Hard to believe I'm saying this

[gamalielkid]

After being a big UK basketball fan all my life - I can't wait for football season! People who want to say our program is not a top 25 or greater program now - well you guys are living in the past! Barring injury issues this team is going to compete very, very well this year! This team is close to being the best all around team at UK since the Bear Bryant days. If you don't believe that - then you aren't looking at the roster AND coaching staff without prejudice! The resume's and results of this coaching staff clearly speaks for itself. Coach Stoops has assembled the best coaching staff at UK in over 60 years!

This team is loaded with quality players. Yes we have some areas where we were questionable last year - however, those weaknesses have been addressed with recruiting and coaching changes. Coach Stoops has made mistakes and I have criticized him as much as anyone at times - but no one can say he hasn't made tough decisions and is walking the walk as a leader of the program! If you follow football in general and UK particularly you know this team has many star quality players and depth as well. UK will be playing in a big bowl game this year - and if the pendulum of luck swings our way - we could be watching the playoff positions very closely come late November!

Go Big Blue!

 

[CaptainBoogerBuns]

I’ve been a bigger football fan than basketball for as long as I can remember. Why does basketball have to suck before being a bigger football fan?

 

[Big blue 35]

I've always been a bigger UK football fan, just never had very much to cheer about, man have things changed!

 

[gamalielkid]

I’ve been a bigger football fan than basketball for as long as I can remember. Why does basketball have to suck before being a bigger football fan?

I'm saying this Captain - because basketball is just now at its most important part of the year - and I'm thinking football. I have been a big football fan all my life - I live 800 miles from Lexington - and I have season tickets to football.

Go Big Blue!

 

[ACT ONE]

After being a big UK basketball fan all my life - I can't wait for football season! People who want to say our program is not a top 25 or greater program now - well you guys are living in the past! Barring injury issues this team is going to compete very, very well this year! This team is close to being the best all around team at UK since the Bear Bryant days. If you don't believe that - then you aren't looking at the roster AND coaching staff without prejudice! The resume's and results of this coaching staff clearly speaks for itself. Coach Stoops has assembled the best coaching staff at UK in over 60 years!

This team is loaded with quality players. Yes we have some areas where we were questionable last year - however, those weaknesses have been addressed with recruiting and coaching changes. Coach Stoops has made mistakes and I have criticized him as much as anyone at times - but no one can say he hasn't made tough decisions and is walking the walk as a leader of the program! If you follow football in general and UK particularly you know this team has many star quality players and depth as well. UK will be playing in a big bowl game this year - and if the pendulum of luck swings our way - we could be watching the playoff positions very closely come late November!

Go Big Blue!

I admire your optimism but I'm not buying into the hype. Personally I will take a wait and see approach. I hope you are right.

 

[gamalielkid]

I admire your optimism but I'm not buying into the hype. Personally I will take a wait and see approach. I hope you are right.

I don't think it is hype. Last year with luck and Coen this team should have won 11 games. If you don't think we should have then look at who and how we lost to and how: Mississippi, South Carolina, Vanderbilt and Iowa. Big ifs, I know, but had we had Coen and a Healthy Levis we win all those games - our record is then 11-2. I think this team has a tougher road - but I think the team is actually going to be better than last year - at least on paper it indicates we are - lol! 10 -11 wins very possible!

Go Big Blue!

 

[CaptainBoogerBuns]

I’ve never gotten the same joy from basketball winning as I have from football winning. Maybe it’s the disparity in frequency of winning—but something about UK winning in football makes the day special.

I’ve never made it a priority to watch a basketball game like folks on Rafters. My wife knows UK played by reading about it on Facebook. During football season, she leaves me alone in front of the tv while I chew on nails and get my stomach in knots. 😋

 

[Deeeefense]

CATS are loaded with talent on both sides of the ball. They still are going to have to prove a few things starting with the O-line. They have brought in some help, but there's no guarantee they will get back to being the Big Blue Wall just yet. If they do, there really is no limit to have far they can go. On paper it's hard to think of a past UK team that has as much player and coaching talent as the one we will field in September, they have high potential but as the man once said "potential" just means you haven't done it yet.

