So sick of fans dwelling on the past

[PensacolaBlue]

Knowing that if we get a lead it’s never safe because me we play not to lose is frustrating. Knowing the other team will score the last two minutes of the first half is frustrating. Knowing we will play clock milking Iowa type offense is frustrating. Knowing we won’t play well out of a bye week is frustrating. Knowing we will have two or three (at least) embarrassing games each year that we are completely out of sink is frustrating. Knowing we will piss our pants against TN each year is frustrating. Knowing we can’t handily beat a FCS team is frustrating. Knowing our backup QB will never get to throw a ball in a game unless forced into action is frustrating. Going through offensive coaches like candy and them all sucking is frustrating. Knowing we have only beaten two SEC teams with winning conference records in the last 11 years is frustrating. Knowing we probably will never win at Miss St again is frustrating. Knowing we recruit at the bottom of the league year in and year out is frustrating.

On the other hand, we have had a couple of 10 win seasons. The Florida game is not an automatic loss (granted they have really sucked over the last 12 years and they will eventually snap out of it). We beat TN twice (albeit CMS is 2-9 against them so…). We’ve done well against SCAR and Missouri for the most part. We’ve recruited batter (albeit still at the bottom of the league). We’ve won some decent mid-tier bowl games again power five schools.

 

[PensacolaBlue]

I would in no way fire Stoops anytime soon, but I also wouldn’t give him ANY more extensions or pay raises and wouldn’t discourage him from leaving for other schools. I honestly don’t think any big time schools would ever be interested in CMS though. I think that says a lot.

 

[maroon79]

Incorrect

If Stoops leaves, it’s ba k to the bottom of the barrel

 

[3632]

Incorrect

If Stoops leaves, it’s ba k to the bottom of the barrel

I’m not advocating firing him whatsoever. He’s not leaving…there isn’t anywhere for him to go. But the next person may do well or may not but the days of thinking we can’t have another coach that could have a low end of 7 wins with the schedule we have had just isn’t correct. He’s the only coach we’ve had under this new tv contract era that we’ve benefitted from and gives us annual stability to afford things. We’ll never be close to the money that bama and that upper crust has but we are firmly competitive in that mid tier on the resources end. Heck we were in the top 20 ncaa budgets for 2022. Whoever coaches has that stability as well. And with the modern transfer portal it opens up additional players UK might not normally land. It’s just about finding ways to run things right. Which may or may not happen. But comparing our circumstances now vs 25 years ago it just isn’t the same.

 

[yoshukai]

The issue is NIL. Not only do those teams you mention have mostly better history than UK, they also have deeper NIL pockets than UK.

People on here can dream all they want but you can't win if there is no regulated salary cap with NIL. UK will not win the SEC or national title in any of our lifetimes due to NIL alone.

Snooped over on USC lite’s board today. A lot are wanting Beamer gone but the ones defending him are saying they have the worst NIL in the league. Thought it was interesting. I believe your last statement is accurate though. I’m curious to see what ends up happening with Vandy. They have a TON of rich alumni……but do they care at all about football ?

 

[El Gato Calvo]

Snooped over on USC lite’s board today. A lot are wanting Beamer gone but the ones defending him are saying they have the worst NIL in the league. Thought it was interesting. I believe your last statement is accurate though. I’m curious to see what ends up happening with Vandy. They have a TON of rich alumni……but do they care at all about football ?

Their academic standards are probably too high

 

[Freetaxreturn]

I would in no way fire Stoops anytime soon, but I also wouldn’t give him ANY more extensions or pay raises and wouldn’t discourage him from leaving for other schools. I honestly don’t think any big time schools would ever be interested in CMS though. I think that says a lot.

He’s a big ten coach day in day out 🍺

 

[Lost In FL]

Why you gotta dwell on the past Pensacola? Lol

 

[BigBlue1992]

You all can hope, pray and act like badasses all you want but the fact is that our lack on instate talent will literally always handcuff our program. Georgia produces more 4/5 star talent each year than Kentucky does in decades. If you can’t grasp the significance of that then I don’t know what to tell you.

