The 2018 team was legit. Maybe the best UK team I have seen since the 1970s. In a 12 team playoff, it would have been legitimately in the discussion. It beat a lot of very good football teams. That was a Stoops created and coached team. The myopic view that this past year defines UK and even Stoops is not very scientific. I know the trolls are scurrying around, but we have some real fair weather fans, as well. Stoops will define his future at UK and next year is key. But, acting as if he has not done amazing things at UK is to not know your history.
Gilmore gone
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I loved the 2018 team but the problem was they didn't really beat any of the good teams on their regular season schedule. Stoops messed up not going for 2 at A&M.
Wouldn't have been n a 12 team playoff because Stoops failed to go 10 and 2. They would have been the 3rd team out based on final playoff rankings.
as good as they were defensively were not good enough offensively to be a real playoff type team. The Penn state win was a good win but they had a few sit outs and we had everyone.
As I said, they would have legitimately been in the discussion.
I agree Stoops has done some very good things at UK...and while many try to water down his 2018 and 2021 teams with opponents, we beat in regular season....he still beat Top 10 ranked Penn St and Top 15 Iowa in those bowls.
1. But to argue that he's going to get in back to winning because he did in 2018/2021....he's also the same coach that put up a stinker of 4-8 this past year preceded by 7-6, 7-6 duds as well.
2. Stoops had Schlarman and his OLine for those seasons, he had Liam Coen for 2021, etc... now he Wolford (and Schlarman Oline ain't stacked for him like 2021), Bush Hamdan for 2025. Not exactly his best staff at UK
3. The final death nail for Stoops future at UK....we lose essentially entire DL rotation, both inside Lbers, leading sack at Jack LB, best CB (conceding Max missed a ton of games). On offense...we lose QB (who stunk), RB (who was solid), all the WR, 4 Oline (off a bad Oline granted), and leading TE in catches....and his backup.
All that...I would be surprised if we get 6 wins next year. The coaching/scheme has been poor for 3 years rolling on offense..and the kids we're bringing in are from small schools we expect to adhere to SEC overnight. I just simply don't see it.
We will be extremely lucky to win 6 next year, Stoops coaching will have little to do with it
(1) I do not read most posts, so I have not read anyone doing that.
(2) time will tell
(3) too far out to speculate about next year, let alone 2026
If the OL gets significantly better, the offense will be more productive. That's nearly inevitable. If Stoops imports a solid LT, the OL will be a lot better. Right now, there is a decent chance for a much better OL. I don't have a very good feel yet for Calzada's upside, but he has arm talent and I am confident he will be a better decision maker than Vandagriff was.
UK is evidently about to receive a visit from David Gusta, or so I am told. There are numerous suitors for Gusta. But he is choosing to visit UK this late in the window. This isn't the time to get discouraged. Not yet. We are one good LT plus a favorable decision by Gusta away from a solid defense and an improved offense. Maybe those things happen. Or maybe they don't. But all the evidence is that Stoops is competing hard for these guys and trying hard to get the job done. All those people on this thread who are jumping to conclusions that Stoops and Hamdan cannot succeed may turn out to be right, but the events that will either make it happen or not happen are yet to play out. So, to be fair, most of those people are still reacting to losing to UL in November. Fans are mainly reactive.
I don't buy the narrative that UK cannot compete in the NIL world. It simply isn't factual. The BBN is enormous worldwide. Many UK grads are very successful. What has been missing so far is a widespread can-do attitude. FWIW, this is coming from a UK grad who candidly almost died a couple months ago. Just saying.
Let's remind everyone that there are overreactions regarding Gilmore on the thread, because Gilmore is still negotiating with Stoops to return. I'm not saying he will return. If I were Gilmore at this point in time, I would consider alternatives. But Gilmore exploited his negotiating position by entering the portal. I am told he may come back. Again, maybe he does, or maybe he doesn't. This isn't a prediction. I am only explaining why many opinions being expressed on this thread are premature and doctrinaire.