 

[docholiday51]

Always been a fan of both sports. Been around since the early 60's(as a fan) I feel like I have a good basis for understanding where we are in both sports. Stoops has us in a better place than we have ever been during that time. I am speaking in terms of foundation and sustainability. We reasonably expect to go to bowl games each year, we compete in almost every game we play and good players are considering and coming to UK each year

On the basketball side we have been a shell of what UK basketball should be about for the past 3 years. We are at the point that fans are (and should be) embarrassed by the product on the floor. Whatever Cal is doing it is a poor imitation of coaching. If you want to compare Cal over the past 3 years to any other UK coach in the past 60 years then it is easy Cal= Billy Clyde.

No agenda, no posting just to get a reaction from anyone this is how I see where we are

 

[Wildcat40229]

Last season bothered me because if we had averaged around 27 points per game, we could`ve won 10 games. We held Georgia to their season low on points scored. I do believe we can win 10 this coming season if our O-line holds up, no major injuries and our defense is equal to last season.

 

[Wildcat40229]

Always been a fan of both sports. Been around since the early 60's(as a fan) I feel like I have a good basis for understanding where we are in both sports. Stoops has us in a better place than we have ever been during that time. I am speaking in terms of foundation and sustainability. We reasonably expect to go to bowl games each year, we compete in almost every game we play and good players are considering and coming to UK each year

On the basketball side we have been a shell of what UK basketball should be about for the past 3 years. We are at the point that fans are (and should be) embarrassed by the product on the floor. Whatever Cal is doing it is a poor imitation of coaching. If you want to compare Cal over the past 3 years to any other UK coach in the past 60 years then it is easy Cal= Billy Clyde.

No agenda, no posting just to get a reaction from anyone this is how I see where we are

I`ve watched and listened to UK BB and football since the early 70`s. I`ve always been excited for each FB season, just to be letdown every year. Stoops has risen our expectations and has me more excited than I`ve ever been. We used to celebrate a 7 win season, now that`s a letdown.

 

[docholiday51]

I`ve watched and listened to UK BB and football since the early 70`s. I`ve always been excited for each FB season, just to be letdown every year. Stoops has risen our expectations and has me more excited than I`ve ever been. We used to celebrate a 7 win season, now that`s a letdown.

I was a fan when a 4 win season was reason for a coach to get a raise.

 

[Wildcat40229]

I was a fan when a 4 win season was reason for a coach to get a raise.

Thats funny, but true.

 

[TuckyFB]

I want us to make a run in the tourney and I'll watch and hopefully we'll get a 6th seed here, but I find myself keeping up with other UK Athletics more than I did say 10 years ago. Baseball/Softball teams are off to a good start this season.

 

[Rembrandt90]

I have been a fan of all UK sports all my life, still am, and always will be.

I have long ago grown sick and tired of John Calipari's rationalizations and excuses, such as the latest (concerning going one and out in the SEC Tournament)-

"We probably need to get healthy, so having some time off might play into our hands"

This is baloney. Eleven-loss Cal is not the only basketball coach who makes excuses for losing. But other coaches fill their scholarships. Cal never fills his scholarships, so I am not buying this weak rationalization about needing time to get healthy. With other coaches, it is "next man up".

But Cal is one of 7 UK basketball coaches in my lifetime. I was a UK basketball fan before Cal, and I will be a UK basketball fan after Cal.

The greater joy has been watching Mark Stoops build our football program. I love going to our football games, especially the bowls. But I want every UK sport to do well.

 

[Glenn's take]

I've always been a much bigger football than basketball fan. I'm trying to get over "the collective" to not drive me away. And just don't respond. NIL is fine. Begging the fan base to buy you players is complete BS.

 

[cathouse]

After being a big UK basketball fan all my life - I can't wait for football season! People who want to say our program is not a top 25 or greater program now - well you guys are living in the past! Barring injury issues this team is going to compete very, very well this year! This team is close to being the best all around team at UK since the Bear Bryant days. If you don't believe that - then you aren't looking at the roster AND coaching staff without prejudice! The resume's and results of this coaching staff clearly speaks for itself. Coach Stoops has assembled the best coaching staff at UK in over 60 years!

