It amazes me.

[willievic]

I am amazed at the number of people that want Stoops fired. This is the Coach that got 10 wins last year, in the toughest conference in football. Now, fire him! Look, I've been around UK football a lot longer then 90% of the posters on here, and if Stoops was fired after the season he had last year, forget about football at UK. Every coach at the second tier SEC schools are going to have a down year, until they can recruit like Alabama, Auburn, Georgia and LSU. They can lose a player and it doesn't mean much. Schools like UK, Missouri, Miss State, etc., lose a player, they have no comparable player to replace him.
We can say it's the coaches fault for not recruiting better, but UK is not in the group of school that can recruit the top tier players, like some of the schools I mentioned. However, we will win some games we are supposed to lose, and lose some games we should win. A program isn't built overnight, but it can fail in a short period of time. Look at Tennessee. Changing coaches every time your team plays bad, is a good way to destroy a program. Our recruiting is pretty good, but we don't have really good backup players are most positions, like some of the schools I mentioned earlier. When we have a player get hurt, there is a BIG drop off with the next player at his position. We're seeing that now. Let's let the season play out before talking about firing Coach Stoops.

OLD STOLL FIELD GUY!

 

[PowerofPelphrey]

As I have posted several times today. The loss of Terry Wilson and Davonte Robinson were huge.

I know teams get injured players which is part of football.

But , these two guys are hard too replace.

 

[IFerg1969]

Just to play the Devil's Advocate and you want to take the opposite side of the argument, last year's team probably should have won 12 games, or at least 11. There was no excuse for losing to UT the way they did. They very easily could've beaten A&M with any offense at all.

Look, I'm not clamoring for him to be fired. I just don't think he is a great coach. Dan Mullen at Miss St is a situation that compares very favorably. They recruited at a very similar level to what Stoops has at UK during Mullen's tenure. Maybe they've had ever so slightly better classes than UK over the past 10 years, but they've also played in the SEC West, the far better of the 2 divisions the past 10 years, and they've had more success than UK.

After his first year there, Mullen did have one 6 win team. Outside of that, he had two 7 win teams, two 8 win teams, two 9 wins teams and two 10 win teams. I would venture to say that is a level of success and consistency that any reasonable UK fan would love to see. I just think great coaches are able to get the most out of what they have at any given time. It shouldn't take a perfect storm of experience and talent everywhere on a team and zero injuries to key players to produce a good season for a good to great coach. Just my opinion.

 

[aikenite4uk]

I am amazed at the number of people that want Stoops fired. This is the Coach that got 10 wins last year, in the toughest conference in football. Now, fire him! Look, I've been around UK football a lot longer then 90% of the posters on here, and if Stoops was fired after the season he had last year, forget about football at UK. Every coach at the second tier SEC schools are going to have a down year, until they can recruit like Alabama, Auburn, Georgia and LSU. They can lose a player and it doesn't mean much. Schools like UK, Missouri, Miss State, etc., lose a player, they have no comparable player to replace him.
We can say it's the coaches fault for not recruiting better, but UK is not in the group of school that can recruit the top tier players, like some of the schools I mentioned. However, we will win some games we are supposed to lose, and lose some games we should win. A program isn't built overnight, but it can fail in a short period of time. Look at Tennessee. Changing coaches every time your team plays bad, is a good way to destroy a program. Our recruiting is pretty good, but we don't have really good backup players are most positions, like some of the schools I mentioned earlier. When we have a player get hurt, there is a BIG drop off with the next player at his position. We're seeing that now. Let's let the season play out before talking about firing Coach Stoops.

OLD STOLL FIELD GUY!

Most of the people saying that aren't UK fans...just trolls.

 

[JBHolmesfan]

I get that a program isn’t built overnight but it’s been 6+ years. How much time does he need? We were very good last year. No one questions that, but one good year doesn’t make a good coach. In 6+ years Stoops still has a losing record. When is his record going to stand on its own 2 feet and be judged for what it is? He’s had 1 good season with mediocre/bad seasons in the others. I think the 10 win seasons will be the exception, not the norm. The 6/7 win seasons will be the norm for UK football with Stoops.

