Michael Stone, director of academic services, completed his 22nd year in 2019-20 working with student-athletes in the Center for Academic and Tutorial Services and his 19th year working with the men’s basketball team.

Stone, a native of Clay City, Kentucky, has made a positive impact on the Kentucky men’s basketball program during his tenure. A tireless worker, Stone has assisted current and former student-athletes in their academic responsibilities and post-graduation aspirations. He has been instrumental in the success of the Wildcats in the classroom.

In addition to his responsibilities with the men’s basketball program, Stone serves as the academic counselor for Kentucky’s baseball team.

Stone has helped the UK men’s basketball program to 85 Southeastern Conference Academic Honor Roll selections during his time with the program, including four more during the 2019-20 season. Prior to Stone’s tenure with the men’s basketball staff, 31 total student-athletes had earned All-SEC Academic honors, dating back to 1962.

Six times, including each of the last five seasons, the UK men’s basketball team has received an NCAA Academic Progress Rate recognition award for placing in the top 10% of the nation’s Division I’s men’s basketball APR scores.

During the John Calipari era, UK men’s basketball has posted one-year APR scores on 979 in 2009-10, 979 in 2010-11, 977 for the 2011-12 national championship season, a streak of a perfect 1,000 for six straight seasons and a 994 in 2018-19. The NCAA’s APR provides a real-time look at a team’s academic success by the progress of each student-athlete on scholarship. The NCAA postseason cutoff score is 930.

Under Stone, Kentucky men’s basketball routinely posts grade-point averages of 3.0 or better, including a 3.763 GPA in the 2020 spring semester during the COVID-19 pandemic.

As the Wildcats made history during the 2014-15 season by becoming the first team in college basketball history to start a season 38-0, the Wildcats took care of business in the classroom as 12 of UK’s 16 players made the SEC Academic Honor Roll, a school record.

In 2014, Kentucky had nine basketball players earn the distinction, and Sam Malone earned the Elite 89 Award, which honors the player with the highest cumulative GPA at the Final Four. The Wildcats maintained a 3.0 GPA in both semesters during that Final Four run.

Since taking over baseball advising responsibilities in 2002, Stone has seen a staggering total of 238 of his student-athletes earn SEC Academic Honor Roll honors, with another 91 earning SEC First-Year Honor Roll accolades. In addition, four Wildcats, Dustin Beggs, Collin Cowgill, Greg Dombrowski and Marshall Gei, earned Academic All-America accolades and Zach Logue was named the SEC Scholar Athlete of the Year in 2017.

In the spring of 2020, the baseball team posted a cumulative grade point average of 3.578, one of the highest marks in program history. The program has earned at least a 3.0 team GPA in eigh conseuctive semesters.

In addition to his duties as an academic counselor, Stone supervises the CATS study hall as well as oversees the nightly functions of the CATS facility.

Stone is an active member of the National Association of Academic Advisors for Athletics. He has served as the Region II Representative for the Student-Athlete Recognition Committee, which honors student-athletes who have overcome great obstacles to achieve academic success while participating in intercollegiate athletics.

Stone received both a B.S. in economics and a B.B.A. in marketing (1997), as well as his master’s in sports management (2002) from UK.