Today I’m officially announcing that my business, Billy Reed Enterprises, is opening a new division. The Headhunter Division. I am now available, for a very reasonable fee, to help professional general managers and college athletics directors find and hire coaches.

Please send this to Mitch Barnhart because I’d like the University of Kentucky to be my first client. I’ll work for less than half of whatever UK is paying Parker Executive Search, an Atlanta-based firm that conducts global executive searches for corporations, universities, and athletics directors. Heck, I’ll work for a fourth of whatever UK is paying Parker Executive Search.

Personally, I think it’s embarrassing that Kentucky, arguably the most glorious name in college basketball, would have to resort to a headhunter to help it find a replacement for Tubby Smith. Barnhart has some of the best resources in the sport available to him for the price of a few phone calls. Does he really think that Parker Executive Search can come up with a better candidate than a group of former Wildcat players and coaches?

I mean, this is KENTUCKY, the winningest program in the nation. It’s not Denver, Northern Illinois, Iowa, or Minnesota, all of which also hired to help Parker Executive Search find new coaches. Those programs have proven over the years that they don’t have much clue about college basketball. But Kentucky is another story. Can anybody imagine Ohio State, Florida or Notre Dame hiring a search firm to help it find a football coach?

But that’s beside the point. Barnhart has decided to go this route and spend this money, so I might as well get it instead of an Atlanta headhunter. I probably could do the job by myself, since I’ve been watching UK basketball for a half-century or more. But I wouldn’t do that. Instead, I’d pick the brains of Dan Issel, Joe B. Hall, Kyle Macy, Rex Chapman, Pat Riley, Jack Givens, Kenny Walker, Jamal Mashburn, Jimmy Dan Conner, Sam Bowie, Rick Pitino, Wayne Martin (of Lexington’s Channel 27), and Richie Farmer.

I guarantee those guys will no more about what UK needs than Parker Executive Search. I guarantee that each cares enough about UK — and knows the program and its fans well enough — to give Barnhart their best (free) advice. No university has greater resources among its former players than UK. It doesn’t require a brain surgeon to figure it would be a good idea to talk with them.

Maybe Barnhart already has made the calls. I hope so. But if he hasn’t, I’ll be glad to be his headhunter. Oh, by the way, here’s a trivia question for you: Name the headhunters who identified Adolph Rupp, Hall, Pitino, and Smith? Answer: There were none. The ADs in charge when those hires were made all trusted their own instincts more than they did any hired gun from out of state.

When Louisville athletics director Tom Jurich was asked if he would hire a search firm to help find a replacement for football coach Bobby Petrino, he smiled and said, “Yeah…It’s name is Jurich & Associates.” He went and got Steve Kragthorpe in about, oh, five seconds, about the same time it took him to hire Pitino to be his basketball coach. He didn’t need the help of Parker Executive Search or the new headhunter in town, Billy Reed Enterprises.

Speaking of my company, I also should point out that we have expertise in public and media relations. If Barnhart were to hire me, the first thing I’d tell him would be to come out of his bunker and meet with the media. He doesn’t have to reveal anything, of course. But just showing his face would win him a lot of goodwill with the media and the public. Instead, all he’s doing by going underground is increasing the perception that he’s aloof, remote, arrogant, and and uncomfortable with the Big Blue’s rank-and-file.

I’d tell him that he ought to go on talk-radio shows and listen to what the fans have to say. What’s the harm in that? At least the fans would respect him for listening and be more inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt when he finally announces his decision.

For Barnhart’s information, I’ve already talked with Travis Ford — I ran into him at the State Tournament — and know something about his availability. I’m sure Billy Donovan would take my calls. And if all else fails, I can always call my friend Bob Knight to get his views on what Kentucky needs. Over the years, remember, he has expressed his views on that very subject many times.

So my company is here to help. I’m confident I can do every bit as good a job as Parker Executive Search for far less money. My operators are on duty and awaiting Mitch’s call.