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There were a lot of calls for Kentucky to fire Mark Stoops during the 2015 season after a 4-0 start turned into a 5-7 season. So far this year Kentucky has struggled to put away Southern Miss and Eastern Kentucky, South Carolina is clearly not a good team, and poor coaching cost Kentucky the game against Florida last night.

His buyout apparently drops to $6.6 Million on December 2, 2017. Given how weak the SEC East is this year, I think anything less than 2nd in the SEC East (Georgia) is underachieving. I really think Kentucky should pull the trigger if this winds up being another 7-5 or worse campaign. I'd even be comfortable making a change at 8-4 if there's another loss like the one last night. This is a team that should go at least 10-2 (losses to Georgia and maybe Louisville) given how far down the SEC East is this year.
The Kentucky football program has improved under Stoops. They are recruiting well & making bowls. I think the DC shoulders most of the blame for the loss to Florida. I think it would be a mistake to make a HC change now. I think that it is easy to assume that their will be several SEC jobs open by the end of the season, Stoops could actually fill one of them.


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Gut wrenching loss, even worse than mine to the Aggies last night. Stoops is building ya up the right way. If he still can't get ya over the hump in two years, it's a different story.
Too soon to replace Stoops.

And I think 10 wins, even in a year where the East is weak, is unrealistic.

Stoops is on the right track even though I know some games are frustrating.
I agree with the OP. it's easy for the outside observer, especially our SEC brethren who have seen lots and lots of lousy UK teams over the years, see a 7-5 type team with improved recruiting and think, "why UK would be crazy to let him go, this is as good as they've been in forever!" - but as a lifelong UK fan, and a very close observer of every single game they play, I can tell you that Stoops is an absolutely atrocious head football coach. Yes, recruiting has been vastly improved under him, and I appreciate that, but all it does in the end when you don't have the coaching to go with the talent, is just have even more frustrating losses like last night.

It is absolutely indefensible to lose that game last night with UK fans as high and up as we've been in forever, in the matter it was lost, with not one, but TWO wide open receivers catching TDs in a relatively low-scoring game, and both those plays came OUT OF TIMEOUTS. And it isn't even the first time that's happened in a game to us - Vandy crushed us in a game a few years ago that included a couple similar boneheaded, inexcusable breakdowns like that. Those are the plays people will remember, but he did some other stupid things, burning timeouts when he shouldn't, and taking two to halftime when he could have called one to help set up a better, non-rushed FG attempt before the gun from a kicker who rarely misses from that distance - in a one-point loss, yeah, that made a difference.

Listen, I am a lifelong Bengals fan in the NFL too (can you imagine following the Bengals and UK football your whole life?) and I have seen some awful football on the field, and maddening sideline stuff. Mark Stoops is about as bad as I've ever seen when it comes to stuff like clock management, getting alignments right on the field, etc. And that's coming from someone who's watched Marvin Lewis on Sundays, on a weekly basis for the last 15 years.

OP is absolutely correct about the schedule. I know it seems funny given our history to say, "UK should go 10-2" with this schedule, but it's absolutely true, imo. When will we ever have the schedule we do this year? The stars have aligned for about as good a schedule as we're ever gonna have - 8 home games, including some "Swing" games on paper, the games versus Florida, Tennessee, Louisville, all at home. Of the four SEC road games we have, three of them on paper, were considered to be very winnable (Vanderbilt, South Carolina and Mississippi State - I realize MsSt looks better than most people thought, and Vandy does for that matter, yesterday's game notwithstanding, but still, certainly three games that UK has a real chance in). In addition to our annual game with State, our other SEC West team we happened to draw this year - Ole Miss. In Lexington. Certainly a winnable game.

if there is EVER a time we could EVER go 9-3 or 10-2, and for heaven's sake, actually ONE TIME EVER win the SEC East, this could have been it. I know we aren't Georgia or Florida or Tennessee, but I mean, if South Carolina and Missouri can win the SEC East, why can't we? Just ONE TIME. (I am not disrespecting my Gamecock and Mizzou brothers, I am just saying - no reasons UK can't ever have a year like those programs have). Yeah, it's just two games into SEC, but the home loss to Florida, with a road game against UGa on the schedule, has pretty much extinguished whatever long odds we may have had at winning the East. About as crushing as a September loss can be, imo.

Everyone knows about the 31-game losing streak to Florida. But an absolutely staggering stat they shared last night as well, is it has been FORTY YEARS - 1977 - since UK started 2-0 in SEC play. Isn't that mindblowing? I mean winning two games in a row in league to start the year - it shouldn't take a Herculean effort to do that one time in 40 years.

