🔵 The Official Daily Newsletter For Kentucky Athletics

Good morning. The NFL preseason has wound down to a close, but that doesn’t mean the highlights from former Kentucky players stops! Watch former Wildcat Brandin Echols get a pick-six against the New York Giants.

What else are we mixing into today’s Brew?

➕ Adding years to Mitch Barnhart’s contract
🏐 Bear down
🔵 And much, much more!

📈 STOCK UP

🔼 Two Decades Deep. Kentucky athletic director Mitch Barnhart is going to be at Kentucky for even longer now that he has a two-year contract extension. His current contract only went to 2026, but now he will stay until 2028.

Barnhart has been the athletic director here in Lexington since 2002—and yes, that's two decades in the books with most of the third decade in the extension. Under his leadership, the Wildcats have taken home six national championships, 54 conference regular-season and tournament titles, and a top-20 overall athletics programs ranking in the Learfield Directors’ Cup for six consecutive years.

📄 Read more about Mitch Barnhart’s extended contract here.

🔼 All Around. While senior Reagan Rutherford stood out with 17 kills in the match against Northern Colorado, freshman Brooklyn DeLeye and junior Erin Lamb helped Kentucky climb the ladder and bring home the W.

DeLeye and Lamb had a strong match as they had a little internal competition going to see who could get the second-highest number of kills, although they ended up in a tie with 13 each. The team hit .339, and junior Emma Grome had 45 assists.

Another freshman to look out for is Molly Tuozzo. She served up six aces, and four of them happened in the first set.

🏐 Watch highlights of their win against Northern Colorado

📖 Read more about the win here.

 🔼 Even Steven. The women’s soccer team tied at 1-1 with Valparaiso for their first tie of the season. Kentucky finished with a total of 17 shots and four shots on goal, while Valparaiso had just one shot on goal.

Up next? Kentucky women’s soccer is home on Thursday against UT Martin at 7:30pm ET.

🤔 BIG BLUE TRIVIA

Name that player. This freshman football player is a wide receiver from Springfield, Ohio. He was a four-star prospect and rated nationally as the No. 55 wide receiver and No. 9 prospect in Ohio. He also wears the No. 5 jersey—which is exactly how many days are left until kickoff!

Think you got it? Scroll on down to the bottom of this email for the answer!

🔵 ONE BIG THING

Tradition reoccurring. Whether this was intentional in the scheduling or not, head coach John Calipari restored a piece of Kentucky basketball tradition by playing Gonzaga so late in February. It’s the biggest non-conference game in February the Wildcats will play in more than two decades.

The last February non-conference game in Rupp Arena that had this much magnitude was in 1997 when then head coach of Kentucky Rick Pitino’s No. 3 Wildcats beat No. 18 Villanova by a score of 93-56.

🔙 Read more about some of the biggest games Kentucky basketball has played.

🏀 Follow the schedule here for when times are released.

📬 STICK WITH US

Did someone send you the Big Blue Brew? Well, the first thing you should do is thank them. The next thing you should do is subscribe here for free and get it in your inbox every weekday morning just in time for your first cup of coffee!

📅 COMING SOON

Monday, August 28

⚽️ Men’s Soccer vs. East Tennessee State @ 7:30pm ET | Tickets

Friday, September 1

🏐 Volleyball vs. Pittsburgh @ 7:00pm ET (Home Opener) | Tickets

Saturday, September 2

🏈 Football vs. Ball State @ 12:00pm ET on SEC Network | Watch Live | Reserve Your Tailgate

🎉 TRIVIA ANSWER

Answer: Anthony Brown-Stephens!

🔵 Have a great Monday!