Hopeful.....

[gamalielkid]

I'm hopeful that with time that I and everyone else can focus on seeing the football cats become a playoff contender. I'm hopeful time will heal the bad feelings created with this past season's coaches looking around. I'm hopeful that stability sets in and we have a staff that remains committed to Kentucky football. I'm hopeful that this stability and the environment we all know that is UK football will lead to recruiting success and more importantly to on the field success! I am hopeful that more players who join our program will see the benefit of playing at Kentucky and enjoy both the short term and long term benefits of being a part of the ever growing Big Blue Nation!

Go Big Blue!

 

[Soupbean]

I can Amen that. I think what happened with the coaches was this. A couple of years ago Stoops and Co were still riding an extended honeymoon of sorts. Things were still progressing and he was a big man around town with the BBNs adoration etc. Coming into 2022 expectations were still really high but that season left some a little deflated, then followed that up with another less than fulfilling season last year and all the sudden Stoops felt the love starting to fade.

Same happened with Coen, he was the golden child coming back home and in one year started feeling that slip a little. When that happens and you have a combination of tension/expectations building and love and adoration dwindling, I can see how it would make on start thinking, is this the right time to move on. Especially when the task ahead to keep things going is looking as tough as ever in the SEC trying to keep pace with Texas and Oklahoma moving in and other programs at our level competing so hard with NIL etc.

So I hope they are still committed to the program but I also understand that it may not be under the same "Man this is as good as its ever been here!" atmosphere we were in a couple years ago. So we'll see

 

[docholiday51]

The SEC is a tough place for anyone other than elite team to get to the playoffs. Now that there are 12 spots it will be a bit more attainable but probably no more than 4 SEC teams will have a real shot in any one given year.

The addition of an extra SEC game and two new teams to the league does us no favors. Hopefully we can take the next step in the coming season but real playoff contention is probably still 2 or 3 steps away.

Alabama may come back to the rest of the field a little for a while but Ole Miss may be a new threat. UGA is going to be UGA for the near future. Texas Missouri, LSU,UT and probably OK are teams we have to become competitive with. USC,UF, Miss St, AUB and ARK are our peers.

We are where we are and what we are. Stoops and Coen are who we have right now. I think we should be looking to replace Coen even if he stays for next season, the same goes for Stoops but to a slightly lesser degree.

I fully understand this doesn't paint an overly optimistic picture but I think it is realistic. Seven win seasons should be the minimum expectation with 8 or 9 win seasons regularly on the table.

 

[JHB4UK]

9 SEC games ain't happening soon. Maybe 2027 at thr earliest.

 

[docholiday51]

9 SEC games ain't happening soon. Maybe 2027 at thr earliest.

So I see, 8 is enough of a meat grinder.