On KSR. It can be seen on YouTube. Called What is going on? Very depressing show. I love KY FB and can only hope they are wrong.
Last edited:
After watching Nick Roush and Adam Luckett comment on the state of our program and where our recruiting stands I almost wanted to cry...
- Thread starter Uncle Adolph
- Start date
Kentucky football is what it is.. and what it will always be!
That was depressing. It would seem the team needs to win early to help the recruiting efforts.
Depressing for everyone. Teams trowing sanity out the window and offering HS guaranteed 3 year deals of 8 figures.
True, but coaching lagged way behind NIL last year. And to me that’s a bigger problem right now.
Gotta beat Vandy at least
NO reason for UK to lag behind any schools not in BI0 or SEC....and Notre Dame. (And UK should have better NIL/recruiting than Vandy, probably Miss St, Indiana, Purdue, Northwestern, etc...).
ACC, B12, PAC10, etc...shoiuld not have better recruiting that UK....but some do still which is a bad sign on Stoops.
So, UK doesn't really need a good coach, just a really good fund raiser?
People have been making excuses for Kentucky football for my whole life now -- the "state of NIL" is just the latest. It used to be "we're a basketball school" or "we have bad facilities," or whatever. Meanwhile, programs as diverse as Indiana, Arizona State, Louisville, TCU , and many others at least OCCASIONALLY have an exciting year, making the playoffs or at least being in the conversation.
Let's face it: It is coaching -- mediocre, unimaginative, uncreative, un-energetic, uncharismatic, uninspiring coaching.
That South Carolina game last season at K-roger was a sign of things to come. Talk about uninspired and un-energetic coaching.
The problem now isn't just NIL, it's the dark cloud hovering over the overall state of the program. Losing will do that. A coach trying to sneak off to another job will do that. Stoop's future looks unstable at best. It's everything. A program that looks in decline. Why would a kid with better or similar offers choose UK right now?
If you have money in your retirement account quit bitching. You need to empty it and give it to the NLI fund for the truly important things in life.
We are in the normal cycle of UK football; we have success and start building something then we fall apart and end up worse than we started. Next, we will end up with a new coach who will have a major rebuild that will take 3 or more years to get mediocre. In the current SEC will be fortunate to be a consistent 5 or 6 win team.
You make good points. KY football needs multiple infusions … some that may not be realistic or even possible. It appears we have doubled-down on basketball in this new NIL era. It is understandable. Resources are limited. It will be difficult, if not impossible, for KY to compete at a HIGH level in BOTH sports.
Last edited:
If we double down in basketball, it better not be at football's expense. That would be a horrible signal to send to our SEC opponents and their fans.
If revenue sharing isn't at least 70/25 football to basketball in distribution of money I will quit being a UK sports fan. I will support the university because I attended but no longer the sports teams because it truly shows the UKAA isn't interested in fielding competitive sports teams specifically football.
The sad part is this coach come begging for the job back when he got it. Which makes our AD look inept but that's another story for another thread. When you come begging for the job like he did when he got act like at least you want to be here and field a winning team. Especially when you make 9 million a year and you're getting paid top 10 money in the country!
This person said it exactly correct here there has ALWAYS BEEN AN EXCUSE MADE FOR UK FOOTBALL for not being competitive here and there like other said schools!
You can be critical of Mitch, and he has made mistakes, but he has provided UK football with more resources and money than any AD in history. All of the AD's that were basketball first destroyed the program before it started. What university runs off Bear Bryant? Only Kentucky
I think the economic downturn in EKY has hampered our program, as coal is not what it once was and may not return.
Louisville, being a major university in the State with economic muscle, does not help Kentucky ... even as the State university.
I wish we were kinda like Arkansas ... being the ONLY major program in the State and a bigger draw for Louisville talent and money. If I recall correctly ... Fran Curci made the same comment when he was the coach here.
I just think it'S VERY TOUGH for us to compete at a HIGH LEVEL in both basketball and football. I hate saying it, but I believe it.
Not making excuses, but providing reasons as I see them.
GO CATS !!!
Last edited:
Bryant apparently left because certain "promises weren't kept"
Last year UK was favored in 4 SEC games.....and lost them all. And lost them all in embarrassing fashion.
I don't think Stoops wants to be here. Probably would have been better off had he left for aTm.
I look to evidence of this by sitting in section 2 and watching the team take the field against USCjr, Vandy and Auburn last year. Just trotting out on the field with no urgency, no will, no fight, no energy. That bleeds into the team. They coached/played those 3 home games like they do against the scheduled OOC wins. They and he were fired up against UGA. That effort and coaching will win a lot of games.