This team is loaded with quality players. Yes we have some areas where we were questionable last year - however, those weaknesses have been addressed with recruiting and coaching changes. Coach Stoops has made mistakes and I have criticized him as much as anyone at times - but no one can say he hasn't made tough decisions and is walking the walk as a leader of the program! If you follow football in general and UK particularly you know this team has many star quality players and depth as well. UK will be playing in a big bowl game this year - and if the pendulum of luck swings our way - we could be watching the playoff positions very closely come late November!

Go Big Blue!

I just said the exact same thing immediately after watching Coach Stoop's first spring training presser.

I listened to a very humble coach who is appreciative of his opportunity to coach at UK and actually appreciates the fans who support his program.

I heard a head coach take responsibility for last season's disappointing outcome, but also a coach who made changes in an effort to correct those problems.

I love CMS. He has grown so much as a HC over the past decade. He has been loyal to UK, is obviously a player's coach that player's love playing for, without sacrificing the top priority of building a winning program or putting the program last on the list of his priorities.

Now, compare that to that other coach.

I am a UK football first fan because of where both programs are currently and where they are expected to be.

 

[trueblujr2]

I don't think it is hype. Last year with luck and Coen this team should have won 11 games. If you don't think we should have then look at who and how we lost to and how: Mississippi, South Carolina, Vanderbilt and Iowa. Big ifs, I know, but had we had Coen and a Healthy Levis we win all those games - our record is then 11-2. I think this team has a tougher road - but I think the team is actually going to be better than last year - at least on paper it indicates we are - lol! 10 -11 wins very possible!

Go Big Blue!

Difference is, if we win those three SEC games, we aren’t playing Iowa.

 

[docholiday51]

Thats funny, but true.

Well then my little post was a success

 

[The-Hack]

Difference is, if we win those three SEC games, we aren’t playing Iowa.

And Levis and Crod play.

 

[The-Hack]

I have been a bigger UK football than basketball fan since the 1980’s.

That said, it does my heart no good for any sport at Uk to struggle.

Baseball and basketball have been dragging down our overall national sports rankings.

 

[cathouse]

I have been a bigger UK football than basketball fan since the 1980’s.

That said, it does my heart no good for any sport at Uk to struggle.

Baseball and basketball have been dragging down our overall national sports rankings.

I absolutely HATE where our basketball and baseball programs are at right now.

I am a UK fan that loves every sport and want UK to win every game in every sport. (I know, I know, that's absurd), but I am THAT KIND of fan.

I root for all of them to be successful. There is absolutely NO GOOD REASON for the basketball and baseball teams to be at the level they currently are.

Both sports need an overhaul on the coaching staff, starting with the head guys. And, unfortunately, women's basketball has fallen off the face of the earth also. If Kyra doesn't turn that around this year, she needs to go also.

 

[Rembrandt90]

I absolutely HATE where our basketball and baseball programs are at right now.

I am a UK fan that loves every sport and want UK to win every game in every sport. (I know, I know, that's absurd), but I am THAT KIND of fan.

I root for all of them to be successful. There is absolutely NO GOOD REASON for the basketball and baseball teams to be at the level they currently are.

Both sports need an overhaul on the coaching staff, starting with the head guys. And, unfortunately, women's basketball has fallen off the face of the earth also. If Kyra doesn't turn that around this year, she needs to go also.

I like Kyra Elzy's emphasis on playing great defense. She is a fighter. The problem is that she has not recruited well. Taking other teams' castoffs through the transfer portal will not get it done in the SEC. Coach Elzy needs some recruiting breakthroughs. She needs some tall girls with SEC level scoring skills. Either she can build an SEC roster, or she can't. As I discussed on another thread, my sister in law played hs basketball instate, so my family has watched our women's team. Put it this way. The numbers don't lie.

UK baseball is off to a strong start this semester, but the schedule hasn't gotten tough yet. The thing about college baseball is that you can recruit a strong class and then lose your best signees to the MLB draft. In that way, college coaches are at the mercy of MLB. So there are mitigating factors. But at the end of the day, we haven't been winning enough games to make it to the postseason. That is the litmus test, and our coaching staff has to get it done. Adapt or die.

