Just my observation and maybe I am wrong but......

[Creed Bratton]

It seems that when Stoops was doing well here he was recruiting guys who were either 1, 2 and 3 stars who were severely underrated and had a chip on their shoulder and wanted to prove how good they were. He seemed to be able to relate with his "lunch pail" attitude with those guys because they had the same personality. However, over the last few seasons we have been able to get more 4 and 5 star guys that don't seem to have the same personality. They are more guys who have been coddled and made to think they are the greatest thing since sliced bread. They aren't cut of the same cloth where they have to work harder than everyone else because they are athletically or physically more gifted than most. Is it possible that Stoops just can't relate and therefore can't coach those types of personalities? Does he need to refocus his recruiting efforts on guys with that chip on their shoulder and work hard attitude?

 

[gamecockcat]

It does seem that way. Perhaps it could also be that some of the lower rated recruits are still physically developing and haven't topped out like some 4- and 5-star kids do. We've all seen the 'can't miss' HS recruits suddenly seem very ordinary when thrust into college FB and they're suddenly not the most athletically gifted guy on the field.

One thing that seems to be missing is that, especially on offense and probably due to the round robin OC, we no longer know what type of players we need to recruit. Big, powerful, straight ahead blocking OL or smaller, more agile, side to side OL? DT QB or pro-style pocket passer? Big, tall possession receivers or small, quick scat backs? Not as much variance on the defensive side but we've seen smaller CBs vs bigger CBs swing back and forth. The past few years we've ended up with recruits who are now 'square pegs in a round hole' which doesn't help anyone.

 

[Tskware]

Think Creed is probably right, but one problem is that the way you build a roster has completely changed since 2013. Every team, even the top teams, have a ton of players coming and going in the off season, so it is infinitely harder to recruit the good 3 star players, develop them, and then keep kids on the team for 2, 3 or 4 years to build a good team the way Stoops and others used to do.

 

[BlueRaider22]

Perhaps Creed is right, but I don't think it's the main issue.

Before Brooks was hired I posted a history of college football where I outlined what a place like Kentucky would look like when successful.

There are very few blue blood programs that can reload every single year. Places like Bama, Michigan.....can yield 10+ wins every year with very little fall off. They recruit so well that there is little to no drop off. If they have to replace a coach or staff, they do so with the elite candidates.

Most programs are not blue blood programs. They are subject to an ebb/flow of wins/losses. And this ebb/flow come regardless of success level. For example, Kentucky was a horrid program for 60-70 years.....averaging about 3-4 wins/year. Even during this terrible period, there was an ebb/flow where season win totals would fluctuate from 1-2 wins up to about 4-5 wins/year. Even teams who have been respectable have ebb/flow. Programs like Auburn will drop down to 4-5 wins/year on occasion, but then rise back up to perhaps win 9-10. Look at programs who have kept coaches around for a long time......you'll see a fluctuation in wins/losses per year.

My thought was that Kentucky was capable of what Auburn looked like above. Depending on staff, schedule, roster, injuries, recruiting, luck, etc.........in a typical 4-5 yr span, they would dip down to 5-6 wins and then up to about 9-10 wins. This is mostly what we've seen out of Stoops thus far.

Now certainly, you could argue that we haven't gotten back to 9-10 wins since 2018 and that would be a valid argument. But you could also argue that if Levis had improved for his Senior year like we hoped.......or if Leary showed as much potential as he did in 2021.....that getting to 9-10 wins in 2022 or 2023 is that not that big of a stretch.

Plus, NIL (started in 2021) and the pandemic didn't help matters at all. Sure, there are programs that used NIL/Covid to benefit.....but there are many programs who have been affected negatively.

 

[aikenite4uk]

It seems to me our main issue (last two years) have revolved around poor OL recruiting/development. Let's face it, I don't think Eli Cox and Burton have panned out as expected and they were highly recruited. Marques as well from the portal. You can't win against the caliber of competition we faced with a poor OL. We also had a nice run for a few years plucking undervalued guys like Snell, CRod from the HS ranks, and good portal pickups like Levis, Ray, and some of DB transfers. This year, we whiffed with Brock and some other guys in the portal. Other factors like the revolving door at OC, a bad run of injuries, better coaching than ever in the SEC and you have a prescription for 4-8. Our margin for error has always been razor thin...this year proved that.

 

[HerrosHeroes]

NIL and Immediate transfer has been Stoops undoing.

 

[YardCat]

Sounds like Stoops is a pale version of Tubby Smith. He is another hard nosed guy who doesn’t really have time for players that think they are above everyone. Tubby wanted tough hungry guys who would play team basketball and their hard work made them great players. I’m guessing that we could get players out to prove themselves a lot cheaper then players who think they are good enough.

 

[Creed Bratton]

Sounds like Stoops is a pale version of Tubby Smith. He is another hard nosed guy who doesn’t really have time for players that think they are above everyone. Tubby wanted tough hungry guys who would play team basketball and their hard work made them great players. I’m guessing that we could get players out to prove themselves a lot cheaper then players who think they are good enough.

Tubby is a good comparison. Both he and Stoops just seem to do better building up and coaching up guys than dealing with attitudes and divas.