I remember when Stoops was hired ...

[Bluesbrother]

... and Barnhart was getting some blowback from the fans, Barnhart said that "no coach wants to coach here", implying Stoops was the best we should hope for. If that isn't a loser's mentality, I've never heard it. Barnhart is unwilling to put in the hard work to fix this program. He's currently on his glidepath into retirement. The problem, IMO, starts in the AD's office. Finding the right coach for UK will take some work but that coach is out there, looking for an opportunity. IMO, the answer isn't some retread former coach with a recognizable name looking for an easy payday, which is where Barnhart always looks first. Stoops had a little run at UK but has reached his level of incompetence, while being paid far too much money. As we found out last year, he doesn't want to be here and is perfectly willing to chase other opportunities, after UK has been so good to him.

 

[Coach Marrow]

Stoops with Neal Brown at OC was great at the time

 

[CaptainBoogerBuns]

... and Barnhart was getting some blowback from the fans, Barnhart said that "no coach wants to coach here", implying Stoops was the best we should hope for. If that isn't a loser's mentality, I've never heard it. Barnhart is unwilling to put in the hard work to fix this program. He's currently on his glidepath into retirement. The problem, IMO, starts in the AD's office. Finding the right coach for UK will take some work but that coach is out there, looking for an opportunity. IMO, the answer isn't some retread former coach with a recognizable name looking for an easy payday, which is where Barnhart always looks first. Stoops had a little run at UK but has reached his level of incompetence, while being paid far too much money. As we found out last year, he doesn't want to be here and is perfectly willing to chase other opportunities, after UK has been so good to him.

I’m very worried about the AD search when it begins. The new AD HAS to be football focused.

 

[Bluesbrother]

I’m very worried about the AD search when it begins. The new AD HAS to be football focused.

I agree. The BOT should be intimately involved and probably should convene a committee consisting of former players and alumni that truly care about the football program.

 

[Boz]

I agree. The BOT should be intimately involved and probably should convene a committee consisting of former players and alumni that truly care about the football program.

Mitch had an alumni committee lead by Tim Couch that consulted with him. The committee chose Stoops.

 

[Bluesbrother]

Mitch had an alumni committee lead by Tim Couch that consulted with him. The committee chose Stoops.

I suppose we now know who NOT to use this time around. I still find it interesting that they hire Stoops who had no head coaching experience. To me, it sounds like they were more interested in hiring the name instead of the man. Regardless, I think we all know those involved in the hire then cannot be involved in the next hire. Probably best to start with a new AD, honestly.

 

[RunninRichie]

... and Barnhart was getting some blowback from the fans, Barnhart said that "no coach wants to coach here", implying Stoops was the best we should hope for. If that isn't a loser's mentality, I've never heard it. Barnhart is unwilling to put in the hard work to fix this program. He's currently on his glidepath into retirement. The problem, IMO, starts in the AD's office. Finding the right coach for UK will take some work but that coach is out there, looking for an opportunity. IMO, the answer isn't some retread former coach with a recognizable name looking for an easy payday, which is where Barnhart always looks first. Stoops had a little run at UK but has reached his level of incompetence, while being paid far too much money. As we found out last year, he doesn't want to be here and is perfectly willing to chase other opportunities, after UK has been so good to him.

The coach for UK is in New Orleans, LA.

 

[KYExtemper]

Barnhart said that "no coach wants to coach here",

Which is such a dumb statement. I think if we'd ever made a play for Mike Leach he would've come in a heartbeat.

 

[Bluesbrother]

The coach for UK is in New Orleans, LA.

Name?

 

[Crystalglass]

So now we’re going from “Stoops’ time has went”, which is true and I think everyone agrees, to “The coach who got us 10 wins twice and brought us back from Vandy levels of ineptitude actually never should have been hired at all and sucked from the get-go.”

Get some perspective, people

 

[RunninRichie]

Name?

Jon Sumrall.

 

[bigblueinsanity]

Stoops was a great hire at the time. A coaching family legacy who literally walked away from a team about to win a national title to coach a team literally noone wanted. Especially after mitch let butch davis string him along and use us to get the ut job for higher pay.

All that said, as frustrated as we all are with what we saw last week, some fans need to step away from the ledge to an extent. Our schedule is insane. We'd have to be a legit top 10 team to have the record fans wanted before start of the season. Even a very good uk team would hope for 7-8 wins with this schedule.

All that said, there is a very real conversation needed after the season. We have the defense we can win with. There really needs to be something done with the offense and the consistent annual one game meltdown where we look lost all game.

That conversation needs had not because stoops is a bad coach, but because all the schools we play (except Florida) upgraded their coaching and passed us up. If stoops cant get some high level consistency at oc, we need to consider exploring other options.

