If there was such a thing as a “Kentucky Wildcats Coach of the Year Award,” who should it go to for 2021-22?
It is a testament to the all-around strength of the athletics department that Mitch Barnhart and Co. have constructed in Lexington that there are at least six UK head coaches who, in my view, have a viable claim on having done the most impressive coaching job in the just completed school year.
That number does not even include Craig Skinner, who led Kentucky women’s volleyball to its fifth straight SEC regular-season championship but saw his team’s defense of its 2020 national championship end in an upset loss to Illinois in the second round of the 2021 NCAA Tournament.