My biggest complaint with Stoops is that he hasn’t gotten better in the administrative part of the game. We still can’t get lined up. We still can’t get 11 guys on the field. In over 6 years, that still being a problem is a joke. It says to me, Stoops doesn’t care about that part of the game. Getting 11 guys on the field is the easiest part of football and yet we still can’t do it.

Every offseason, posters on this board clamor for respect from the national media. We want the respect other teams get. Well, we need to act like those other teams. Other programs won’t put up with calling 2 timeouts in 6 plays because we have 9 guys on the field. Other programs won’t celebrate sub .500 football over 7 seasons.

 

[dallasg23]

Definitely don’t want him fired. But he needs faster on making decisions that win games. Like not playing a broken quarterback or keep playing a unproven unsuccessful kicker.

 

[NoDef]

Stoops doesn't need fired. To consistently win though (I'm not talking six wins because you only have to go 2-6 in SEC play to do that) we are going to have to start playing offense and that will mean Stoops quits trying to use that side to just burn clock.

 

[CB3UK]

I dont want him fired, but I think to use a basketball analogy, Stoops is going to be a Tubby Smith type. Pretty good, but not good enough. For the people who will inevitably counter how is 7 or 8 wins not good enough for UK football based on our history, Id ask at what point is it OK in your eyes for the fans to ask for more?
I personally think we need Stoops to keep building and creating a solid foundation that we can build on whenever a new HC comes in down the road.
And I agree with OP about people being way too hasty to want him canned.
The bottom line is we shouldnt look as piss poor as we have these last two games even if we are taking a step back. There's a marked difference between being competitive but short handed and the garbage we've seen 2 weeks in a row.

 

[cats2010]

Certainly don’t think he should be fired but is it too much to ask to expect to see growth from him as a head coach at this juncture. Why does he have to have a Sr laden defensive squad to play aggressive on that side of the ball. Why is he not willing to take chances instead of hoping the other team screws up. Why Can we not recruit the QB position effectively. Why can we still not get the proper number of players on the field. Why are we so easy to defend regardless of who are OC is. Why does he continue to not show a feel for the game and be able to make adjustments to right the ship. I really want to like him as a head coach but goodness gracious he seems so clueless to be the head man in charge.

 

[KyCatFan]

People are just sick of having mediocre offenses every year and poor quarterback play. How can a coach go 7 years without a legit passing threat at QB? Even if Wilson wasn't injured he likely isn't a whole lot better passing it than last year. Every team we have played has guys coming off the bench better than any QB on our roster.

It took him 6 years and 2 of the best players in program history to get to those 10 wins. Can he do better than one very good season once every 6 years going forward without having an Allen and Snell on the same team? That is the big question. I just don't see that happening playing the style we do all the time and having the same types of mistakes in year 7 as year 1.

Will he ever stop having issues with the wrong number of players on the field? How about using timeouts at poor times or not using them at all? He needs to learn to adapt to changing times like other defensive minded coaches. It's extremely hard to win at a high level when you play not to lose all of the time.

Today's game is about high scoring offenses and we just keep puttering along. You have to change with the times or get left behind. Will he change or keep trying to play smashmouth football with lesser talented teams as our opponents? Maybe if we played to win we could get big enough leads to get backups in the game and see what they can do instead of having every single backup QB transfer out. We can't keep relying on juco players to come in and bail us out.

 

[UKWildcats#8]

Just to play the Devil's Advocate and you want to take the opposite side of the argument, last year's team probably should have won 12 games, or at least 11. There was no excuse for losing to UT the way they did. They very easily could've beaten A&M with any offense at all.

Look, I'm not clamoring for him to be fired. I just don't think he is a great coach. Dan Mullen at Miss St is a situation that compares very favorably. They recruited at a very similar level to what Stoops has at UK during Mullen's tenure. Maybe they've had ever so slightly better classes than UK over the past 10 years, but they've also played in the SEC West, the far better of the 2 divisions the past 10 years, and they've had more success than UK.