Too many people have too low expectations for our football that they are glad to be closer in games,and have pretty good recruiting classes, I am afraid. We have a chicken little AD who gets way too much credit for a hire he never made (Barnhart did not even hire John Calipari), and his hires have been Joker Phillips and Billy Gillispie and giving out way too early or undeserved extensions to Tubby Smith and Stoops in this case, in addition to way overpaying a women's basketball coach who has yet to make a Final Four, and running off a great baseball coach after breaking many promises to him about facilities. But I DIGRESS.

Some of my SEC brothers, give me something to daydream about - if UK did let Stoops go, who would be a realistic hire that maybe has some sideline coaching acumen that could give us long-suffering fans hope??
(09-24-2017 02:40 PM)Blue Dynasty Wrote: [ -> ]I agree with the OP. it's easy for the outside observer, especially our SEC brethren who have seen lots and lots of lousy UK teams over the years, see a 7-5 type team with improved recruiting and think, "why UK would be crazy to let him go, this is as good as they've been in forever!" - but as a lifelong UK fan, and a very close observer of every single game they play, I can tell you that Stoops is an absolutely atrocious head football coach. Yes, recruiting has been vastly improved under him, and I appreciate that, but all it does in the end when you don't have the coaching to go with the talent, is just have even more frustrating losses like last night.

It is absolutely indefensible to lose that game last night with UK fans as high and up as we've been in forever, in the matter it was lost, with not one, but TWO wide open receivers catching TDs in a relatively low-scoring game, and both those plays came OUT OF TIMEOUTS. And it isn't even the first time that's happened in a game to us - Vandy crushed us in a game a few years ago that included a couple similar boneheaded, inexcusable breakdowns like that. Those are the plays people will remember, but he did some other stupid things, burning timeouts when he shouldn't, and taking two to halftime when he could have called one to help set up a better, non-rushed FG attempt before the gun from a kicker who rarely misses from that distance - in a one-point loss, yeah, that made a difference.

Listen, I am a lifelong Bengals fan in the NFL too (can you imagine following the Bengals and UK football your whole life?) and I have seen some awful football on the field, and maddening sideline stuff. Mark Stoops is about as bad as I've ever seen when it comes to stuff like clock management, getting alignments right on the field, etc. And that's coming from someone who's watched Marvin Lewis on Sundays, on a weekly basis for the last 15 years.

OP is absolutely correct about the schedule. I know it seems funny given our history to say, "UK should go 10-2" with this schedule, but it's absolutely true, imo. When will we ever have the schedule we do this year? The stars have aligned for about as good a schedule as we're ever gonna have - 8 home games, including some "Swing" games on paper, the games versus Florida, Tennessee, Louisville, all at home. Of the four SEC road games we have, three of them on paper, were considered to be very winnable (Vanderbilt, South Carolina and Mississippi State - I realize MsSt looks better than most people thought, and Vandy does for that matter, yesterday's game notwithstanding, but still, certainly three games that UK has a real chance in). In addition to our annual game with State, our other SEC West team we happened to draw this year - Ole Miss. In Lexington. Certainly a winnable game.

if there is EVER a time we could EVER go 9-3 or 10-2, and for heaven's sake, actually ONE TIME EVER win the SEC East, this could have been it. I know we aren't Georgia or Florida or Tennessee, but I mean, if South Carolina and Missouri can win the SEC East, why can't we? Just ONE TIME. (I am not disrespecting my Gamecock and Mizzou brothers, I am just saying - no reasons UK can't ever have a year like those programs have). Yeah, it's just two games into SEC, but the home loss to Florida, with a road game against UGa on the schedule, has pretty much extinguished whatever long odds we may have had at winning the East. About as crushing as a September loss can be, imo.

Everyone knows about the 31-game losing streak to Florida. But an absolutely staggering stat they shared last night as well, is it has been FORTY YEARS - 1977 - since UK started 2-0 in SEC play. Isn't that mindblowing? I mean winning two games in a row in league to start the year - it shouldn't take a Herculean effort to do that one time in 40 years.

Too many people have too low expectations for our football that they are glad to be closer in games,and have pretty good recruiting classes, I am afraid. We have a chicken little AD who gets way too much credit for a hire he never made (Barnhart did not even hire John Calipari), and his hires have been Joker Phillips and Billy Gillispie and giving out way too early or undeserved extensions to Tubby Smith and Stoops in this case, in addition to way overpaying a women's basketball coach who has yet to make a Final Four, and running off a great baseball coach after breaking many promises to him about facilities. But I DIGRESS.