The science behind why people think they're right when they're actually wrong
A new study illustrates the saying, "you don't know what you don't know."
www.nbcnews.com
I was not encouraged by our 2024 season or, at least, by the part of the season I actually got to see after recovering from heart attack and kidney failure. That discouragement is what I have in common with every other UK football fan. But I want our school to be successful and won't get discouraged easily. There is an avenue to success. Maybe we make it, or maybe not. But public displays of no confidence in our coaching staff are a more serious matter than many people are treating them. It's not helping anything. Discouraged? Yes. No hope? That simply isn't the case at all. Get Gilmore back or sign another X receiver. Get Gusta and a LT. Then put our best 11 guys out there and get it done.
That would be truth. Making observations and stating reality isn’t determined by fandom. It was still a good win for Stoops and UK but I just don’t have to pretend that it happened a different way to feel good about it. I left that game just as happy as if those kids had played.
Funny. Because Shorts did not “recruit” Key or Gilmore. Others evaluated and landed them for him and then he stole them when he broke his promise to Stoops. Is Matt Rhule still crying about other coaches interfering with his players?
Exactly, we took advantage but now it appears we have the weakest coach… in game I don’t think Stoops is that great. His offensive style sure doesn’t win games these days.
It sucks that Nebraska of all places stole 2 of the maybe 10 players we would've even wanted back, but the worst part is how helpless this current staff is. We're about to go into next year with one of the bottom 2 rosters in the conference. We'll see if the "culture" got fixed
And even those preceding 7 win years were underwhelming. Those were very manageable schedules in a stretch where we’ve had the best talent, on paper, that’s stoops has had here. We’re on a down slide with ascending recruiting class profiles and good transfer class ranking. Flat out it’s just been under productive.
Underproductive? By what standard? Maybe if you are 17 years old and don’t know UK’s history. The guy is the winningest coach in the school’s history. He took a bad G6 roster and built a formidable program in the SEC. This season sucked, but the hyperbole about the past is trollish.
Good luck and good riddings to him…. We’ll be fine w/receivers we got that will be here next fall!
I think Stoops will do much better next year!
our WR coach stealing two of our bet player to go to Nebraska was certainly something I didn’t see coming. Also Rhule has his nerve talking about tampering
Love the dreamy outlook. Maybe we can gut out a 5 and 7 or 6 and 6 one shining moment type run your ilk can pump their fists about.
He is the winningest coach because he has been here the longest. Let’s not skew things. Stoops needs to resign tomorrow so we can salvage our program.
Liam Coen and others OCs have flourished after leaving Stoops
It starts at the top folks
It starts at the top folks
Again the only mantra for the ‘build a statue for stoops’ guys is ‘what about 1968’? If you read the post the point is that 7 wins were poor performances relative to talent and our schedule in those two seasons….with losses to Vandy etc while rosters had the most highly rated talent we’ve ever had and the staff out there selling in the off seasons to espn that we would challenge Georgia. As laughable as that sounds, they did it. They either under performed coaching or they don’t know what the hell they are watching in fall when they start selling that stuff.
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Probably easy sell to come play with Arriola and for Holgerson compared to what seems to be the norm on that side of the ball here.
First Rembrandt90, I am glad you survived your ailments and hope you’re on the mend.If the OL gets significantly better, the offense will be more productive. That's nearly inevitable. If Stoops imports a solid LT, the OL will be a lot better. Right now, there is a decent chance for a much better OL. I don't have a very good feel yet for Calzada's upside, but he has arm talent and I am confident he will be a better decision maker than Vandagriff was.