Cal has a very expensive coaching staff. Now we learn that KT Turner is leaving for UT Arlington. With Aaron Bradshaw, DJ Wagner, and Justin Edwards inbound, Turner wants to coach at UT Arlington and probably take a pay cut. A year ago, Jai Lucas left to relocate to Duke. These are rats jumping from a sinking ship. From the inside, each of them wasted a year of their careers taking UK money to watch Cal implode. The slow motion train wreck in our basketball program has been very painful to watch. I am a big supporter of Mitch Barnhart and have never backed down from that. But the conundrum in our basketball program and the situation with Cal's contract are the kind of thing that could end Barnhart's career. I hope not, but finding a way out of this mess is complicated. Many years ago, Barnhart correctly concluded that Tubby Smith was not getting enough done to justify what UK was paying him. The situation was complicated. Next thing we knew, Tubby was coaching at the University of Minnesota, where he did not succeed. UK hired Billy Gillispie, which did not work out either. This brought us to the Cal era, which resulted in one more national championship for UK but has gone badly wrong since. OTOH, Barnhart stuck with Rich Brooks when the fan base tried to decapitate Brooks. That showed grit, but Barnhart's subsequent hire of Brooks' handpicked successor did not work out. After all of that, for Barnhart to have supported Stoops 100% through the morass of horribly misguided negative feedback from a misinformed corner of our fan base has shown the kind of insight and courage I want from our AD. Stoops is the right guy, and he isn't looking to jump ship.

But I am no longer sure if Barnhart can survive this situation with Cal. It is a terrible mess.

Barnhart found an answer to get UK off the hook with Tubby. If he can manipulate the circumstances to convince Cal to take the ND job, or something else of that nature, that would get UK off the hook for Cal's buyout. But it's a whole lot to hope for. And then, UK would face another coaching search, with no obvious candidates. I have been keeping an eye on speculation on the basketball board about a successor and, candidly, I haven't seen a truly good idea over there yet.

So, to summarize, I have always been and will always be a fan of all UK sports. In truth, this is never an either/or proposition. There is no reason other than opportunism or impatience for a UK fan to turn against a UK sport. An athletics department that oversees 550 student athletes in 18 sports can never hope to have every sport playing perfectly at all times. Human beings don't work that way. In life, you adapt or die. I am waiting and watching how UK will adapt to deal with men's and women's basketball. The sun will rise again tomorrow. But UK basketball is in trouble.

 

[bballcat4]

I was a fan when a 4 win season was reason for a coach to get a raise.

I’ve been a fan of both sports my whole life. Regarding bball. I have to remind myself we were a 2 seed last year. The worst season in UK history followed by the worst tournament loss in school history has a way of morphing together into a long run of mediocrity. I also think the 2020 team was also a good team before Covid shutdown. But … my basketball confidence is about as low as it’s been since Billy Clyde.

This is a football board, so I’ll give my personal journey with UK football. You have years on me, but any UK football fan for any length of time has experienced one nightmare after another. I was sitting in Commonwealth in the “Hefty Lefty“ days when we were up 21 against Tn. I took a picture of the scoreboard because I knew how the game would end. Yep, we lost that one after being ahead by 3 td’s. This story can be rinsed and repeated. I’m sure you have more sad stories than I do. Stoops slowly changed the culture of UK football to the point i have confidence in EVERY game. (I never thought I would see that day in my lifetime!) A 9 game SEC conference schedule will be tough as old shoe leather. However, once CFP expands to 12 teams, I believe Stoops will have UK knocking on the door many years as we head into November!

 

[Wildcat40229]

I like Kyra Elzy's emphasis on playing great defense. She is a fighter. The problem is that she has not recruited well. Taking other teams' castoffs through the transfer portal will not get it done in the SEC. Coach Elzy needs some recruiting breakthroughs. She needs some tall girls with SEC level scoring skills. Either she can build an SEC roster, or she can't. As I discussed on another thread, my sister in law played hs basketball instate, so my family has watched our women's team. Put it this way. The numbers don't lie.

