Mitch Barnhart backed away — and Kentucky does not get credit for that

The University of Kentucky wants to call this controversy a “distraction.” It was not a distraction. It was a sweetheart deal, the public saw it, and leadership got caught.

Mitch Barnhart is no longer taking the cushy post-retirement University of Kentucky job that was set to pay him around $1 million a year after he steps down as athletic director on June 30. UK President Eli Capilouto announced the change Thursday, saying Barnhart told him the controversy had become “a distraction from the work of our university.”

A distr…