University of Kentucky officials revealed plans Tuesday to form a committee charged with overseeing the school's athletic department. UK board of trustees chairman Britt Brockman will appoint the committee of six or seven members.
A new concept at Kentucky, the committee's first order of business will be to report on athletics oversight functions at other Southeastern Conference institutions. SEC commissioner Mike Slive's input also may be sought.
The committee's ongoing duties were not revealed in detail. Institutions outside the SEC have created similar posts to monitor NCAA rules compliance, admissions and academic progress.
News regarding the committee formation came two weeks after UK president Lee Todd, who will retire in June, announced he had extended the contract of athletic director Mitch Barnhart through 2018. According to the Lexington Herald-Leader, several trustees voiced concern that they weren't consulted prior to Barnhart's contract extension, which included a $125,000 pay raise to $600,000, and the paper quoted at least one athletics board member who claimed he was unaware until Tuesday that an athletics oversight committee was in the works.