Some of my SEC brothers, give me something to daydream about - if UK did let Stoops go, who would be a realistic hire that maybe has some sideline coaching acumen that could give us long-suffering fans hope??

I originally was going to say where would you go if U.K. Gave Stoops the Axe, but you laid out a pretty compelling case that is quite honestly not too dissimilar to what UTK is facing. If you don't set the bar high you will never get to where you want to be
(09-24-2017 04:49 PM)vandiver49 Wrote: [ -> ]
(09-24-2017 02:40 PM)Blue Dynasty Wrote: [ -> ]I agree with the OP. it's easy for the outside observer, especially our SEC brethren who have seen lots and lots of lousy UK teams over the years, see a 7-5 type team with improved recruiting and think, "why UK would be crazy to let him go, this is as good as they've been in forever!" - but as a lifelong UK fan, and a very close observer of every single game they play, I can tell you that Stoops is an absolutely atrocious head football coach. Yes, recruiting has been vastly improved under him, and I appreciate that, but all it does in the end when you don't have the coaching to go with the talent, is just have even more frustrating losses like last night.

It is absolutely indefensible to lose that game last night with UK fans as high and up as we've been in forever, in the matter it was lost, with not one, but TWO wide open receivers catching TDs in a relatively low-scoring game, and both those plays came OUT OF TIMEOUTS. And it isn't even the first time that's happened in a game to us - Vandy crushed us in a game a few years ago that included a couple similar boneheaded, inexcusable breakdowns like that. Those are the plays people will remember, but he did some other stupid things, burning timeouts when he shouldn't, and taking two to halftime when he could have called one to help set up a better, non-rushed FG attempt before the gun from a kicker who rarely misses from that distance - in a one-point loss, yeah, that made a difference.

Listen, I am a lifelong Bengals fan in the NFL too (can you imagine following the Bengals and UK football your whole life?) and I have seen some awful football on the field, and maddening sideline stuff. Mark Stoops is about as bad as I've ever seen when it comes to stuff like clock management, getting alignments right on the field, etc. And that's coming from someone who's watched Marvin Lewis on Sundays, on a weekly basis for the last 15 years.

OP is absolutely correct about the schedule. I know it seems funny given our history to say, "UK should go 10-2" with this schedule, but it's absolutely true, imo. When will we ever have the schedule we do this year? The stars have aligned for about as good a schedule as we're ever gonna have - 8 home games, including some "Swing" games on paper, the games versus Florida, Tennessee, Louisville, all at home. Of the four SEC road games we have, three of them on paper, were considered to be very winnable (Vanderbilt, South Carolina and Mississippi State - I realize MsSt looks better than most people thought, and Vandy does for that matter, yesterday's game notwithstanding, but still, certainly three games that UK has a real chance in). In addition to our annual game with State, our other SEC West team we happened to draw this year - Ole Miss. In Lexington. Certainly a winnable game.

if there is EVER a time we could EVER go 9-3 or 10-2, and for heaven's sake, actually ONE TIME EVER win the SEC East, this could have been it. I know we aren't Georgia or Florida or Tennessee, but I mean, if South Carolina and Missouri can win the SEC East, why can't we? Just ONE TIME. (I am not disrespecting my Gamecock and Mizzou brothers, I am just saying - no reasons UK can't ever have a year like those programs have). Yeah, it's just two games into SEC, but the home loss to Florida, with a road game against UGa on the schedule, has pretty much extinguished whatever long odds we may have had at winning the East. About as crushing as a September loss can be, imo.

Everyone knows about the 31-game losing streak to Florida. But an absolutely staggering stat they shared last night as well, is it has been FORTY YEARS - 1977 - since UK started 2-0 in SEC play. Isn't that mindblowing? I mean winning two games in a row in league to start the year - it shouldn't take a Herculean effort to do that one time in 40 years.

Too many people have too low expectations for our football that they are glad to be closer in games,and have pretty good recruiting classes, I am afraid. We have a chicken little AD who gets way too much credit for a hire he never made (Barnhart did not even hire John Calipari), and his hires have been Joker Phillips and Billy Gillispie and giving out way too early or undeserved extensions to Tubby Smith and Stoops in this case, in addition to way overpaying a women's basketball coach who has yet to make a Final Four, and running off a great baseball coach after breaking many promises to him about facilities. But I DIGRESS.

Some of my SEC brothers, give me something to daydream about - if UK did let Stoops go, who would be a realistic hire that maybe has some sideline coaching acumen that could give us long-suffering fans hope??

