Great article. Thanks for sharing the link sir!
As a Kentucky fan, I hate to read this but the facts are the facts. Such facts ought to motivate the UK decision makers to come up with a plan to match Louisville's success but I doubt it will happen. It never has. Barnhart's decision making, when it comes to critical hires for the athletic programs that pay for the sustainability of all the other minor sports is woefully inept. He completely malpracticed the coaching decision following Tubby's departure.. He could have had Calipari at the time he chose Billy Gillispie but he thought Calipari did not possess enough of a pristine character to be his basketball coach. Had Barnhart done any semblance of due diligence research about Billy Gillispie, he should have readily discovered that Billy never had the required skills to coach at a prime time university. Then, after witnessing the gross errors of his decision making, .he was forced to set aside his own personal moral compass and hire Calipari or risk being tarred, feathered and run out of town by Big Blue Nation. At the time, hiring Calipari saved his job. Fortunately, for Barnhart, Calipari still wanted to come to UK.
His decision to hire Brooks, who had not coached anybody for several years was initially poorly received. Thankfully for Barnhart, Brooks pulled a "Lazarus like" resurrection of the UK football program just when Big Blue Nation was ready to put a for sale sign in Brooks' front yard. By going to 4 straight minor bowls, Brooks had put UK in the best position since Bear Bryant dumped us for Texas A&M in 1953 to lure a top flight, well known head coach. Instead, Barnhart opts to hire someone virtually no one else in the country had heard of and who had never been a head coach. Joker was a miserable failure.
After the Joker debacle, the UK position lost much of its appeal to top shelf coaches, (except for Petrino who begged to come here). Petrino however, didn't fit Barnhart's moral requirements either, (notwithstanding Barnhart's well publicized religious beliefs, he apparently doesn't believe it is Christian to give a second chance to a sinner) So, Barnhart opts for another assistant coach who had never been a head coach. Then, in 2014, after Stoops shows some promise after beating up on a few patsies and winning against a South Carolina team that was beginning to head towards the abyss, Barnhart, decides to give Stoops a $1.25 million per year increase in salary and guarantee it for 5 more years. He subsequently gives Stoops' assistants guaranteed contracts such that if Stoops and his assistants were fired without cause, it would cost the University of Kentucky $18 plus million dollars.
Now, the UK head football coaching position is even less desirable by top tier coaches. UK, without question, is the "graveyard of coaches". No one since Blanton Collier was fired in 1962 has parlayed the UK head job into something better. UK fired Collier, who, two years later, became the head coach of the Cleveland Browns. Collier proceeded to coach the Browns to the NFL championship in 1964, the year before the Super Bowl started. Some will suggest Guy Morris improved himself after he left UK but at the time he went to Baylor, that school was as pathetic as UK having not had a winning season in the previous 8 years before Morris became coach. Alas, Morris couldn't win either going 18-40 during his 5 years before Baylor fired him. All the rest of the former UK head coaches went even further down hill in their football careers or simply got out of football after leaving UK. Louisville, on the other hand, since 1985, has had Howard Schnellenberger, John L. Smith, Bobby Petrino and Charlie Strong move on to more prestigious positions. For the most part, Louisville's head coaches are sought after by other programs. However, nobody wants a former UK head football coach. They may as well be wearing a "scarlet letter" around their necks.
Will UK ever change its ways to be successful in football? If history is any predictor of what the future will be, one would have to conclude there is no way it will change. At this point, as unattractive as the UK head coaching position is, UK would have to pay some prime time coach $5 plus million dollars a year for 7 years to even have a hope of getting us out of these miserable doldrums. I don't see Barnhart making such a bold move.