After his first year there, Mullen did have one 6 win team. Outside of that, he had two 7 win teams, two 8 win teams, two 9 wins teams and two 10 win teams. I would venture to say that is a level of success and consistency that any reasonable UK fan would love to see. I just think great coaches are able to get the most out of what they have at any given time. It shouldn't take a perfect storm of experience and talent everywhere on a team and zero injuries to key players to produce a good season for a good to great coach. Just my

They also had close wins against florida, vandy and Missouri. I'd say the record was pretty accurate.

 

[wildcatglenn]

The biggest beef I have with Stoops is in game adjustments. He doesn't seem to have the ability to make a quick adjustment to the game plan. This yrs UF is the perfect example. Everyone in the nation knew we were screwed the way our defense was playing.

 

[Titpwhami2014]

Average to below average coach.

No innovation on offense. Can’t hire a good OC to save his life.

Had generational talents on defense last year.

I’m willing to give him a pass for this lost season. But let’s see what the next two years brings.

Gun to my head, I think 2018 is the apex of UK Football as long as Mark Stoops is our coach.

 

[oddis500]

To be fair, we keep saying "the toughest conference in football" but we are in the SEC LEAST. Miles behind the West. We don't play probably 4/5 of the best teams in the conference, year in and year out. The East is no better than the American conference at this point, minus Georgia.

 

[SophiesDad]

Average to below average coach.

No innovation on offense. Can’t hire a good OC to save his life.

Had generational talents on defense last year.

I’m willing to give him a pass for this lost season. But let’s see what the next two years brings.

Gun to my head, I think 2018 is the apex of UK Football as long as Mark Stoops is our coach.

Considering 2018 was the best season we’ve had in 4 decades, I’d say that’s the apex of any coach we could bring in here.

 

[eppsfan]

You need to take a closer look at those 10 wins. What great team did we beat exactly? Florida? We caught them early in their coaching transition. Play them later and we probably get spanked. Eastern KY, Central Michigan, Murray State? Whoopty Stinking Doo! UofL was a joke and SC was hot garbage. We had a generational NFL pass rusher, a great defense, and an NFL running back. Yet we barely beat Vandy and let a terrible TN beat us. Heck, we didn't even deserve the Missou win. There are plenty of coaching staffs that would have done as well, probably better, with that roster vs that schedule.

 

[Cefiro]

You need to take a closer look at those 10 wins. What great team did we beat exactly? Florida? We caught them early in their coaching transition. Play them later and we probably get spanked. Eastern KY, Central Michigan, Murray State? Whoopty Stinking Doo! UofL was a joke and SC was hot garbage. We had a generational NFL pass rusher, a great defense, and an NFL running back. Yet we barely beat Vandy and let a terrible TN beat us. Heck, we didn't even deserve the Missou win. There are plenty of coaching staffs that would have done as well, probably better, with that roster vs that schedule.

This

 

[ManitouDan]

I get that a program isn’t built overnight but it’s been 6+ years. How much time does he need? We were very good last year. No one questions that, but one good year doesn’t make a good coach. In 6+ years Stoops still has a losing record. When is his record going to stand on its own 2 feet and be judged for what it is? He’s had 1 good season with mediocre/bad seasons in the others. I think the 10 win seasons will be the exception, not the norm. The 6/7 win seasons will be the norm for UK football with Stoops.

My biggest complaint with Stoops is that he hasn’t gotten better in the administrative part of the game. We still can’t get lined up. We still can’t get 11 guys on the field. In over 6 years, that still being a problem is a joke. It says to me, Stoops doesn’t care about that part of the game. Getting 11 guys on the field is the easiest part of football and yet we still can’t do it.

Every offseason, posters on this board clamor for respect from the national media. We want the respect other teams get. Well, we need to act like those other teams. Other programs won’t put up with calling 2 timeouts in 6 plays because we have 9 guys on the field. Other programs won’t celebrate sub .500 football over 7 seasons.