 

[RunninRichie]

Stoops was a great hire at the time. A coaching family legacy who literally walked away from a team about to win a national title to coach a team literally noone wanted. Especially after mitch let butch davis string him along and use us to get the ut job for higher pay.

All that said, as frustrated as we all are with what we saw last week, some fans need to step away from the ledge to an extent. Our schedule is insane. We'd have to be a legit top 10 team to have the record fans wanted before start of the season. Even a very good uk team would hope for 7-8 wins with this schedule.

All that said, there is a very real conversation needed after the season. We have the defense we can win with. There really needs to be something done with the offense and the consistent annual one game meltdown where we look lost all game.

That conversation needs had not because stoops is a bad coach, but because all the schools we play (except Florida) upgraded their coaching and passed us up. If stoops cant get some high level consistency at oc, we need to consider exploring other options.

Gotta hire Sumrall.

 

[bballcat4]

Barnhart is unwilling to put in the hard work to fix this program.

Ky Football has just experienced our best 6-7 year run that we’ve had in the last 50 years!!! Couple perspectives that are both correct.

1) Stoops has done a very good (not great) job since taking over. The fact this is our best 6 year run speaks to how sad our football program has historically been over the last 50 years..

I give Stoops and our AD credit for bringing us to the point of being disappointed with just getting to a bowl game.

2) Stoops is the perfect coach for building a foundation and stability. I’ll always respect him and give him credit for getting UK football to a place that many football experts said was not possible! Consequently, is he a coach that can get us to the next level? I honestly don’t know that answer. We know SEC (even more so with new additions) is going to be tough.

Stoops’ preferred style is perfect for 6-7 win season with inferior talent. (Control the clock and play good defense.) Everyone was screaming for a more pro style offense a few years ago so we could attract better skilled players and QB. To Stoops’ credit, he decided to go for broke and open up the offense. It worked well the first year with Levis. (We took a lot of shot plays that came off of play action and max protection.) However we still struggled in the intermediate passing game for many reasons. (Topic for another post.)

I heard an NFL coach once describe the difference between good OL who excelled in pass protection vs run blocking. He stated, “Many OL are great road graders in the running game but struggle in pass protection.”

We previously built an offense around an OL that became excellent “road graders” then took deep shots with max protection.

We simply don’t have enough skilled OL for a pro style offense. Maybe Hamdan schemes up a quick passing game that balances the running game while adding ina few deep threats. This will require putting BV in the shotgun so he can see the field faster and get rid of ball faster.

I give Stoops for getting us where we’re at. (We’re much better program.) I don’t know if he can get us/keep us in the upper half of SEC.

 

[bigblueinsanity]

Gotta hire Sumrall.

I would be good with that, if we can make it happen. I do think hes going to be courted by bigger schools and soon. Bad new is his background is in defense which is great, but we're always short on offense especially offensive continuity.

I know im probably the biggest gran stan on the board, but thats why fans turning on him was so bad. He was flexible enough to take whatever talent we had and win alot of games by UK standards all while dealing with a talent deficiency.

Also there is a recruiting gap. I know summrall by star average was a better recruiter than marrow but that tells only part of the story. Vince and stoops are incredible at early identification and building a wide network. That isnt easily replaced.

So im good with hiring him and he is likely an upgrade but he isnt going to be the cure-all some expect.

 

[gojvc]

So now we’re going from “Stoops’ time has went”, which is true and I think everyone agrees, to “The coach who got us 10 wins twice and brought us back from Vandy levels of ineptitude actually never should have been hired at all and sucked from the get-go.”

Get some perspective, people

For sure. Maybe it’s run its course but the Mark Stoops hire is probably his greatest success as AD.

 

[K_TIME]

1. I had no problem with the Stoops hire 12 years ago. He was DC for the national champs...and their defense was a big part of winning it all at FSU.
2. Stoops had a family name to add to this resume
3. UK was a bottom 2 job along with Vandy in SEC at that time.....

So our only alternative would have been a failed head coach trying to rebound, a head coach of a smaller conference (ala Mumme) or top notch assistant looking for a head coach gig.....so we chose the later option and took that gamble. But UK was never going to lure a top notch coach from a higher program....that was always all talk

And Stoops was fine early on and hit great in year 5.....Stoops has continually upgraded the talent level at UK....Stoops built a path to Ohio kids playing here vs. Big 10 besides Ohio St.

It's not a bad decision if we ultimately have to move on from Stoops. And the only negative I'll give Mitch is he needed to raise the expectations for Stoops the more money he gave to Stoops. But the data is Stoops contract never raised expectations.....jsut gave him more money. And after Stoops left for Texas AM....Mitch doubles down on being too soft but just letting him come on back with no loss of contractual obligation to Stoops. But Mitch is notorious for stuff like this....Cal's lifetime contract nonsense, etc...

So that alone, may warrant a new AD to do the next hire in football.