But that's a fair question for every athletics department, every university, every business, and every organization. Not just for Stoops. By recognizing the question "what comes next?", one can understand that past may be prologue but organizations generally tend to improve if resources, leadership, and culture facilitate improvement.
UK is funding and supporting our football program in ways that should allow Stoops to continue to build his roster. UK's practice facilities are state of the art. The recruiting budget and assistant coach payroll are growing. Coach Coen came back to Lexington and a new WR coach is being hired.
As I said earlier, I think opinions on Stoops are frozen. Supporters recognize objective facts such as the eight-bowl streak, overall improvements in roster and football facilities, the two 10-win seasons, Will Levis' and Josh Allen's success, and the overall contrast between UK's football culture before versus during Stoops. Critics are a diversified group. Some are really more angry at Barnhart than Stoops, and nothing will ever win them over. Some are too young to appreciate the condition of our football program before Stoops got here. Some are upset with Stoops' contract ("class envy"). Some don't really and truly understand the intensity and raw difficulty of athletic competition at the SEC level. Some don't understand Stoops' program is closer, generally speaking, to the top than to the bottom. They don't get, or don't have the temperament for, the "three steps forward, two steps backward" principle that often characterizes organizational improvement in highly competitive cutthroat environments. ("UL does it; why can't we?") Some are just chronically negative people, revealing more about themselves than about Stoops or Barnhart. For whatever reasons, some believe UK owes them more entertainment than they feel they are receiving. Most aren't going to change their minds regardless of outcome. We see them here complaining during and after every win.