UK baseball is off to a strong start this semester, but the schedule hasn't gotten tough yet. The thing about college baseball is that you can recruit a strong class and then lose your best signees to the MLB draft. In that way, college coaches are at the mercy of MLB. So there are mitigating factors. But at the end of the day, we haven't been winning enough games to make it to the postseason. That is the litmus test, and our coaching staff has to get it done. Adapt or die.

Cal has a very expensive coaching staff. Now we learn that KT Turner is leaving for UT Arlington. With Aaron Bradshaw, DJ Wagner, and Justin Edwards inbound, Turner wants to coach at UT Arlington and probably take a pay cut. A year ago, Jai Lucas left to relocate to Duke. These are rats jumping from a sinking ship. From the inside, each of them wasted a year of their careers taking UK money to watch Cal implode. The slow motion train wreck in our basketball program has been very painful to watch. I am a big supporter of Mitch Barnhart and have never backed down from that. But the conundrum in our basketball program and the situation with Cal's contract are the kind of thing that could end Barnhart's career. I hope not, but finding a way out of this mess is complicated. Many years ago, Barnhart correctly concluded that Tubby Smith was not getting enough done to justify what UK was paying him. The situation was complicated. Next thing we knew, Tubby was coaching at the University of Minnesota, where he did not succeed. UK hired Billy Gillispie, which did not work out either. This brought us to the Cal era, which resulted in one more national championship for UK but has gone badly wrong since. OTOH, Barnhart stuck with Rich Brooks when the fan base tried to decapitate Brooks. That showed grit, but Barnhart's subsequent hire of Brooks' handpicked successor did not work out. After all of that, for Barnhart to have supported Stoops 100% through the morass of horribly misguided negative feedback from a misinformed corner of our fan base has shown the kind of insight and courage I want from our AD. Stoops is the right guy, and he isn't looking to jump ship.

But I am no longer sure if Barnhart can survive this situation with Cal. It is a terrible mess.

Barnhart found an answer to get UK off the hook with Tubby. If he can manipulate the circumstances to convince Cal to take the ND job, or something else of that nature, that would get UK off the hook for Cal's buyout. But it's a whole lot to hope for. And then, UK would face another coaching search, with no obvious candidates. I have been keeping an eye on speculation on the basketball board about a successor and, candidly, I haven't seen a truly good idea over there yet.

So, to summarize, I have always been and will always be a fan of all UK sports. In truth, this is never an either/or proposition. There is no reason other than opportunism or impatience for a UK fan to turn against a UK sport. An athletics department that oversees 550 student athletes in 18 sports can never hope to have every sport playing perfectly at all times. Human beings don't work that way. In life, you adapt or die. I am waiting and watching how UK will adapt to deal with men's and women's basketball. The sun will rise again tomorrow. But UK basketball is in trouble.

UK basketball is in trouble and I`ve said that for a couple of years now. Ten years ago us, Duke, Arizona, etc. could get the best of the best. Now the kids have found out they can go to any school and be a one or two and done. Plus there is Over Time Elite now and some kids are taking that route. That and the fact that Cal wants Athleticism over fundamentals and hasn`t changed his coaching style to match today`s game. I hate it when Cal blames injuries or if this guy had done this or that the game would have been different. I have heard him say, on occasion, this is on me, but not very often.
Stoops is a man who takes on the responsibility, he`s a blue collar coach and he takes the blame for a loss or bad situation. How many times has he said, we need to coach better? How many times has he said, we have injuries, but we need to get the next man up and that`s on us? Plus when he sees a weakness, he makes changes right away and he is changing to match today`s game. Now Stoops has had growing pains along the way, but this was he`s first head coaching job and he is still learning on the job, but he is, which tells me he has an open mind.
Womens BB is in trouble as well and there has to be an internal issue. We seem to lose players, to the portal, every year and building a team through the portal is not the answer.
Finding Cal`s replacement will not be as easy as fans think it will be. We have had a few "top coaches" turn us down in the past and that may very well happen again. There`s no pressure to win that can match Lexington and some coaches will not come here because of that. We (fans) want to win a title every year and a bad or down year is unacceptable (half joking) and coaches can make good money elsewhere without that pressure.
I`m a UK fan 100% as well and will watch anything UK, but I`m turning more towards football than basketball and when Cal say`s UK is a basketball school, he better take a closer look at what the football side of things is doing.
I`m in my 60`s and I`ve changed a lot over time, but I never thought I would pick UK football over basketball...................ever, but I`m headed that way, if not there.