Great reply . I cant add much .

I will only say there is a ton of upset people who all see the same thing , many have posted here already , its not a calling for Stoops head on a platter , its more of a disbelief he hasn't gotten a single percent better not 1 % .. same stuff , game after game .. His entire career he cant get the correct number of people on the dang field . And I be the only person in Ky who totally dislikes his manner with the media .. its always a " I know what I'm doing , you are a speck in my road and have no right to even question me " kind of guy . Really pisses me off . He's aloof and arrogant at the same time . He's done OK here , he won a good bowl game last year .

But I'm afraid too many are giving him a total pass because we lost Terry to injury , yeah it hurts , but lets be real here .. Terry is a VERY middle of the road type QB in the SEC . We didnt lose a Tua or Troy Aikman . He's middle of the road talent for the SEC .

 

[Titpwhami2014]

Considering 2018 was the best season we’ve had in 4 decades, I’d say that’s the apex of any coach we could bring in here.

Which is fine by me.

I just think there are some fans who think he has it in him to win the SEC East or somehow get us to a CFB with the way recruiting is trending.

I just don’t see it. I’m not even sure he can get us to 8-4 consistently. He’s just a stubborn, defensive minded Big 10 coach and refuses to adapt. It is what it is.

 

[jnewc2]

I get that a program isn’t built overnight but it’s been 6+ years. How much time does he need? We were very good last year. No one questions that, but one good year doesn’t make a good coach. In 6+ years Stoops still has a losing record. When is his record going to stand on its own 2 feet and be judged for what it is? He’s had 1 good season with mediocre/bad seasons in the others. I think the 10 win seasons will be the exception, not the norm. The 6/7 win seasons will be the norm for UK football with Stoops.

My biggest complaint with Stoops is that he hasn’t gotten better in the administrative part of the game. We still can’t get lined up. We still can’t get 11 guys on the field. In over 6 years, that still being a problem is a joke. It says to me, Stoops doesn’t care about that part of the game. Getting 11 guys on the field is the easiest part of football and yet we still can’t do it.

Every offseason, posters on this board clamor for respect from the national media. We want the respect other teams get. Well, we need to act like those other teams. Other programs won’t put up with calling 2 timeouts in 6 plays because we have 9 guys on the field. Other programs won’t celebrate sub .500 football over 7 seasons.

This ^^^

The more you examine Stoops’ record that 10 win season (which should’ve been more honestly) is the extreme outlier, and every single other season was either really bad or mediocre at best, and littered with uninspired, sloppy, head scratching losses eerily similar to what we’ve seen this year. Over Stoops tenure here his teams have looked very very similar to what we’ve seen from this year’s team. Inconsistent, sloppy, frustrating to watch, poorly coached.

 

[JC CATS]

You need to take a closer look at those 10 wins. What great team did we beat exactly? Florida? We caught them early in their coaching transition. Play them later and we probably get spanked. Eastern KY, Central Michigan, Murray State? Whoopty Stinking Doo! UofL was a joke and SC was hot garbage. We had a generational NFL pass rusher, a great defense, and an NFL running back. Yet we barely beat Vandy and let a terrible TN beat us. Heck, we didn't even deserve the Missou win. There are plenty of coaching staffs that would have done as well, probably better, with that roster vs that schedule.

Then there was that pansy ass Penn State in the bowl game. People clamoring for Stoops too get fired may understand his seat isn't even lukewarm

 

[bigblueinsanity]

Our wins and program improved every year under stoops (stayed the same one year I think).

Where do these people come from calling for his head? Just asinine. Especially considering we have three injured QBs.

