A typical post from a clueless microwave fan that has no idea what it takes to win in the SEC.
I will be very disappointed if Stoops can not get the Cats to a bowl this season but to even think of firing him if he doesn't would be the height of stupidity.
I've forgotten more about football than you'll ever know my friend.
I wish I could describe in words the disdain that I have for "fans" such as yourself (which are more than likely basketball-first guys) who are always happy with mediocrity.
"Wait till next year!"
"You're expecting too much!"
It is people like YOU and like-minded individuals that have kept this program as a perennial doormat over the years.
Raise your expectations man, my goodness. These coaches are getting paid millions upon millions upon millions of dollars TO WIN (heck, at this school they get paid that much just to be competitive). That's all our fans want..a competitive product that wins as many as they lose. Haha, I mean I feel pathetic even having to justify expecting to win half of our games as a fan, because I know that fans from other fanbases in the SEC are looking at this right now and laughing at just how low our expectations are.
You see, it's threads like this that cause us to be labeled a "basketball school".
I would bet all of the money that I have right now that you were one of those clamoring to just give Joker "more time" at the end of his tenure.
"Just one or two more years!"
"You all are microwave fans!"
You all know who you were out there, because I remember criticizing Joker during his final season and it is eerie just how similar some of the "microwave" fans comments are from now to then. Heck, we even heard it from our own AD at the end of the Joker tenure.
Do you realize that when fans from other SEC teams look at our message boards and see our own fans criticizing our fellow UK fans for "expecting too much" when they expect a .500 record in year 3 they laugh their heads off? It would be one thing if we were expecting an SEC title in year 3, but there is no reason in the world that UK football fans shouldn't be able to be disappointed about a head coach only winning 5 games in his third season as head coach. At any other school in the SEC (outside of Vandy) a coach will be fired in year 3 if he hasn't gotten to 6 wins yet in his tenure (and most will be fired even if they do). Plain and simple. Done. Is that so hard to understand? If you want to compete with the SEC you better start thinking like them my friend. Unless, that is, you're fine with being mediocre, which I seriously would have to say yes with at this point.
I mean my gosh. Is our program really that awful that we are criticizing our fans for expecting a .500 record in year 3 under a head coach? My goodness man. This kind of thing makes my blood boil. I'm going to be so so glad when I can look back one of these days and say that I'm glad that fans like yourself no longer exist that keep holding this program back. Fans who are happy with just "being a UK fan" and celebrating each and everything that happens (whether good or bad).
You see, here's the difference between a "fan" (and I use the term loosely) like you, and myself. You look at a UK fan being critical and having expectations (and I use that term loosely since I don't consider expecting a .500 record in year 3 much as far as expectations) as not being a "true" UK fan. You consider being a UK fan meaning that you have to agree with each and everything that a coaching staff does. I'm sorry my friend, but that's not called being a fan, that's called being blind and looking at everything through blue-tinted glasses.
My gosh man, enough is enough. UK football fans have went through this stuff for too long. We're tired of losing. We're not asking for championships, we're just asking to be halfway competitive. I assure you that's not too much to ask. Get out of Kentucky. Travel around a little bit. Talk to some SEC fans outside of Vandy. A .500 record in year 3 is about as low as expectations are going to come in college football brother.
Kentucky football fans are the most loyal fans in the sporting world, and they DESERVE a winning product. Asking for more than 5 wins in a coaches third season isn't too much to ask, I promise you. The fact that anyone could call a UK football fan a "microwave fan" at this point is one of the most idiotic statements a human being could ever make, and frankly it makes me really, really mad because I know how much disappointment true UK football fans have endured over the years.
It would be like calling an Alabama BASKETBALL fan who asks for a .500 record at a minimum a "microwave fan" who expects too much. Do you realize how asinine that statement sounds? I mean, do you honestly care about UK football? Be honest with me. How can you really like and care about UK football and be happy with 5 wins in a coaches third season when he did just as good if not better in the previous season? You act like I'm expecting an SEC championship or something.
If you don't care about Kentucky football, and are always convincing yourself to be satisfied with mediocrity that's fine, but keep your toxic beliefs to yourself, because all your doing is setting this program back for years and perhaps decades, and infecting UK football fans that actually deserve a competitive team with your beliefs.
If it were up to fans like you Joker Phillips would still be running this program into the ground right now and Tubby Smith would still be the basketball coach (well maybe not Tubby since I suspect most of our fans have slightly higher expectations for basketball and won't accept mediocrity).
Go tell a Georgia, Florida, and Tennessee fan how the UK football fanbase is filled with "microwave" fans that expect too much of the program and I promise they're going to look at you like you're insane. Go tell an Auburn basketball fan or a North Carolina football fan that their expectations are too high and try not to get laughed out of the room.
You want to know the kicker? If you went and told Coach Stoops that a Kentucky football fan is a "microwave fan" for expecting 6 wins in year 3, he would laugh in your face. You see, he's not from around this area and he expects to win and he expects fans to be MAD when he doesn't win. He's not used to this whole idea of accepting losses like we are around here.
I remember there was a quote from last season that Coach Stoops was dreading going out in public around Lexington at the end of the season because he was expecting Kentucky fans to be disappointed/mad at him after the disappointing end to the season, but I remember he said he was basically shocked that the fanbase seemed to be completely fine and that everyone was friendly and nice and patting him on the back and telling him good job after such a disappointing end to the season.
I just remember that quote stuck out in my mind because it describes so many of our "fans" such as yourself in a nutshell, and it's just so telling of why our program has been where it's at for so long. Our own coach knows that 5 wins in year 2 isn't good enough, but our fans don't. Our own coach knows that fans should be angry and critical of a coaching staff after a 5-7 season, but our fans don't. How crazy is that? I mean seriously, our own coach is basically saying that he can't believe how low our expectations are. If that isn't a wake up call, I don't know what is. At other schools coaches have to tell fans to lower their expectations; around here a guy that has millions of dollars and a career riding on coaching a team is surprised at how low of a standard he's being held to. That's a little shocking to say the least.
Whether we want to admit it or not, in every sport, the fans' expectations eventually translate to what kind of team will end up on the field. It never fails, the fans' with the highest expectations routinely end up being the most successful programs. There's a reason for that.
Fans put pressure on administrators and in turn that pressure causes administrators to invest in the program, make solid coaching hires, and apply pressure to coaches in order to be successful. It's a circle, but it all starts with fans and their expectations. Our fans' expectations in the end are what translate to wins and losses on the field. I promise you. If you don't accept losing, then guess what? The administration is eventually going to get the picture (or be fired) and that's when real change is made.
So yeah, that's why I get so mad at "fans" such as yourself who are not only happy with losing more games than you win, but you feel it necessary to criticize others that only ask to be mediocre. I'm sorry man, but that's just wrong. Enough is enough. Fans like you can't bully those of us that want this program to be successful into being silent anymore by saying we expect too much too soon. That line isn't going to work anymore, sorry. That line might have worked before we actually woke up and started taking football somewhat serious, but not now.
We've had enough of this stuff and now we actually have a coach that can get us over the hump (as long as we don't celebrate/accept failure and criticize our fellow fans for having expectations that are lower than every team in our conference outside of Vandy.
This program is halfway serious about football now. You better get used to that idea, because there are a whole lot more "microwave" fans out there just like me that expect .500 records in a coach's third season when he basically went 6-6 the previous season with a much less capable team.