When the Kentucky men’s basketball team brought home the Southeastern Conference Tournament championship in March, UK Athletics completed the goals set forth in the 15 by 15 by 15 Plan.Mitch Barnhart didn’t wait long to issue the next challenge to the department he leads.Delivering his speech at the CATSPY Awards – UK’s annual celebratory awards show – Barnhart described the successor to 15 by 15 by 15, which called on UK Athletics to win 15 conference or national championships, finish in the top 15 of Directors’ Cup standings and achieve a cumulative student-athlete grade-point average of 3.0 by 2015.It’s called 1-3-5.The goals are as simple as they are lofty.1 – By the year 2022, Barnhart wants all of UK’s 22 teams to win a conference or national championship.3 – He’s calling for a department-wide grade-point average of 3.0 for UK student-athletes each and every semester. 5 – Finally, he’s asking UK Athletics to pursue a top-five Directors’ Cup finish in the next seven seasons.“This won’t be easy,” Barnhart said. “I know that. But 15 by 15 by 15 seemed just as ambitious seven years ago. We didn’t let that stop us from pursuing greatness. We went after it anyway. Now, I challenge you to do the same with 1-3-5 because I know we can do it. I know we can become elite.”The word “elite” was a common thread throughout Barnhart’s remarks.The 13th-year athletics director reflected on the start of his UK tenure at the CATSPYs, commenting on the fan support and tradition that drew him to the job in the first place. UK, he said, was a good athletics department that embraced the task of becoming great. Now it’s about taking the next step.”We’re here to take on the challenge to go from great to elite,” Barnhart said. “To me, being elite means we are in the conversation for the best athletics department in the country. Individually, it means each of us pursues being the best of ourselves.”Barnhart, an avid climber, likened UK’s journey to elite status to scaling a mountain.”I’ve thought about this over the last month and I keep coming back to one of my greatest passions: mountain climbing,” Barnhart said. “Becoming what we are today has been quite a climb already. It’s brought us to within a few thousand feet of the summit, but those final few thousand feet of the climb are the toughest.”To make the final leg of the climb and reach the summit, Barnhart said everyone involved with UK Athletics will have to go to the next level, starting with the student-athletes.”Are you committed to working, to becoming the best version of yourself?” Barnhart said. “You were brought here because you possess unique gifts. It’s on you to develop them.””Are you willing to embrace the expectations that come with being at Kentucky? The resources that go into supporting you, the facilities you play in and the fans that cheer you on demand excellence. It’s on you to make it happen.”Are you able to put yourself out there? You will never reach the heights you’re capable of if you’re not willing to make yourself uncomfortable. You’re going to have to risk failure to succeed the way I know you can.”Barnhart, ever committed to the growth of UK student-athletes as people, was sure to point out the answers to those questions will determine more than just the department’s success over the next five years. “This is the start of your climb in life and this is the start of our climb to becoming elite,” Barnhart said.