UK is evidently about to receive a visit from David Gusta, or so I am told. There are numerous suitors for Gusta. But he is choosing to visit UK this late in the window. This isn't the time to get discouraged. Not yet. We are one good LT plus a favorable decision by Gusta away from a solid defense and an improved offense. Maybe those things happen. Or maybe they don't. But all the evidence is that Stoops is competing hard for these guys and trying hard to get the job done. All those people on this thread who are jumping to conclusions that Stoops and Hamdan cannot succeed may turn out to be right, but the events that will either make it happen or not happen are yet to play out. So, to be fair, most of those people are still reacting to losing to UL in November. Fans are mainly reactive.
I don't buy the narrative that UK cannot compete in the NIL world. It simply isn't factual. The BBN is enormous worldwide. Many UK grads are very successful. What has been missing so far is a widespread can-do attitude. FWIW, this is coming from a UK grad who candidly almost died a couple months ago. Just saying.
Let's remind everyone that there are overreactions regarding Gilmore on the thread, because Gilmore is still negotiating with Stoops to return. I'm not saying he will return. If I were Gilmore at this point in time, I would consider alternatives. But Gilmore exploited his negotiating position by entering the portal. I am told he may come back. Again, maybe he does, or maybe he doesn't. This isn't a prediction. I am only explaining why many opinions being expressed on this thread are premature and doctrinaire.
The science behind why people think they're right when they're actually wrong
A new study illustrates the saying, "you don't know what you don't know."
I was not encouraged by our 2024 season or, at least, by the part of the season I actually got to see after recovering from heart attack and kidney failure. That discouragement is what I have in common with every other UK football fan. But I want our school to be successful and won't get discouraged easily. There is an avenue to success. Maybe we make it, or maybe not. But public displays of no confidence in our coaching staff are a more serious matter than many people are treating them. It's not helping anything. Discouraged? Yes. No hope? That simply isn't the case at all. Get Gilmore back or sign another X receiver. Get Gusta and a LT. Then put our best 11 guys out there and get it done.
But, there is only so many ways to advertise and sell a shit sandwich.
“I don't buy the narrative that UK cannot compete in the NIL world. It simply isn't factual. The BBN is enormous worldwide. Many UK grads are very successful. What has been missing so far is a widespread can-do attitude.”
To this point, UK has existed in the nil world, not competed…my opinion based on factual outcomes.
It doesn’t matter how big the bbn is - if the $$$ required to obtain THE BEST football athletes is not there nor given, you get what we got the last three years.
Heck, even the ksr people tell us that bball will always attract more nil $$$ than football so which is it?
My thought is that UK football is the distraction for the real sport that matters…always has been and always will be.
If you are a uk fan from very long ago, you would know there is no such thing as an underwhelming 7 win season.
Stoops' craziest accomplishment was doing so well that we have an entire generation of fans complaining about 7 win seasons.
Nothing against you personally. You just happen to have put it in print.
"...but we have enough to be right where we were before NIL began. Mediocre with occasional seasons above."
That is pathetic and if true we need to just give up on ever having a good football program. If the NCAA was set up like a European soccer club UK would have been dropped to FCS decades ago.
To win 7 games in 1969 you had to go 7-3 or better. And then you got an 11th game in the 70’s to get 7 so you could go 7-4. Teams rarely could get into bowls at 7-4 to get a 12th game until bowl expansion in the last half of the 90’s. Then in 05 we went to this era where you get 12, schedule 3 eastern michigans, and get a 13th game to get 7 wins. If you want to talk about stoops win totals or whatever fine, and his best accomplishment would be his SEC record in that stretch where he went 4-4 2 seasons and went 5-3 in 2018. But you can only really go back 20 years or stretch it some to 30 years to for it to be legit comparisons.