 

[CaptainBoogerBuns]

I never understood wanting to hop onto a program because they win —especially if your general interest in that sport is almost non-existent.

I grew up going to games at Commonwealth Stadium (since the Curci days) and coached youth football. It makes no sense to me to be a bigger fan in basketball if I wasn’t a fan of basketball in general. The only reason I would think of doing it is it was because they have a winning tradition, and I can’t bring myself to doing that.

 

[docholiday51]

I’ve been a fan of both sports my whole life. Regarding bball. I have to remind myself we were a 2 seed last year. The worst season in UK history followed by the worst tournament loss in school history has a way of morphing together into a long run of mediocrity. I also think the 2020 team was also a good team before Covid shutdown. But … my basketball confidence is about as low as it’s been since Billy Clyde.

This is a football board, so I’ll give my personal journey with UK football. You have years on me, but any UK football fan for any length of time has experienced one nightmare after another. I was sitting in Commonwealth in the “Hefty Lefty“ days when we were up 21 against Tn. I took a picture of the scoreboard because I knew how the game would end. Yep, we lost that one after being ahead by 3 td’s. This story can be rinsed and repeated. I’m sure you have more sad stories than I do. Stoops slowly changed the culture of UK football to the point i have confidence in EVERY game. (I never thought I would see that day in my lifetime!) A 9 game SEC conference schedule will be tough as old shoe leather. However, once CFP expands to 12 teams, I believe Stoops will have UK knocking on the door many years as we head into November!

A very good take on both basketball and football. I like where we are in football. Some on the board want more right now from Stoops and I get that however changing the culture and maintaining that change is monumental feat. Stoops is somewhere in that process

Your rinse and repeat comment is very accurate over 6 or 7 decades of UK football. we have had brief flirtations with success. The Rick Norton years, the Art Still, Ramsey years, Tim Couch years and a few more. I think we are a step or two away from going to the next level. Honestly I think it is a little better than a 50/50 chance we get there but the thing is we have a chance to do it. We haven't had that before.

 

[cathouse]

I like Kyra Elzy's emphasis on playing great defense. She is a fighter. The problem is that she has not recruited well. Taking other teams' castoffs through the transfer portal will not get it done in the SEC. Coach Elzy needs some recruiting breakthroughs. She needs some tall girls with SEC level scoring skills. Either she can build an SEC roster, or she can't. As I discussed on another thread, my sister in law played hs basketball instate, so my family has watched our women's team. Put it this way. The numbers don't lie.

UK baseball is off to a strong start this semester, but the schedule hasn't gotten tough yet. The thing about college baseball is that you can recruit a strong class and then lose your best signees to the MLB draft. In that way, college coaches are at the mercy of MLB. So there are mitigating factors. But at the end of the day, we haven't been winning enough games to make it to the postseason. That is the litmus test, and our coaching staff has to get it done. Adapt or die.

