Correct. Stoops isn't going anywhere. I suppose internet speculation to the contrary is inevitable whenever we lose a game, but it is uninformed speculation. The reasons are so obvious that they do not need to be repeated again. They have nothing to do with NIL and nothing to do with flawed judgment on the part of the school and its management. The task of rebuilding UK football from the former era dominated by crazy boosters routinely violating NCAA rules and getting the program into compliance trouble has been a huge job. The long term direction of Stoops' program is still up, although he has hit a snag.
What UK can or cannot do is not directly comparable to what other SEC schools do. Again, this is so obvious. KY is a small state with a small number of hs football programs and a correspondingly lower level of hs competition. Our core recruiting territory is smaller and farther north than any other SEC program. (Before someone argues that MO is technically farther north, that's irrelevant because the St. Louis-KC axis isn't farther north and MO recruits like crazy in the state of TX.) UK has a long tradition as a "basketball school" and will become stronger over time as a football school once more UK fans warm to this metamorphosis. The NIL rules are currently fluid, not settled. Eventually, they have to change. Everyone in the industry understands this. These are the challenges Mark Stoops has taken on. In the short term, he is struggling right now. But in the long term, he is succedding.
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Exactly. Our coordinators are entrenched, and ought to be. Zach Yenser has to be toast. The OL coaching job has been a problem since John Schlarman passed. Yenser MUST be replaced by an experienced coach who can recruit and develop SEC OL talent. Scott Woodward ought to be toast and probably is. Our receivers can't even recognize zone coverages or routinely catch passes on their numbers. I would also prefer for Frank Buffano to be replaced, but IDK about that. Any UK coach who gets fired MUST be replaced by an experienced upgrade, not by a coaching project like Yenser.
UK is certainly one of the two toughest SEC jobs. IDK about toughest job in the country. There are a lot of awful football schools out there. That kind of speculation has the scent of sensationalism.
Obviously true. Mitch Barnhart is addressing this by escalating our recruiting budget. Under the circumstances, the job Stoops' staff has done recruiting the states of OH, TN, AL, and GA has been an equalizer. Barnhart has seen to it that Vince Marrow is appropriately rewarded and retained on our staff, and that's huge.
Of course he does. Coen has an NFL background.
KSR certainly isn't "required listening". KSR is competing in a for-profit media market and their primary motivation is market share-capture through clicks and sensationalization. Those goals translate to revenue, which is the prime directive. But that doesn't mean they aren't right from time to time. Some of the above speculation will prove correct. But history has shown KSR personalities are often way wrong. Nick Roush is a Brohm cousin who worships UL and Jeff Brohm. Roush is thrilled now and can't wait for this Saturday. Matt Jones is a leftist opportunist attorney who would sell his own grandmother. However, the UK media market is so weak and ineffective that an entity boasting about presenting UK news in "the most ridiculous manner possible", and then delivering on that boast, can actually persuade a lot of people to listen. I prefer the truth, but it's hard to find in this market.