I originally was going to say where would you go if U.K. Gave Stoops the Axe, but you laid out a pretty compelling case that is quite honestly not too dissimilar to what UTK is facing. If you don't set the bar high you will never get to where you want to be

The problem for Kentucky is that it is labeled as a basketball first school and it is not seen as a final destination job. It's seen as a step ladder job for Football. So you are either going to hire a proven but somewhat mediocre older coach, or take a shot on an up & comer. For long term success if you find a good up & comer just keep raising his salary and hope he stays 8 years or more and the whole time he is there have a pick list created and maintained by the A.D. (but do it secretly). Look for coaches who can sustain what you are already doing well. Don't hire somebody with a completely different system because your existing players weren't picked for that system.
Candidates for Kentucky?

Here's a list of up and comers from SI

I'd also throw in Mark Helfrich
(09-24-2017 05:58 PM)AllTideUp Wrote: [ -> ]Candidates for Kentucky?

Here's a list of up and comers from SI

I'd also throw in Mark Helfrich

It would be stupid to hire a service academy coach who runs the wishbone and I noticed that at least two on that list are, maybe all three, as I didn't read the whole thing..
(09-24-2017 06:02 PM)JRsec Wrote: [ -> ]
(09-24-2017 05:58 PM)AllTideUp Wrote: [ -> ]Candidates for Kentucky?

Here's a list of up and comers from SI

I'd also throw in Mark Helfrich

It would be stupid to hire a service academy coach who runs the wishbone and I noticed that at least two on that list are, maybe all three, as I didn't read the whole thing..

There's about 12 on the list actually. You have to scroll past a lot of ads though to get to the bottom.
(09-24-2017 02:40 PM)Blue Dynasty Wrote: [ -> ]I agree with the OP. it's easy for the outside observer, especially our SEC brethren who have seen lots and lots of lousy UK teams over the years, see a 7-5 type team with improved recruiting and think, "why UK would be crazy to let him go, this is as good as they've been in forever!" - but as a lifelong UK fan, and a very close observer of every single game they play, I can tell you that Stoops is an absolutely atrocious head football coach. Yes, recruiting has been vastly improved under him, and I appreciate that, but all it does in the end when you don't have the coaching to go with the talent, is just have even more frustrating losses like last night.

It is absolutely indefensible to lose that game last night with UK fans as high and up as we've been in forever, in the matter it was lost, with not one, but TWO wide open receivers catching TDs in a relatively low-scoring game, and both those plays came OUT OF TIMEOUTS. And it isn't even the first time that's happened in a game to us - Vandy crushed us in a game a few years ago that included a couple similar boneheaded, inexcusable breakdowns like that. Those are the plays people will remember, but he did some other stupid things, burning timeouts when he shouldn't, and taking two to halftime when he could have called one to help set up a better, non-rushed FG attempt before the gun from a kicker who rarely misses from that distance - in a one-point loss, yeah, that made a difference.

Listen, I am a lifelong Bengals fan in the NFL too (can you imagine following the Bengals and UK football your whole life?) and I have seen some awful football on the field, and maddening sideline stuff. Mark Stoops is about as bad as I've ever seen when it comes to stuff like clock management, getting alignments right on the field, etc. And that's coming from someone who's watched Marvin Lewis on Sundays, on a weekly basis for the last 15 years.

OP is absolutely correct about the schedule. I know it seems funny given our history to say, "UK should go 10-2" with this schedule, but it's absolutely true, imo. When will we ever have the schedule we do this year? The stars have aligned for about as good a schedule as we're ever gonna have - 8 home games, including some "Swing" games on paper, the games versus Florida, Tennessee, Louisville, all at home. Of the four SEC road games we have, three of them on paper, were considered to be very winnable (Vanderbilt, South Carolina and Mississippi State - I realize MsSt looks better than most people thought, and Vandy does for that matter, yesterday's game notwithstanding, but still, certainly three games that UK has a real chance in). In addition to our annual game with State, our other SEC West team we happened to draw this year - Ole Miss. In Lexington. Certainly a winnable game.

if there is EVER a time we could EVER go 9-3 or 10-2, and for heaven's sake, actually ONE TIME EVER win the SEC East, this could have been it. I know we aren't Georgia or Florida or Tennessee, but I mean, if South Carolina and Missouri can win the SEC East, why can't we? Just ONE TIME. (I am not disrespecting my Gamecock and Mizzou brothers, I am just saying - no reasons UK can't ever have a year like those programs have). Yeah, it's just two games into SEC, but the home loss to Florida, with a road game against UGa on the schedule, has pretty much extinguished whatever long odds we may have had at winning the East. About as crushing as a September loss can be, imo.

