Andy Beshear keeps pressure on Eli Capilouto, warns of James Ramsey-type downfall

Last week, Mitch Barnhart officially stepped back from his cushy post-retirement gig, a move made in part due to pressure from Governor Andy Beshear on University of Kentucky leaders, specifically president Eli Capilouto. Even with Mitch out, Andy may not be done with Capilouto and UK just yet.

More than once this week, Beshear has said that he’s worried UK could be headed down the same path that the University of Louisville went down with former president James Ramsey, who resigned in 2016 amid a string of scandals. Last week, Beshear also criticized UK over the appointment of federal judge Gregory Van Tatenhove as dean of the law school. That appointment, along with Barnhart’s proposed role as Executive in Residence of the UK Sports and Workforce Initiative, only needed approval from Capilouto, not the Board of Trustees, a change made to the school’s governing regulations in 2024.

At its meetings last week, the Board of Trustees voted to form a group that can review and change the regulations to give the board back its power to vote on such appointments. Based on his comments this week, Beshear is keeping the pressure on Capilouto and UK to make sure that happens.

“When I think of the University of Kentucky, I do not speak out lightly,” Governor Beshear said when asked about his comments about UK at his Team Kentucky weekly update on Thursday. “But as attorney general, I watched the fall of James Ramsey. I saw what happens when too much power is consolidated in just one individual running the university, that sometimes they start thinking that they are the university and that their decisions shouldn’t be questioned or criticized. And then what happens is what would have been a stellar legacy ends in a very difficult way.”

During an interview with Terry Meiners this week, Capilouto said he has not spoken to Beshear since, or even before, the governor’s criticism, and that UK will still fill the Executive-in-Residence of the UK Sports and Workforce Initiative role, even without Barnhart. It’s not clear if the salary will be the same. If so, Beshear wants answers.

“I’m still worried that, while they didn’t move forward with the one-million-dollar job made out of thin air, nobody is saying that maybe that was a bad decision. That, when our budget is as tight as it is, when the university and others say that we’re not getting enough from the state, that you just create a one-million-dollar taxpayer-funded job. I mean, those are typically only coaches and brain surgeons, and there still has not been an explanation about, especially right now, why you create something that big that it never existed before.”

Beshear also voiced concerns over changes to the faculty senate, which has lessened its voice and power, and UK employees who could lose their rights as public employees or union members as certain university departments are moved into not-for-profit limited liability companies.

On Wednesday, Beshear made the rounds on the backside at Churchill Downs and first made the comparison between the track UK could be on with Capilouto and what happened at UofL under Ramsey during an appearance on The Drew Deener Show.

“My concern is that the leadership of Kentucky has consolidated power in such a way to where they’re not hearing input that is needed from faculty, from the community, and from students,” Beshear said. “I watched the fall of Jim Ramsey, and that power was consolidated in a similar way. The core part of that administration thought they were the university. They weren’t listening and thought they could make decisions that the rest of us said, wait a minute.

“So, this wasn’t to me about Mitch Barnhart. I know him. He made good decisions, and he made bad decisions as an AD. You can criticize or give him credit for those. It was creating a million-dollar job out of thin air, thinking you didn’t have to pass it by your trustees? It had never even existed before. There weren’t duties for it, and it was going to be paid not through athletics, but through taxpayer money. If I’m the Governor, it’s my job to make sure taxpayer money is spent appropriately, and that’s just not good judgment.”

KENTUCKY GOVERNOR ANDY BESHEAR JOINS DEENER SHOW | Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear joined The Deener Show and spoke on his concern on the consolidation of power for the leadership and Mitch Barnhart at the University of Kentucky.

Listen to the The Deener Show @UofLSheriff50… pic.twitter.com/kHO9SETHms

— ESPN Louisville (@ESPN680) April 29, 2026