By Neil Schmidt
The Cincinnati Enquirer

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Kentucky athletic director Mitch Barnhart opened a news conference Monday with the question, "Who is Rich Brooks?"

It was a setup to Barnhart's recitation of Brooks' career highlights and the announcement that Brooks had been appointed UK's football coach. Yet it also proved an inadvertent sound byte to match the sentiment of many Wildcats fans.

Brooks was national coach of the year in 1994 at Oregon, yet his name recognition isn't high in the Commonwealth. Even UK junior quarterback Jared Lorenzen said he had never heard of his new coach.

"I don't know that I can say anything (to fans who didn't like the choice)," Brooks said. "I think what I have to do is prove it. I don't think I've ever taken a job that wasn't questioned. I think that's the nature of the business."

It was an unusual news conference because there was as much discussion about who wasn't hired - including Barnhart's dalliance with Bill Parcells - as about the man who got the job.

Barnhart visited Parcells in New York on Dec.11, two days after Guy Morriss resigned as UK's coach to take the job at Baylor. Barnhart said much of the delay in the coaching search was a result of Parcells' deliberation about the job.

"I thought it was going to happen," Barnhart said of Parcells.

Yet Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones began talks with Parcells, and Barnhart chose to move on. Barnhart said he talked to "10 to 15" candidates in all, though he at first talked to Brooks only to ask advice about other coaches.

UK became the last Division I school to hire a coach for next season. Brooks, who went 91-109-4 in 18 years at Oregon and 13-19 in two years as coach of the NFL's St.Louis Rams, was given a five-year deal with a $725,000 base salary, plus incentives.

UK remains on NCAA probation for recruiting violations. It won't be allowed to sign a full class until 2005 because of scholarship reductions.