Everyone knows about the 31-game losing streak to Florida. But an absolutely staggering stat they shared last night as well, is it has been FORTY YEARS - 1977 - since UK started 2-0 in SEC play. Isn't that mindblowing? I mean winning two games in a row in league to start the year - it shouldn't take a Herculean effort to do that one time in 40 years.

Too many people have too low expectations for our football that they are glad to be closer in games,and have pretty good recruiting classes, I am afraid. We have a chicken little AD who gets way too much credit for a hire he never made (Barnhart did not even hire John Calipari), and his hires have been Joker Phillips and Billy Gillispie and giving out way too early or undeserved extensions to Tubby Smith and Stoops in this case, in addition to way overpaying a women's basketball coach who has yet to make a Final Four, and running off a great baseball coach after breaking many promises to him about facilities. But I DIGRESS.

Some of my SEC brothers, give me something to daydream about - if UK did let Stoops go, who would be a realistic hire that maybe has some sideline coaching acumen that could give us long-suffering fans hope??

This is probably the first game in which high pressure and expectations were applied to both the players and the coaches in eons. Crazy things happen sometimes. Those two not covered players should have never happened...at least without a timeout.

I was disappointed too. Now is not the time to dismiss Stoops. Y'all can still win the East. fight on, learn, and keep going. And welcome to SEC football Kdntucky.
(09-24-2017 05:12 PM)JRsec Wrote: [ -> ]
(09-24-2017 04:49 PM)vandiver49 Wrote: [ -> ]
(09-24-2017 02:40 PM)Blue Dynasty Wrote: [ -> ]I agree with the OP. it's easy for the outside observer, especially our SEC brethren who have seen lots and lots of lousy UK teams over the years, see a 7-5 type team with improved recruiting and think, "why UK would be crazy to let him go, this is as good as they've been in forever!" - but as a lifelong UK fan, and a very close observer of every single game they play, I can tell you that Stoops is an absolutely atrocious head football coach. Yes, recruiting has been vastly improved under him, and I appreciate that, but all it does in the end when you don't have the coaching to go with the talent, is just have even more frustrating losses like last night.

It is absolutely indefensible to lose that game last night with UK fans as high and up as we've been in forever, in the matter it was lost, with not one, but TWO wide open receivers catching TDs in a relatively low-scoring game, and both those plays came OUT OF TIMEOUTS. And it isn't even the first time that's happened in a game to us - Vandy crushed us in a game a few years ago that included a couple similar boneheaded, inexcusable breakdowns like that. Those are the plays people will remember, but he did some other stupid things, burning timeouts when he shouldn't, and taking two to halftime when he could have called one to help set up a better, non-rushed FG attempt before the gun from a kicker who rarely misses from that distance - in a one-point loss, yeah, that made a difference.

Listen, I am a lifelong Bengals fan in the NFL too (can you imagine following the Bengals and UK football your whole life?) and I have seen some awful football on the field, and maddening sideline stuff. Mark Stoops is about as bad as I've ever seen when it comes to stuff like clock management, getting alignments right on the field, etc. And that's coming from someone who's watched Marvin Lewis on Sundays, on a weekly basis for the last 15 years.

OP is absolutely correct about the schedule. I know it seems funny given our history to say, "UK should go 10-2" with this schedule, but it's absolutely true, imo. When will we ever have the schedule we do this year? The stars have aligned for about as good a schedule as we're ever gonna have - 8 home games, including some "Swing" games on paper, the games versus Florida, Tennessee, Louisville, all at home. Of the four SEC road games we have, three of them on paper, were considered to be very winnable (Vanderbilt, South Carolina and Mississippi State - I realize MsSt looks better than most people thought, and Vandy does for that matter, yesterday's game notwithstanding, but still, certainly three games that UK has a real chance in). In addition to our annual game with State, our other SEC West team we happened to draw this year - Ole Miss. In Lexington. Certainly a winnable game.

if there is EVER a time we could EVER go 9-3 or 10-2, and for heaven's sake, actually ONE TIME EVER win the SEC East, this could have been it. I know we aren't Georgia or Florida or Tennessee, but I mean, if South Carolina and Missouri can win the SEC East, why can't we? Just ONE TIME. (I am not disrespecting my Gamecock and Mizzou brothers, I am just saying - no reasons UK can't ever have a year like those programs have). Yeah, it's just two games into SEC, but the home loss to Florida, with a road game against UGa on the schedule, has pretty much extinguished whatever long odds we may have had at winning the East. About as crushing as a September loss can be, imo.

