How’d we do the 10 years before he got here?
Are you ready to move on from Stoops yet?
- Thread starter AE82
- Start date
I honestly don't think Stoops can ever get us in the top 12 to finish a regular season to actually get us into a playoff. We won't even be in the top 25 after tonight.
You're absolutely right. The overall program is so much better, the gameday atmosphere and experience is so much better. Got to keep on plugging and fixing the flaws. But Stoops has to look in the mirror and get a more aggressive approach on offense.
I agree. The financials makes it tough, but I think if Stoops were to leave there’s a number of coaches that could maintain the level of success we’ve had over the last 3 years.
That's a fair point as we wouldn't have made it in 2018 or 2021 with 12 teams. To make a 12 team playoff you probably have to go 10 and 2.
Are you saying you were happy with some of the previous coaches, since you clearly think they made progress. Maybe you are the reason we have struggled for years. We've had one coach with a winning record after the bear besides Stoops. Exactly which coach made progress? Were you satisfied with Brooks, Mumme, Claiborne, Curci? I don't see much since bear that would make anyone proud. Perhaps Collier (only one with a winning record) could have been great had they stuck with him, but they didn't. They hired Bradshaw who sucked, then Ray who sucked, then Curci who cheated, then Claiborne who was mediocre, then Curry who sucked, then Mumme who cheated, then Morriss who was sucked, then Brooks who was mediocre and losing ground fast when he retired, then Phillips who sucked. If Stoops isn't UK's historically good coach, then who was? I said they bounced from coach to coach and made no progress. Now you are arguing some of those coaches did as if they are equal to what Stoops has accomplished. Who were they?
How long will that be an excuse for not competing? Tennessee sucked for most of my life and I’m almost 30. I don’t remember their glory days, yet here they are. At some point, sucking in the 80s and 90s isn’t an excuse for being mediocre today.
Who said I was happy with them? I said they made similar progress to Stoops. And all of them coached in a tougher SEC. The east has been down since Stoops arrived and he still hasn't done shit. The west hasn't been great overall either, and we routinely lose to those teams as well. Stoops has feasted on beating OOC opponents from mid major conferences over 10 years, while beating Vandy and UL to secure a bowl appearance. Somehow that's good for you! That just says how low UK football standards are and why we will never compete. At least not until that mentality changes.
10 coaches over 70 years isn't that bad bud. That's 1 every 7 years on avg, which is pretty standard.
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Bullshit. You’d lose your shit on the first coach. You wouldn’t even make it to coach 2. They literally hired and fired bad coaches for a decade. Have you seen our fans? They would die.
To say they made similar progress to Stoops is laughable. Again you have no clue. He has beaten Vandy, South Carolina, Missouri regularly. He is beating Florida semi regularly. We have been the second or third best team in the east several times. None of those coaches approached that level of success. That wouldn't be the case if he was doing what you say he is doing. To say he relies on OOC and Vandy is just patently ridiculous. We play 4 OOC games. If we relied on those plus Vandy we would have 5 wins, well short of what he has been producing. Also for many years we played 11 games in total and only 6 SEC games. We had 5 OOC games and still couldn't produce winning football teams.
I’m not, but I would be lying if I said I’m not ready to see the next step. Stoops is what he is and this is as good as it gets. Recruiting is already slipping in the NIL era, and I think his ceiling has been reached. We’re not going to a NY6 under stoops.
You can’t move him out, but hopefully he sustains this program through the next 4-5 years and retires.
I’ve been saying for a long time; stoops has never been offered a major football job. There’s a reason for that. People constantly worried a major program is going to take him haven’t paid any attention. They have no interests. It’s a good fit for Kentucky for now, but long term I’m ready.
You can’t move him out, but hopefully he sustains this program through the next 4-5 years and retires.
I’ve been saying for a long time; stoops has never been offered a major football job. There’s a reason for that. People constantly worried a major program is going to take him haven’t paid any attention. They have no interests. It’s a good fit for Kentucky for now, but long term I’m ready.
Stoops is a good recruiter and a poor game coach. We are currently 10th in SEC in next year's recruiting rankings. We have had 1 effective offense in last 5 years. People say Cal is stubborn ,he has nothing on this guy. His unwillingness to make changes in way he runs special teams remind me of Cals refusal to draw up a new inbounds play. As for how long he stays I suppose it boils down to what UK and fans want. 7-8 wins and a mid teir bowl, he's your guy, shot at an SEC title not a chance
I know we are embarrassed and pissed tonight. I now they I certainly am. But keep in mind that a couple years ago the tenn board looked like this one does right now and their posters were praising stoops and talking about how they should maybe try to poach him. Stoops was hired the same time they hired butch jones. I saw those posts. Don’t be so emotional that we make ourselves look even worse. Of course firing stoops is dumb. Something does definitively need to improve fast though.
We have different definitions of mediocre. We’re supposedly the same age, so you should know how quickly and easily it can get much worse with no promise of it getting better quickly. Also jumping the gun on whether this will lead to continued success for Tennessee. If you could promise me Urban Meyer, sure. But a lotta these names people are suggesting, we wouldn’t be any better.
Vandy, SC and MO have all routinely sucked over that timeframe as well. Simply being better than the next shittiest team isn't good. That's mediocrity. UT and UF also sucked during that timeframe but they were at least good enough to usually beat us.
Umm..without those 5 wins, which season are we bowl eligible still? 🤣. We would currently have 2 wins this season without those games. Should pick up a 3rd or 4th win with MO and Vandy, I wouldn't put my money on us beating UL this season. It's pathetic just saying that outloud.
