Did we close the gap on Florida as much as they fell backwards to our level? You're making it sound like it's all the former and none of the latter. I'm sure it's at least 50-50. We still can't beat Tennessee and we still suffer inexplicable losses every season - South Carolina? Hello?
Zero excuse for USC. Zero excuse for bad losses. Those are unacceptable. My comment was specific to the poster who said there was no difference between losing by 50 or 3 to Bama and UGA on a consistent basis as a sign to where the program is.
correct me if I'm wrong, but he may be the most losing coach as well.... If so then props to him for being around for so long.... HOWEVER, I'm one of those that feels its as good as its ever gonna' get...
Not acceptable: 2-18 at 9+ million a year. I can't say who to hire but I'm sure there are many that could at least replicate and several that could do better at that price point.
Yeah great job stoops , with 100's of millions of funding and even the hospital paying players having a record that is a c*nt hair over 500 and 90% of his wins over Mac / fcs/ vandy. Look, no one can doubt he stabilized the program but on top of being the winningest coach he is also the losingest coach. Dude couldn't sniff Bear Bryant's jock strap.
The schedule is tougher now than ever? Is this comedy hour? Stoops gets to start every season with 3 shoe-in wins before the 9 game real schedule kicks in. The majority of the time he is going 5-4 or 4-5 in those 9 games. Schedule hasn’t always been set up
His record isn’t really that much better. Take away 2 extra gimmie wins a year that most other coaches before him were not granted and he’s 46 -59. Stoops has definitely increased the talent level being brought in but that’s it as far as I’m concerned. His teams are not well coached and he lacks the mentality to get more out of his teams than he should on a consistent basis. His teams underperform the majority of the time. Has way more head scratching losses or near losses on his resume at UK than he does surprising victories.
Nailed it!
There was a very brief stretch with this kind of schedule.
He has a higher percentage of wins in the SEC than most of his predecessors, and for all the listing of OOC opponents in the 70’s UK had not defeated a ranked OOC opponent other than Louisville since 1984, when Stoops arrived.
What exactly is "compete nationally"?
When did being realistic and knowledgeable about what the expectations should be become settling?
How many 10-3 years? Dealing in facts and truth and living in reality isn't settling for a "mentality" or whatever.
Folks like you say he has been "given" so much. and what? pretend the rest of the SEC and CFB have stood still? Knoxville hasn't spent anything since 2015? Florida didn't build any facilities since we did 2014-2015? Bama, Georgia, S Carolina stand pat?
An AD has to say that. A coach has to say that. The fans have to understand what realistic expectations for UK football are and should be. Stoops not making an SEC championship doesn’t mean he’s underperformed. Fans being realistic is not settling. Our peak isn’t going to be the same peak as GA or Bama. It’s ok to acknowledge that. It’s been said before. We have had 4 ten win season in our history. Stoops has 2 of them. I haven’t looked but I bet Bama has had more than 4 consecutive 10 win seasons.
Did you forget the previous 2 years, we played GA as competitive as anyone. When you are a Tier 2 team you are going to have beat downs against top 10 teams? They are top 10 teams for a reason and are on a level that we will never be at consistently. The key is those beatdowns used to happen multiple times a year. Now they happen at most once a year. We have a consistency that we have never had before. There are inherent obstacles in place for UK that simply can’t be overcome to year in and year out get the results that you expect. They have been addressed multiple times and yet you think it’s something that changing a coach will fix and that people will be lining up to come here. The results we are getting greatly outweigh the risks on hiring a new coach unless we don’t have a choice. It will be much easier to go back to 2 win seasons than it will be to get more 10 win seasons. And let’s not forget, when Stoops leaves there is a great likelihood that virtually all the team will enter the transfer portal leaving us looking like the team that lost to Vandy in Jokers last year that Stoops inherited when he got here. There is a lot more to consider today than just the coach when making a coaching change.
Most people's opinions on Stoops are frozen, and many of them ultimately depend on their opinions of Mitch Barnhart. Barnhart got the media leaks and the boosters out of UK's athletics department, and lots of those people still haven't forgiven him. So any excuse to dump on UK athletics seems good to them. And you still see and hear it on the internet and the radio.
I clearly stated wins 4 or 5 of the 9 real games we play each year. No other coach was gifted with 3 patsy opponents each year, a down Louisville team, and the SECE has definitely been down since stoops took over. Stoops has certainly brought in talent and increased our level of play (although not consistent) yet those other factors is what makes his record what it is and even then it’s barely above .500.
You think the other factors are what makes his record but you don’t know that without a doubt. You say the SEC has been down and that UL has been down. How do you know that we just are that much better? As far as UL being down, we have beat them multiple times when they have been ranked. That doesn’t sound down to me.
The 1995 Indiana football team finished with a 2-9 record.
Really? You think Florida, South Carolina and TN are pretty much what they have always been and we have just rose to their levels? I acknowledged that stoops has increased the talent level here, that’s honestly never been up for debate. Even stated he has rose our level of play, just how much is debate-able. I’d say maybe 35% and the other teams have dropped around 65%. Stoops needs to stop being a pansy ass and play hard nosed football instead of being afraid of his own shadows. When that happens we might actually start beating teams that matter and stop losing BS games like Vanderbilt and South Carolina and allowing the likes of EKU to play toe to toe with us for damn near 4 quarters.
You obviously are letting your agenda cloud your judgement so much so that further discussion is useless.
When I say hard nosed I mean aggressive, not just physical. We aren’t going to beat quality opponents with soft zone coverages because we are afraid of giving up a big play. We aren’t going to beat quality opponents by refusing to bring all out blitzes and make the QB make a quick decision and beat us. Stoops would rather the other QB celebrate two birthdays while surveying the field. That’s pansy ass football. And stoops will not get aggressive on offense, it’s laughable how we run fewer plays than anyone else in the country or damn near close to it. Stoops is your proverbial play not to lose coach and that will just not get it done. Hes paid enough, time to let his balls drop and earn his keep. For top 10 money we should at least be a consistent top 25 team and not have to ever be nervous in games like EKU. Too many games our team looks completely unprepared, that’s not cloudy judgement but facts.