Stoops has done good things here. But the group that likes to justify where things are going with saying ‘bowl games…’ or ‘7 wins…’ aren’t having legit conversations. If stoops had coached in the 80’s he would’ve only had one bowl team, 2018. 2021 might’ve snuck in one but a back end top 20 team wasn’t a shoe in bowl participant historically. They didn’t even move to start ranking 25 instead of 20 teams until the 90’s. Likewise, give those older teams 3 mac games, 12 season games and we get to .500 and a bowl at or over half of the 60 seasons before stoops got here. Stoops has finished with a .500 or above record in 7 of his 12 seasons. So it is a slightly better clip than historically but it isn’t knocking it out better especially considering the resources he has, schedule advantages, etc.
now that the East schedule we had under stoops is gone we’re about to see whether or not he can step up. some people act like it’s the toughest schedule anybody has ever seen and how could lowly UK expect to win against that schedule and NIL and yada yada. But it was just short of being as tough as the 2007 schedule we went 8-5 against.
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You are misinterpreting my point. I’m tired of coming on here and seeing people acting as though 6-7 wins justifies greatness. My point is we can expect mediocre to be our down years/baseline. I personally don’t see seasons like this last one acceptable for any reason I don’t care if the guy had won a national title 8 years ago or something. Historically UK struggled as the northernmost team in a southern conference with little in state recruiting. In todays environment very little of that matters and helps us while other challenges have replaced it but we have enough to compete. Schools have to have leadership both on the staff and in the admin to do it in this environment but it can be done.
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I am not advertising or selling anything. I just don't agree with your point of view, and I will explain my reasoning. When you say UK football is a distraction for the real sport that matters, you are confirming your membership in the Cliff Hagan/CM Newton school of thought. That's the school of thought that got UK into trouble in the 1980s and 90s. You aren't alone. Many UK fans still agree with you, and you have a right to prefer basketball, just as others have their right to prefer football or to exercise their interests in other UK sports. I have a sister in law who played hs basketball and absolutely loves UK WBB and Kenny Brooks. I have several friends who are excited about what Nick Mingione is doing.
But football is the financial turbine that propels SEC athletics departments. You probably know that, but you are nonetheless overlooking the importance of football to UK's athletics department. When you say football is not a "real sport" at UK, you are doing your small part to work against the long term best interests of UK and its athletics department. Only with a successful football program will UK's athletics department be fully healthy and robust.
I appreciate your opening comment on my recovery. I am on the mend. 2024 was difficult. Let's join together in hoping for success and vitality in 2025, and let's encourage UK fans to see the big picture accurately and encourage general success in UK's budgeted endeavors, especially both positive revenue sports. Without successful football, no UK sport can reach its full potential in the current era of dominant TV revenue.
Lol ok. Twist it however you want to rationalize whatever you think but the fact remains - the vast majority of my life, every uk football fan would've metaphorically traded our left testicle a 7 win season. Instead, almost every year, we sat through one sec pummeling after another, and at times lost to the mid major teams we scheduled for a win. Thats just a fact.
Im not saying stoops is perfect. I actually think there is some very significant culture issues caused by his handling of nil. Some that might be too difficult to recover from.
That said, its pretty incredible stoops took the expectations from the above to a point where fans are now claiming 7 wins is a failure.
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You are clearly right. But many fans have not put the matter in perspective. Some are simply not old enough to understand the historical perspective. For others, Barnhart and Stoops can do nothing right, regardless of outcomes. That is the most damaging form of cluelessness. There are some who still don't even understand how much cheating under Curci and Mumme set UK football back. Last, but not least, NIL has set the revenue sports on a new course that will be a marathon, not a sprint. Honestly, I don't see much realistic recognition of that yet.
Stoops has been here for well over a decade. There is some truth to the argument that sticking around has necessarily increased his win total. But it is a simplistic argument. Stoops has improved recruiting, improved our football infrastructure including facilities, and adapted UK football to an era featuring athleticism and physicality. You give him credit for all of that and rightly so.
Stoops isn't perfect, but he and Barnhart have been the best influences on UK football in modern times. Some people still shoot eagles. Some still smoke cigarettes. Some people believed Alaska was worthless. It just takes some people a longer time to process information and learn.