Everyone knows about the 31-game losing streak to Florida. But an absolutely staggering stat they shared last night as well, is it has been FORTY YEARS - 1977 - since UK started 2-0 in SEC play. Isn't that mindblowing? I mean winning two games in a row in league to start the year - it shouldn't take a Herculean effort to do that one time in 40 years.

Too many people have too low expectations for our football that they are glad to be closer in games,and have pretty good recruiting classes, I am afraid. We have a chicken little AD who gets way too much credit for a hire he never made (Barnhart did not even hire John Calipari), and his hires have been Joker Phillips and Billy Gillispie and giving out way too early or undeserved extensions to Tubby Smith and Stoops in this case, in addition to way overpaying a women's basketball coach who has yet to make a Final Four, and running off a great baseball coach after breaking many promises to him about facilities. But I DIGRESS.

Some of my SEC brothers, give me something to daydream about - if UK did let Stoops go, who would be a realistic hire that maybe has some sideline coaching acumen that could give us long-suffering fans hope??

I originally was going to say where would you go if U.K. Gave Stoops the Axe, but you laid out a pretty compelling case that is quite honestly not too dissimilar to what UTK is facing. If you don't set the bar high you will never get to where you want to be

The problem for Kentucky is that it is labeled as a basketball first school and it is not seen as a final destination job. It's seen as a step ladder job for Football. So you are either going to hire a proven but somewhat mediocre older coach, or take a shot on an up & comer. For long term success if you find a good up & comer just keep raising his salary and hope he stays 8 years or more and the whole time he is there have a pick list created and maintained by the A.D. (but do it secretly). Look for coaches who can sustain what you are already doing well. Don't hire somebody with a completely different system because your existing players weren't picked for that system.


I agree with Dynasty that UK needs a change at AD. I would make that change first.

As far as coaching replacements, I would say Chad Morris or Les Miles. First I would give Stoops more $ to hire a better DC & then go from there. Or even have Stoops take more control over the defense given his experience as AD at places like FSU. Being 1-63 verses Florida & Tennessee shouldn't happen.


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(09-24-2017 02:40 PM)Blue Dynasty Wrote: [ -> ]I agree with the OP. it's easy for the outside observer, especially our SEC brethren who have seen lots and lots of lousy UK teams over the years, see a 7-5 type team with improved recruiting and think, "why UK would be crazy to let him go, this is as good as they've been in forever!" - but as a lifelong UK fan, and a very close observer of every single game they play, I can tell you that Stoops is an absolutely atrocious head football coach. Yes, recruiting has been vastly improved under him, and I appreciate that, but all it does in the end when you don't have the coaching to go with the talent, is just have even more frustrating losses like last night.

It is absolutely indefensible to lose that game last night with UK fans as high and up as we've been in forever, in the matter it was lost, with not one, but TWO wide open receivers catching TDs in a relatively low-scoring game, and both those plays came OUT OF TIMEOUTS. And it isn't even the first time that's happened in a game to us - Vandy crushed us in a game a few years ago that included a couple similar boneheaded, inexcusable breakdowns like that. Those are the plays people will remember, but he did some other stupid things, burning timeouts when he shouldn't, and taking two to halftime when he could have called one to help set up a better, non-rushed FG attempt before the gun from a kicker who rarely misses from that distance - in a one-point loss, yeah, that made a difference.

Listen, I am a lifelong Bengals fan in the NFL too (can you imagine following the Bengals and UK football your whole life?) and I have seen some awful football on the field, and maddening sideline stuff. Mark Stoops is about as bad as I've ever seen when it comes to stuff like clock management, getting alignments right on the field, etc. And that's coming from someone who's watched Marvin Lewis on Sundays, on a weekly basis for the last 15 years.

OP is absolutely correct about the schedule. I know it seems funny given our history to say, "UK should go 10-2" with this schedule, but it's absolutely true, imo. When will we ever have the schedule we do this year? The stars have aligned for about as good a schedule as we're ever gonna have - 8 home games, including some "Swing" games on paper, the games versus Florida, Tennessee, Louisville, all at home. Of the four SEC road games we have, three of them on paper, were considered to be very winnable (Vanderbilt, South Carolina and Mississippi State - I realize MsSt looks better than most people thought, and Vandy does for that matter, yesterday's game notwithstanding, but still, certainly three games that UK has a real chance in). In addition to our annual game with State, our other SEC West team we happened to draw this year - Ole Miss. In Lexington. Certainly a winnable game.

if there is EVER a time we could EVER go 9-3 or 10-2, and for heaven's sake, actually ONE TIME EVER win the SEC East, this could have been it. I know we aren't Georgia or Florida or Tennessee, but I mean, if South Carolina and Missouri can win the SEC East, why can't we? Just ONE TIME. (I am not disrespecting my Gamecock and Mizzou brothers, I am just saying - no reasons UK can't ever have a year like those programs have). Yeah, it's just two games into SEC, but the home loss to Florida, with a road game against UGa on the schedule, has pretty much extinguished whatever long odds we may have had at winning the East. About as crushing as a September loss can be, imo.

