FHU Business Students Learn Five Guiding Principles from Kentucky Athletic Director

Photo courtesy of Bramblett Group

Henderson —Mitch Barnhart’s favorite Bible verse is Micah 6:8 – “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”

The verse helped Barnhart build his foundation and structure his approach, year by year, to the business side of collegiate athletics, which has led to 21 years as the director of athletics at the University of Kentucky.

Barnhart spoke virtually with students from Freed-Hardeman University’s College of Business during a breakout chapel session last week. He touched on how he approaches the business of big-time college athletics in the Southeastern Conference and how his faith influences his philosophies and decision-making for one of the more recognizable brands in college athletics.

His process for decisions is based on five principles that are all Biblically based.

1. Have character of the heart – “You need to have a heart that guides you when you make decisions, and those of us who are believers know the Holy Spirit does that for us and continues to steer our ship if we let Him.”

2. Integrity of how you do your business – “God gave us guidelines and guardrails in His Word in how we should do our business. We all have rules we have to go by. I have rules to go by from the NCAA and the SEC. And within those rules, my brain has to kick in and say, ‘This is where I live within these boundaries, and this is how I will do business within those rules.’”

3. Knowledgeable – “We must be life-long learners to continue to grow. I’ve learned a lot in technology over the last several years. But I’m not good at science and medicine, but we’ve got a team of doctors and medical personnel here in the athletic department who know how to medically treat our athletes when they need it. So God calls us to always be learning and to have people with you who are knowledgeable and skilled in areas where you may not be gifted in as you lead. And that’s not a bad thing.”

4. Be good stewards of what you’re given – “We’re all given plenty of gifts – time, talent, friendships, energy, and some of us have more financial resources than others. All of these are given to us, and if we waste them and we’re not generous toward others with them, then you can’t lead anybody. You must be sacrificial in the way you lead as a servant, or no one within your organization will buy into what you’re selling them in your leadership.”

5. Competitive hearts – “While I want us to win in competition as an athletic department, when I speak of competitive hearts, I mean competing for the hearts of those you lead. Every day when I go into a team meeting or some kind of meeting with my staff, I’m trying to win the hearts of everyone in the room to be a part of whatever we’re discussing that day. That’s what God calls leaders to do, and it starts with character, integrity, knowledge and being a good steward. And when you do all of these things, you’ll be in the neighborhood of where you’re trying to get as you lead whatever organization you go on to lead in your professional careers.”

An attribute of good leadership is the organization continuing to thrive after the leader is gone, Barnhart told the students.

“It’s a term called legacy living, and it takes pouring into people and making sure that everything your organization is doing continues to progress even after you leave the room,” he said.

His final point was finding joy in the journey of one’s work, and he used a story from when he led the NCAA’s men’s basketball tournament relegated to a bubble in Indianapolis in March of 2021 because of COVID-19 pandemic protocols for an effective image of how finding joy can affect a team.

“We were in a bubble for 31 days, and I was in that bubble too along with all these teams playing in this tournament,” Barnhart said. “And Gonzaga and Baylor, they were two teams you could see were finding joy in the journey.

“Baylor’s T-shirts were even about J.O.Y. with ‘Jesus, Others and Yourself’ on them. But neither of them were the teams struggling with reschedulings or daily PCR tests. They knew what they had to do, did it and found joy in the daily grind of being in that bubble and competing in that tournament. And I think it’s no coincidence they were the two teams playing for the championship in the end. If you can find joy in your own journey, then no matter what comes in life, you’ll have the motivation to get up every day, get into work, do the work and do it for the glory of God.”