new stadium, Kentucky lags behind in the most important rod to a succesful baseball program, a head coach. Example is Tennessee who hired Tony Vitello and he took the Vols into the Top 5 nationally.
I don’t agree. None of the 8 were "🌟"s per Larry. These days there are alot of players (Redshirts, Gray shirts, 24 man roster) to keep happy in a very competitive environment. I am hopeful for better baseball ⚾️ at UK as are all the commentators. Much info n behind scenes is unknown 🤔. Speculation based upon what was presented is unfair to any coach. Imho. However, it is the media muck that seems prevalent today. No offense intended. Thinking the best n hoping for same. GOGogo CATSCatscats!!! 🙏💪
I agree Tim that the "info behind the scenes" is what none of us know. Just outside looking in, it does not look good and no doubt next season is a pivotal year because I do expect Nick Mingione to be back
Mingione came in with so much promise, and add a new stadium to boot. Sad to see the condition of this program today. The players know what the story is. Eight leaving in the transfer mode is disturbing and seems to speak volumes. Coach M’s contract extension is sort of problematic going forward, and a bit puzzling to say the least. I hope he can turn it around, but it seems a mountain to climb.