Everyone knows about the 31-game losing streak to Florida. But an absolutely staggering stat they shared last night as well, is it has been FORTY YEARS - 1977 - since UK started 2-0 in SEC play. Isn't that mindblowing? I mean winning two games in a row in league to start the year - it shouldn't take a Herculean effort to do that one time in 40 years.

Too many people have too low expectations for our football that they are glad to be closer in games,and have pretty good recruiting classes, I am afraid. We have a chicken little AD who gets way too much credit for a hire he never made (Barnhart did not even hire John Calipari), and his hires have been Joker Phillips and Billy Gillispie and giving out way too early or undeserved extensions to Tubby Smith and Stoops in this case, in addition to way overpaying a women's basketball coach who has yet to make a Final Four, and running off a great baseball coach after breaking many promises to him about facilities. But I DIGRESS.

Some of my SEC brothers, give me something to daydream about - if UK did let Stoops go, who would be a realistic hire that maybe has some sideline coaching acumen that could give us long-suffering fans hope??

Maybe Dave Doreen at NC State??
Better one: Mike Bobo @ Colorado State. UK should really give him a call.
(09-24-2017 05:12 PM)JRsec Wrote: [ -> ]
(09-24-2017 04:49 PM)vandiver49 Wrote: [ -> ]
(09-24-2017 02:40 PM)Blue Dynasty Wrote: [ -> ]I agree with the OP. it's easy for the outside observer, especially our SEC brethren who have seen lots and lots of lousy UK teams over the years, see a 7-5 type team with improved recruiting and think, "why UK would be crazy to let him go, this is as good as they've been in forever!" - but as a lifelong UK fan, and a very close observer of every single game they play, I can tell you that Stoops is an absolutely atrocious head football coach. Yes, recruiting has been vastly improved under him, and I appreciate that, but all it does in the end when you don't have the coaching to go with the talent, is just have even more frustrating losses like last night.

It is absolutely indefensible to lose that game last night with UK fans as high and up as we've been in forever, in the matter it was lost, with not one, but TWO wide open receivers catching TDs in a relatively low-scoring game, and both those plays came OUT OF TIMEOUTS. And it isn't even the first time that's happened in a game to us - Vandy crushed us in a game a few years ago that included a couple similar boneheaded, inexcusable breakdowns like that. Those are the plays people will remember, but he did some other stupid things, burning timeouts when he shouldn't, and taking two to halftime when he could have called one to help set up a better, non-rushed FG attempt before the gun from a kicker who rarely misses from that distance - in a one-point loss, yeah, that made a difference.

Listen, I am a lifelong Bengals fan in the NFL too (can you imagine following the Bengals and UK football your whole life?) and I have seen some awful football on the field, and maddening sideline stuff. Mark Stoops is about as bad as I've ever seen when it comes to stuff like clock management, getting alignments right on the field, etc. And that's coming from someone who's watched Marvin Lewis on Sundays, on a weekly basis for the last 15 years.

OP is absolutely correct about the schedule. I know it seems funny given our history to say, "UK should go 10-2" with this schedule, but it's absolutely true, imo. When will we ever have the schedule we do this year? The stars have aligned for about as good a schedule as we're ever gonna have - 8 home games, including some "Swing" games on paper, the games versus Florida, Tennessee, Louisville, all at home. Of the four SEC road games we have, three of them on paper, were considered to be very winnable (Vanderbilt, South Carolina and Mississippi State - I realize MsSt looks better than most people thought, and Vandy does for that matter, yesterday's game notwithstanding, but still, certainly three games that UK has a real chance in). In addition to our annual game with State, our other SEC West team we happened to draw this year - Ole Miss. In Lexington. Certainly a winnable game.

if there is EVER a time we could EVER go 9-3 or 10-2, and for heaven's sake, actually ONE TIME EVER win the SEC East, this could have been it. I know we aren't Georgia or Florida or Tennessee, but I mean, if South Carolina and Missouri can win the SEC East, why can't we? Just ONE TIME. (I am not disrespecting my Gamecock and Mizzou brothers, I am just saying - no reasons UK can't ever have a year like those programs have). Yeah, it's just two games into SEC, but the home loss to Florida, with a road game against UGa on the schedule, has pretty much extinguished whatever long odds we may have had at winning the East. About as crushing as a September loss can be, imo.