He looks like he stopped caring and has become stubborn......much like Cal. And here UK is stuck with a contract that will be hard to get out of. That is where Mitch is 100% to blame. Stoops made over 2 million for each win last year.
I don't think Stoops wants to be here. Probably would have been better off had he left for aTm.
I look to evidence of this by sitting in section 2 and watching the team take the field against USCjr, Vandy and Auburn last year. Just trotting out on the field with no urgency, no will, no fight, no energy. That bleeds into the team. They coached/played those 3 home games like they do against the scheduled OOC wins. They and he were fired up against UGA. That effort and coaching will win a lot of games.
He looks like he stopped caring and has become stubborn......much like Cal. And here UK is stuck with a contract that will be hard to get out of. That is where Mitch is 100% to blame. Stoops made over 2 million for each win last year.
Vandy is making moves in nil. I agree on miss st. The big ten have been the biggest spenders so far on football.
We just don't have strong nil and what we have gets split with basketball.
The same staff had some very successful seasons. At UK, thats quite an accomplishment. They didn't just forget how to coach. The landscape changed and their first attempts at changing with it didn't work.
South Carolina won 9 games iirc and have a generational player. It isn't like they were chopped liver.
Losing to South Carolina was not the problem as much as the effort from UK was to me. Plus, they have the same amount of wins in Lexington in SEC play the last 3 years as UK does.
I'd guess Vandy has more NIL opportunity from its wealthy alums plus the Nashville entertainment industry than UK has statewide even w/o LV. Compared to our peers, we're in a poor financing position imo.
Agree on that end. Other programs passed us while we were catering to barion. Hopefully its back to lunch pail this year.
I have no idea if it is true, but I’ve heard that Bryant’s wife absolutely loved living in Lexington.
I've been saying this forever and its just become more important now that ever with the NIL wars. Coaching . . . pure down and dirty old fashioned X and O, game managing as well as developmental coaching is the only way to keep up or succeed in todays game. You and yoru staff HAVE to be differnce makers themselve to make it work.
Cant just rely on recruiting and buying players. 10 of the 16 SEC teams each year are 3-7 points difference between them any give week so if you are a difference maker coach you win your share of those games and finish in the upper half of the conference and go to good bowl games. If you arent you finish where we did last year.
I'm not saying Stoops and Co havent shown the ability in the past. IMO they have been above average in player development and even motivational in the past. But for the most part and especially lately the game planning/management and X and O side of the coaching has always struggles behing and needs a major boost.
Last edited:
What moves has Vandy ever made in NIL to surpass UK? They bought a bottom barrel QB from nowhere and hit lightning in a bottle.
I said they are making moves. I didn't say they surpassed us. Its just they aren't as non existent as people here act.
One thing vandy (and duke) did before nil was pay much higher cost of attendance money. Since they were private, they just assigned whatever number they wanted. Probably still are.
State of nil is directly tied to state of program and its inept leader.
As of yesterday they only have a total of $20 million to do their buying., so no one player is going to get half of that money.
Bear got run out of the state because of Mimi. If you don't know who Mimi was, you don't know the real reason he left. do a little research around that name and time.
I met Mimi several times doing work for her father and mother, but by then it was the early 80's and she was probably 55 or so.
IMO Stoops was never a good overall HC. He is by far the best recruiting HC we've ever (consistent top 25-35 classes) had, developed them and that kept us competitive. But he's struggled all but two seasons on offense and largely ignored special teams many years. You can't be bad on 2/3rds of the game and be considered a good HC. I've stated this before but he largely feasted on a down SECE since he started winning in 2016 (UF, UT, USCe, Mizzou and Vandy) were mostly down as was UL starting in 2018 and playing three cupcakes.
If Stoops can't recruit at a top 25-35 level anymore and keep 50% of the contributors, he's toast. We have not been very good in the portal era other than hitting on Levis and Wandale and a couple of other contributors.
If Stoops can't recruit at a top 25-35 level anymore and keep 50% of the contributors, he's toast. We have not been very good in the portal era other than hitting on Levis and Wandale and a couple of other contributors.
He’s a good recruiter, good motivator when disrespected, good face of the program.
Not good at clock management or developing OL lately.
Terrible at developing high school QBs.
Not good at clock management or developing OL lately.
Terrible at developing high school QBs.