Cal has a very expensive coaching staff. Now we learn that KT Turner is leaving for UT Arlington. With Aaron Bradshaw, DJ Wagner, and Justin Edwards inbound, Turner wants to coach at UT Arlington and probably take a pay cut. A year ago, Jai Lucas left to relocate to Duke. These are rats jumping from a sinking ship. From the inside, each of them wasted a year of their careers taking UK money to watch Cal implode. The slow motion train wreck in our basketball program has been very painful to watch. I am a big supporter of Mitch Barnhart and have never backed down from that. But the conundrum in our basketball program and the situation with Cal's contract are the kind of thing that could end Barnhart's career. I hope not, but finding a way out of this mess is complicated. Many years ago, Barnhart correctly concluded that Tubby Smith was not getting enough done to justify what UK was paying him. The situation was complicated. Next thing we knew, Tubby was coaching at the University of Minnesota, where he did not succeed. UK hired Billy Gillispie, which did not work out either. This brought us to the Cal era, which resulted in one more national championship for UK but has gone badly wrong since. OTOH, Barnhart stuck with Rich Brooks when the fan base tried to decapitate Brooks. That showed grit, but Barnhart's subsequent hire of Brooks' handpicked successor did not work out. After all of that, for Barnhart to have supported Stoops 100% through the morass of horribly misguided negative feedback from a misinformed corner of our fan base has shown the kind of insight and courage I want from our AD. Stoops is the right guy, and he isn't looking to jump ship.

But I am no longer sure if Barnhart can survive this situation with Cal. It is a terrible mess.

Barnhart found an answer to get UK off the hook with Tubby. If he can manipulate the circumstances to convince Cal to take the ND job, or something else of that nature, that would get UK off the hook for Cal's buyout. But it's a whole lot to hope for. And then, UK would face another coaching search, with no obvious candidates. I have been keeping an eye on speculation on the basketball board about a successor and, candidly, I haven't seen a truly good idea over there yet.

So, to summarize, I have always been and will always be a fan of all UK sports. In truth, this is never an either/or proposition. There is no reason other than opportunism or impatience for a UK fan to turn against a UK sport. An athletics department that oversees 550 student athletes in 18 sports can never hope to have every sport playing perfectly at all times. Human beings don't work that way. In life, you adapt or die. I am waiting and watching how UK will adapt to deal with men's and women's basketball. The sun will rise again tomorrow. But UK basketball is in trouble.

It just feels like Cal is running rogue with the basketball program with no accountability to anyone.

It also appears that Mitch has had to bury his head in the sand and ignore the obvious with no ability to correct the issue or even improve the situation due to that ridiculous contract he allowed Cal and his agent to dupe him into signing.

Mitch is looking at the same slow motion train wreck that everyone is watching, only it appears the he has no solution to the Cal problem other than riding it out.

It will be a painful end for everyone when the end does come.

As far as baseball, every team has to deal with the same "excuses" for not being able to maintain a roster as our coach, yet they find a way to compete and make the post season in the SEC. Mangione's results are just unacceptable.

If you follow the baseball team and know anything about the game, you see a team that is just not fundamentally sound in most phases of the game. That's on the coach.

I love Kyra's fire, also, and am rooting hard for her to succeed. But, it o this point, the product on the floor doesn't look like we are headed for success or even headed in the right direction, yet Mitch just gave her a raise and a contract extension. SMH

It appears just from the outside looking in that Mitch is right in the forefront of these "train wrecks" in our three major programs.

Time to clean house and rebuild the entire AD in my opinion. That does not include CMS. He IS Kentucky Football.

 

[ZenCatFan73]

I’ve been a bigger football fan than basketball for as long as I can remember. Why does basketball have to suck before being a bigger football fan?

Agree with this. I’ve always been a bigger football fan than basketball. I just like it better as a whole.

 

[1977 Cat]

After being a big UK basketball fan all my life - I can't wait for football season! People who want to say our program is not a top 25 or greater program now - well you guys are living in the past! Barring injury issues this team is going to compete very, very well this year! This team is close to being the best all around team at UK since the Bear Bryant days. If you don't believe that - then you aren't looking at the roster AND coaching staff without prejudice! The resume's and results of this coaching staff clearly speaks for itself. Coach Stoops has assembled the best coaching staff at UK in over 60 years!

This team is loaded with quality players. Yes we have some areas where we were questionable last year - however, those weaknesses have been addressed with recruiting and coaching changes. Coach Stoops has made mistakes and I have criticized him as much as anyone at times - but no one can say he hasn't made tough decisions and is walking the walk as a leader of the program! If you follow football in general and UK particularly you know this team has many star quality players and depth as well. UK will be playing in a big bowl game this year - and if the pendulum of luck swings our way - we could be watching the playoff positions very closely come late November!

Go Big Blue!

I knew you would come around!