Everyone knows about the 31-game losing streak to Florida. But an absolutely staggering stat they shared last night as well, is it has been FORTY YEARS - 1977 - since UK started 2-0 in SEC play. Isn't that mindblowing? I mean winning two games in a row in league to start the year - it shouldn't take a Herculean effort to do that one time in 40 years.

Too many people have too low expectations for our football that they are glad to be closer in games,and have pretty good recruiting classes, I am afraid. We have a chicken little AD who gets way too much credit for a hire he never made (Barnhart did not even hire John Calipari), and his hires have been Joker Phillips and Billy Gillispie and giving out way too early or undeserved extensions to Tubby Smith and Stoops in this case, in addition to way overpaying a women's basketball coach who has yet to make a Final Four, and running off a great baseball coach after breaking many promises to him about facilities. But I DIGRESS.

Some of my SEC brothers, give me something to daydream about - if UK did let Stoops go, who would be a realistic hire that maybe has some sideline coaching acumen that could give us long-suffering fans hope??

I originally was going to say where would you go if U.K. Gave Stoops the Axe, but you laid out a pretty compelling case that is quite honestly not too dissimilar to what UTK is facing. If you don't set the bar high you will never get to where you want to be

The problem for Kentucky is that it is labeled as a basketball first school and it is not seen as a final destination job. It's seen as a step ladder job for Football. So you are either going to hire a proven but somewhat mediocre older coach, or take a shot on an up & comer. For long term success if you find a good up & comer just keep raising his salary and hope he stays 8 years or more and the whole time he is there have a pick list created and maintained by the A.D. (but do it secretly). Look for coaches who can sustain what you are already doing well. Don't hire somebody with a completely different system because your existing players weren't picked for that system.

We'll probably have to time-travel to mid-1980s Big Ten to find someone running the same system as us then! Absolutely mind-blowingly boring, terrible football, and yet another game UK was fortunate to even win, getting out-gained greatly by a MAC team on our home field, but two turnovers inside their own territory doomed EMU. Of course, in a week in which LSU lost at home to Troy, no one will bat an eye at this performance, and we have more fans just happy to win. It would be nice if we could actually win ANY game by a couple scores so we can rest some guys, but that's asking too much of this coaching staff. We lack the depth of most SEC teams, so the ability to rest players is of utmost importance, but we can barely beat anyone we play, including FCS teams.

Mike Leach made no secret of his desire for the UK job, and was campaigning to those who matter for job, before accepting the WSU job, fwiw. He thought he would get the UK job but Barney Fife the AD struck again, he only wants a glad-hander who attends rotary club meetings, and actually winning games is lower on the priority list of a hire than that.
This weekend did not help. Is Tennessee a . . . must win game?
Too much turnaround isn't good for a program....They need to give this guy 10 years to see what he can do. New coaches every 3 or 4 years can't be good for any program.
(10-23-2017 09:22 AM)Otacon Wrote: [ -> ]Too much turnaround isn't good for a program....They need to give this guy 10 years to see what he can do. New coaches every 3 or 4 years can't be good for any program.


UK schedule will likely never be more favorable for an 8+ win season, especially playing in a down SEC. They don't have any of the west powers on their schedule this year & a soft OOC. His recruiting rankings has been good so if Stoops can't win 8+ games this year then his seat should be hot. There's to much talent on this team for this level of play. UK should have been primed to compete for the East title if not win it. We'll see how the season plays out & see what Barnhart does, he may actually need to be the first to go.


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(10-24-2017 08:12 AM)Lenvillecards Wrote: [ -> ]
(10-23-2017 09:22 AM)Otacon Wrote: [ -> ]Too much turnaround isn't good for a program....They need to give this guy 10 years to see what he can do. New coaches every 3 or 4 years can't be good for any program.


UK schedule will likely never be more favorable for an 8+ win season, especially playing in a down SEC. They don't have any of the west powers on their schedule this year & a soft OOC. His recruiting rankings has been good so if Stoops can't win 8+ games this year then his seat should be hot. There's to much talent on this team for this level of play. UK should have been primed to compete for the East title if not win it. We'll see how the season plays out & see what Barnhart does, he may actually need to be the first to go.


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Mississippi State is not a pushover. Plus they played in "cow bell hell" so losing that game is quite understandable. If U.K. Can beat Tennessee, it'll be one happy weekend in the blue grass state
No
Stoops gets $250,000 for evey win above six:

https://www.seccountry.com/kentucky/kent...-cost-cats
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