Geez people

 

[crpoore]

I am amazed at the number of people that want Stoops fired. This is the Coach that got 10 wins last year, in the toughest conference in football. Now, fire him! Look, I've been around UK football a lot longer then 90% of the posters on here, and if Stoops was fired after the season he had last year, forget about football at UK. Every coach at the second tier SEC schools are going to have a down year, until they can recruit like Alabama, Auburn, Georgia and LSU. They can lose a player and it doesn't mean much. Schools like UK, Missouri, Miss State, etc., lose a player, they have no comparable player to replace him.
We can say it's the coaches fault for not recruiting better, but UK is not in the group of school that can recruit the top tier players, like some of the schools I mentioned. However, we will win some games we are supposed to lose, and lose some games we should win. A program isn't built overnight, but it can fail in a short period of time. Look at Tennessee. Changing coaches every time your team plays bad, is a good way to destroy a program. Our recruiting is pretty good, but we don't have really good backup players are most positions, like some of the schools I mentioned earlier. When we have a player get hurt, there is a BIG drop off with the next player at his position. We're seeing that now. Let's let the season play out before talking about firing Coach Stoops.

OLD STOLL FIELD GUY!

Who said they wanted him fired? I haven't seen that. Look, I've been around as long as you, however, there's zero excuses for playing like a bad high school team the last two weeks.

Let me repeat. There's zero excuse for a 7th year coach to have a team that plays as poorly two weeks in a row against BAD teams as Stoops just had.

Our offense has sucked every single effin year Stoops has been here. Last year included.

Allen, Edwards, and company aren't eligible again.

Also, the schedule the last two seasons is/was as easy as it will ever get again. That's going to change starting next season. We've already lost to a bad Miss St and USC team. I'm not confident we'll get to six wins this season even with this ridiculously easy schedule.

Stoops needs to stick to recruiting and hire some coordinators that actually know how to coach, because he sucks at it.

 

[sluggercatfan]

Stoops doesn't need fired. To consistently win though (I'm not talking six wins because you only have to go 2-6 in SEC play to do that) we are going to have to start playing offense and that will mean Stoops quits trying to use that side to just burn clock.

Hallelujah!!!! Amen!!

 

[Cawood86]

Gran is the one who I think is just awful at this job. He was last year but UK had enough players on both sides to overcome his ineptitude.

 

[ManitouDan]

Gran is the one who I think is just awful at this job. He was last year but UK had enough players on both sides to overcome his ineptitude.

I think Stoops hand cuffs him and takes over at the biggest moments of the biggest Games .. and imo it’s Stoops who demands we stay conservative

 

[Cawood86]

I think Stoops hand cuffs him and takes over at the biggest moments of the biggest Games .. and imo it’s Stoops who demands we stay conservative

Haven't seen anything to make believe you're wrong.

 

[eppsfan]

Then there was that pansy ass Penn State in the bowl game. People clamoring for Stoops too get fired may understand his seat isn't even lukewarm

The Penn State that needed two over times to beat App State? The only thing they accomplished was a moral victory against Ohio State. Beating Indiana and Illinois makes them a juggernaut? They got absolutely smoked by Michigan. How many ranked teams did Penn State beat in 2018?

 

[Emarc]

There is nothing about his sideline demeanor that shows confidence. Always looks worried with an expression of “ Idont know what to do,!”

 

[Woodrow_Call_1998]

The Penn State that needed two over times to beat App State? The only thing they accomplished was a moral victory against Ohio State. Beating Indiana and Illinois makes them a juggernaut? They got absolutely smoked by Michigan. How many ranked teams did Penn State beat in 2018?

I guess even though Penn State finished 17th in the final AP poll and coaches poll, It’s time to belittle our teams victory in that game last year. SMH

 

[Roe07]

Just to play the Devil's Advocate and you want to take the opposite side of the argument, last year's team probably should have won 12 games, or at least 11. There was no excuse for losing to UT the way they did. They very easily could've beaten A&M with any offense at all.

Look, I'm not clamoring for him to be fired. I just don't think he is a great coach. Dan Mullen at Miss St is a situation that compares very favorably. They recruited at a very similar level to what Stoops has at UK during Mullen's tenure. Maybe they've had ever so slightly better classes than UK over the past 10 years, but they've also played in the SEC West, the far better of the 2 divisions the past 10 years, and they've had more success than UK.

