I think apathy has set in with a lot of fans that visit this board. Stoops tries to leave then comes back and shits the bed and people are tired of it. What next is what I am hearing from many long time fans who are friends of mine.
And I mean it's March. Football season starts in 5 months. I just can't get into spring ball. We know what we are gonna get with Stoops and know we aren't gonna win anything that matters with him. Sec is brutal, is what it is. Apathy is fair but still love watching the Cats and college football in the fall and winter.
Here are two posters who latch onto every negative narrative. It's exhausting. These posters were negative prior to 2024. As a matter of "principle", they will not contribute to 15, so others must shoulder solutions. They are entitled to their point of view, but not to their own set of facts.
I can frame the scenario factually for other readers interested in a fair and balanced perspective. The truth is that every college program has strengths and limitations. A realistic perspective takes both into account and focuses in real-time. Each week generates something new. That's why it is called "news".
Mark Stoops has won more football games than any other UK football coach, and has intermittently shown glimpses of placing UK's program into the top half of the SEC hierarchy. But, overall, Stoops has not been able to sustain success, except in two categories (recruiting SEC athletic talent and upgrading football facilities). Expanding UK's geographic recruiting footprint has been an essential component of Stoops' recruiting success. Barnhart has pushed to keep Vince Marrow at UK. UK's budgets for recruiting and assistant coach salaries have grown continuously on Stoops' watch.
On the other side of the ledger, Stoops has had a hard time stabilizing the WR coach and OC positions. All SEC programs experience frequent assistant coach turnover. But human aspects of this turnover have hurt UK's offense more than it typically hurts successful SEC units.
Stoops' strength is "physical" football and control of the line of scrimmage. The late John Schlarman's untimely passing robbed an essential voice from Stoops' coaching staff. Subsequently, Stoops hired Liam Coen and then Rich Scangarello in an effort to introduce NFL offensive principles and passing game sophistication. Not necessarily wrong, but did not get done effectively. The loss of Schlarman translated to a loss of OL effectiveness. No offensive system succeeds without an effective OL. UK's OL play was the culprit behind program regression. Once you stop moving the chains, your defensive players feel saddled by the floundering offense.
Growing offense-defense tension contributed to friction in UK's locker room. In 2024, these divisions were aggravated by the Vandagriff-Wimsatt-Boley QB parade because the QB is your team's highest-profile leader.
OC Coen's on again off again relationship with the program confused our offensive players and complicated their development.
Coach Stoops has one more season to get things straightened out. Troll posters say UK wants mediocrity but people inside the industry know better.
As investigated and reported, Stoops turned down the TX A&M himself over money. Believe whatever you want, but this is what was turned up and reported. Stoops makes 30% more $$ than Mike Elko makes at TX A&M, and Stoops' contract contains more valuable escalator and renewal clauses. Fact.
Mark Stoops is staying at Kentucky after a whirlwind Saturday which saw him heavily linked to Texas A&M. Why did he stay?
www.courier-journal.com
Elko's six-year deal with the Aggies features plenty of incentives
www.cbssports.com
While all of this played out, NIL became a "thing". Stoops publicly acknowledged that raising NIL money has removed him from hands on teaching and coaching. There are signs that UK is getting the problem addressed.
When the 15 Club was formed, Brown Forman was one of the only instate-based corporations that got behind it. Businessmen know KY's economy has been hit harder than most states in the post-COVID era. The coal industry has struggled due to the times. The tobacco industry has been killed off. Agricultural renewal programs are still in infancy and don't have much financial success to show. Instate banks adjusted business models to deal with low interest rates at the time. Consumer goods industries and food producers were hurt by the COVID pandemic and later by price inflation. Some UK donors had recently doled out $$ for facility upgrades and scholarship programs. None of these problems are permanent but they must be managed.
The BBN is everywhere. Many thousands of UK alumni are successful, so UK is not at a permanent disadvantage.
For financial support, UK turned to out of state corporations like Kroger, the Hearst Foundation, Valvoline, Catalent, Fidelity, and large money center banks. We should acknowledge that President Capilouto and our BOT have done a fantastic job of financial survival management during this transition. UK's BOT Investment Committee is Chaired by Elizabeth McCoy, a bank CEO who serves on the Board of the Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis. You can read here-
www.uky.edu
www.uky.edu
businessengagement.uky.edu
Here is UK's BOT Committee on Athletics under the leadership of its Chair David Melanson. These people run UK athletics. Everything Barnhart does is managed and approved by Mr. Melanson. Barnhart does not make hiring or contract decisions in isolation.
www.uky.edu
www.uky.edu
This should put to rest false narratives that Mark Stoops is a loser and Barnhart is a managerial malingerer. These UK employees function on managerial teams within a $multibillion university system they don't control. Posters on this website who have participated in corporate management understand this. This should inform reasonable posters for rebuttal of silly false narratives.
ukathletics.com
https://gatorswire.usatoday.com/sto...most-important-people-pat-dooley/78566905007/
www.klove.com
University of Kentucky Director of Athletics Mitch Barnhart has been named chair of the SEC Athletics Directors.
www.secsports.com
Check out Mark Stoops's College Coaching Records, Awards and Leaderboards and more about College Football at Sports-Reference.com
www.sports-reference.com