Just because we have had worse doesn't mean we can't and shouldn't be better. Particularly with what we have invested the last decade into football. We are passing over new/upgraded basketball facilities to get updated football facilities, so we can be mediocre at football.
Edit: We are 31-48 or 39% in conference games under Stoops. So we obviously have to be pretty reliant on OOC games to obtain bowl eligibility.
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Yes, I know how bad it can get, but that doesn’t deter from wanting to get better. Liberty Bowls aren’t cool anymore. You’re welcome to celebrate them, but I won’t.
We have been good for UK standards. We’ve had a few good seasons at a national level but nothing incredible. We haven’t played a NY6 bowl game. Going to the Liberty Bowl or Belk Bowl is mediocre at a national level. It’s good for where we used to be, but no one cares about that nationally.
There is nothing to suggest that Tennessee hasn’t clearly taken over the #2 spot in the East. We couldn’t even consistently beat them when they sucked, so it’s rational to think they’ll continue to beat us more often than not now that they have a coach that can win big games. That leaves us battling with Florida, USC and Missouri for 3rd in the East. I’m ok with taking a step back trying to move forward than hoping we go 8-4 and get 3rd in our division. If you’re fine with that, that’s cool. There’s a rational argument to be made there, but we need to stop touting we’re close to the big dogs because we aren’t.
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We have a foundation and investment into the program now that’s never been here before. Stoops deserves a ton of credit for that. However, with everything this program has and how highly paid Stoops is, celebrating bowl eligibility is, quite frankly, embarrassing. Especially given the same people tout that we’re close to the big boys. No school that is serious about football cares about bowl eligibility but we’re going to print Belk Bowl t shirts this winter.
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UC went from Tommy Tuberville to Luke Fickell. It doesn’t have to take a decade and a half to find a good coach. Tennessee also had some administrative issues that got in their way in ways UK probably wouldn’t. Not saying UK would automatically hire a home run, but it’s not impossible.
People just often fear change until they see the positive outcome. We had people wanting to give Joker and BCG more time. It's just a fear of the unknown.
What bothers me the most are the posts about how we sucked in the 90s so let’s just be happy with this. It’s a loser’s mentality I’ll never support. I’d rather go down trying to succeed at higher level than be happy with 7 wins against bad teams because Joker Phillips sucked here.
It’s not like Tennessee was in a great place when Huepel took over. It doesn’t take 40 years to build a competitive program. Recruits now don’t care that Peyton Manning played at Tennessee. Their success in the 90s means nothing to 17 year old recruits.
Considered for what? The guy can't win in the big 12
That's really weird ... because I'm NOT happy with him. I didn't know I HAD to be happy with him. As far as Barnhart was concerned when he hired him was, he had the right last name. Mark Stoops has hit his ceiling and he will never elevate this program any further than what he has done to this point. His Kentucky Wildcat football team couldn't even COMPETE ... AT ALL with a good football team put together by a good coach and coaches in just a few short years. Stoops has been here 10 years and this team could have been his FIRST. When you tell me that I have be happy with him what you're really saying is that I should accept your LOW standards. Naw ... I don't think I'm interested.
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Stoops is around a .500 coach for his tenure. He’s had some nice seasons, but he’s shown he is not capable of getting this program to a spot that can even remotely compete with the big dogs in the conference. He’s been good here as a whole, but some act like he’s Nick Saban. He’s an average coach at this point. He’ll beat bad teams. He’ll contend with solid teams and win some of those games. He’ll get blown out by the very good teams. That’s obvious at this point.
And the SEC East has sucked for most of his tenure. Vandy is awful. Missouri was good for a couple years but then has been bad. Florida is an enigma. Tennessee was in turmoil. South Carolina was terrible. Georgia was elite. We couldn’t take advantage. The East has never been as bad as it was that I recall than it was for the last 6 years.
Couldn't agree more. I had to laugh when earlier this season, some on this board were saying build a statue and give him a life-time contract. He is what he is. He will never elevate this program any further, IMO. I honestly think he's so "old-school", he's a dinosaur and his coaches aren't much better. I know it's a tough league so either constantly makes the adjustments to win (or at least compete) or this league will bury you and Stoops is in it up to his ears. Peter's Principle is on full display with Stoops and his troops ... that limit has been reached.
I think there is some credit to Stoops that he won’t lose to terrible teams like Vandy and Louisville. Definitely not knocking him for taking care of business against weaker teams because not every coach can say that. However, he’s not competitive against the elite teams at all. We get destroyed every time just about. To build a statue for that screams celebrating mediocrity.
All of this^^^.
If you’re gonna “play with the big boys”, you’ve got to at least try and land some punches and take some chances.
The end of the 1st half was the most pathetic “white flag” waving, “we’re scared to death” acting team I’ve ever witnessed and it came from Stoops’ pansy ass style of play.
Get someone in here that has actual balls, will coach aggressively and learn how to actually manage the last 2 minutes of a half!
It’s like LSU with Burrow…..it struck gold for that year. UT got lots of portal help and they are exploiting it. Hope its a one year fad.
I’m on the fence, but mainly due to the a** beating we took last night. A lot of “look at what Tennessee went through until they get the right coach”, true, but they still beat us what, 7/10 times? All these OCs he’s had and we have always struggled on offense. There is a pattern.
If a call had to be made, I think it goes to Fickle in Cincinnati. Recruits Ohio well. Getting players like Barion Brown won’t happen going forward if we can’t find a way to showcase their talent.
If a call had to be made, I think it goes to Fickle in Cincinnati. Recruits Ohio well. Getting players like Barion Brown won’t happen going forward if we can’t find a way to showcase their talent.
You better listen to this guy and keep Stoops if you want someone that can beat the Vols a couple times every 25 years.
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