After his first year there, Mullen did have one 6 win team. Outside of that, he had two 7 win teams, two 8 win teams, two 9 wins teams and two 10 win teams. I would venture to say that is a level of success and consistency that any reasonable UK fan would love to see. I just think great coaches are able to get the most out of what they have at any given time. It shouldn't take a perfect storm of experience and talent everywhere on a team and zero injuries to key players to produce a good season for a good to great coach. Just my opinion.

Spot on! I’m in no way arguing for the guy to get fired, but he’s an average coach when it comes to strategy and game management, and it’s cost us too many games we should have won.

 

[crpoore]

Spot on! I’m in no way arguing for the guy to get fired, but he’s an average coach when it comes to strategy and game management, and it’s cost us too many games we should have won.

You're being very generous.

 

[ManitouDan]

I guess even though Penn State finished 17th in the final AP poll and coaches poll, It’s time to belittle our teams victory in that game last year. SMH

He didn’t belittle anything .. he stated facts and ask a question . You could actually debate the merits of how good PennSt was in 18 .. I thought they they were decent around top twenty . But the josh Allen’s and Benny’s don’t come by very often at UK

 

[crpoore]

He didn’t belittle anything .. he stated facts and ask a question . You could actually debate the merits of how good PennSt was in 18 .. I thought they they were decent around top twenty . But the josh Allen’s and Benny’s don’t come by very often at UK

It's weird to me how I agree with almost every post of yours.

You're borderline genius.

 

[BlueElvis]

I'm withholding my judgement on CMS till after the UT game..if he loses to that bunch of scrubs this year at home..then i have no confidence in his future..

 

[Woodrow_Call_1998]

He didn’t belittle anything .. he stated facts and ask a question . You could actually debate the merits of how good PennSt was in 18 .. I thought they they were decent around top twenty . But the josh Allen’s and Benny’s don’t come by very often at UK

Facts? More like opinions. How is that not belittling that victory? I guess you know more than the voters on both polls? For a program as bad as we have been historically that was a hell of a win. As far as our offensive philosophy over the years, I don’t agree with it or like it. I haven’t at all said that Stoops is above criticisms but some of the posts being made aren’t rational at all.

 

[Woodrow_Call_1998]

It's weird to me how I agree with almost every post of yours.

You're borderline genius.

SMH. Hilarious

 

[crpoore]

Facts? More like opinions. How is that not belittling that victory? I guess you know more than the voters on both polls? For a program has bad as we have been historically that was a hell of a win. As far as our offensive philosophy over the years, I don’t agree with it or like it. I haven’t at all said that Stoops is above criticisms but some of the posts being made aren’t rational at all.

Look, this is year 7. No one in their right mind can sit and watch these last two games and make excuses for it.

We look like a bunch of idiots trying to play and coach football.

Again, Miss St and especially USC are terrible teams. They both suck, but somehow they had no problem whipping our teams asses. That's inexcusable on numerous levels.

It's one thing to lose, it's another thing to look completely stupid not once, but twice.

 

[Lost In FL]

Couldnt agree more. I think.

 

[UK90]

You need to take a closer look at those 10 wins. What great team did we beat exactly? Florida? We caught them early in their coaching transition. Play them later and we probably get spanked. Eastern KY, Central Michigan, Murray State? Whoopty Stinking Doo! UofL was a joke and SC was hot garbage. We had a generational NFL pass rusher, a great defense, and an NFL running back. Yet we barely beat Vandy and let a terrible TN beat us. Heck, we didn't even deserve the Missou win. There are plenty of coaching staffs that would have done as well, probably better, with that roster vs that schedule.

You make some valid points. We got a lucky break with the schedule last year in that we caught a lot of teams during down years (and still managed to get our asses kicked by a piss poor UT team) and we were blessed with defensive talent that only comes once a generation at UK. I doubt Stoops will ever be able to reproduce another season like that here.

BUT, you know, it still was the best season UK football has had in over 40 years. It's utterly insane that anyone here would talk about firing a coach after he's just had a program's best season in over four decades. C'mon, people.