So what? How many good basketball players does the state of Kentucky produce that wound up at UK? Aren’t we still the greatest basketball program in the country?

I wonder how many great football players states like Oregon, North Carolina, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Indiana (Notre Dame) produce? That’s not a good excuse for us to suck like we do

 

[PensacolaBlue]

Incorrect

If Stoops leaves, it’s ba k to the bottom of the barrel

Maybe we should change our name to the University of Mark Stoops. Apparently we are nothing without him.

 

[secrules3]

So you're tired of seeing the same mistakes every year but are claiming that only losers dwell on the past? Weird...

 

[PensacolaBlue]

So you're tired of seeing the same mistakes every year but are claiming that only losers dwell on the past? Weird...

I don’t mean to be rude, but that may be the dumbest post I’ve ever read.

 

[CatPatrick13]

Maybe we should change our name to the University of Mark Stoops. Apparently we are nothing without him.

We are not “nothing without him”. But we are something with him, which we have been with only a few other coaches in our history.

 

[Grumpyolddawg]

Does ole miss mizzou South Carolina Mississippi state have deeper pockets?

No idea about the Mississippi schools or south Carolina, but Missouri has a couple of boosters who have decided to buy a few players and won't be outbid. Got Burden last year, have a DL and are about to grab the number 2 WR in this class

 

[3632]

No idea about the Mississippi schools or south Carolina, but Missouri has a couple of boosters who have decided to buy a few players and won't be outbid. Got Burden last year, have a DL and are about to grab the number 2 WR in this class

‘22 SEC budgets

1 Bama 214m
2 UGA 203m
3. LSU 199m
4. A&M. 193m
5 UF. 190m
6. Aub. 174m
7. UK. 159m
8. UT. 154m
9. Ark. 152m
10. SC 142m
11. Mizz 141m
12. Miss 133m
13 MSU 110m

 

[CaptainBoogerBuns]

You all can hope, pray and act like badasses all you want but the fact is that our lack on instate talent will literally always handcuff our program. Georgia produces more 4/5 star talent each year than Kentucky does in decades. If you can’t grasp the significance of that then I don’t know what to tell you.

Is that why UT recruits nationally?

 

[3632]

Is that why UT recruits nationally?

This is what points to the inept mismanagement of Stoops' salary. We are 7th in the conference in budgets but 11th in fb recruiting spend. Instead of giving Stoops a 2.6m raise for ho hum season, just raise him to 7 and commit the other 2m/yr to recruiting budget to match UT. That would've made the whole program stronger, not just stoops.

 

[CaptainBoogerBuns]

This is what points to the inept mismanagement of Stoops' salary. We are 7th in the conference in budgets but 11th in fb recruiting spend. Instead of giving Stoops a 2.6m raise for ho hum season, just raise him to 7 and commit the other 2m/yr to recruiting budget to match UT. That would've made the whole program stronger, not just stoops.

We need more $$$ for football recruiting budget

 

[PensacolaBlue]

This is what points to the inept mismanagement of Stoops' salary. We are 7th in the conference in budgets but 11th in fb recruiting spend. Instead of giving Stoops a 2.6m raise for ho hum season, just raise him to 7 and commit the other 2m/yr to recruiting budget to match UT. That would've made the whole program stronger, not just stoops.

Amen

 

[CaptainBoogerBuns]

This is what points to the inept mismanagement of Stoops' salary. We are 7th in the conference in budgets but 11th in fb recruiting spend. Instead of giving Stoops a 2.6m raise for ho hum season, just raise him to 7 and commit the other 2m/yr to recruiting budget to match UT. That would've made the whole program stronger, not just stoops.

Where is that money going? (besides his salary)

 

[The-Hack]

Their academic standards are probably too high

El Gato, he said “USC lite.”

Think 1942 Rose Bowl (held in Columbia S.C.) and not the left coast!

USCe is a fine state university, but I doubt it has the academic standards of UK.

 

[The-Hack]

and commit the other 2m/yr to recruiting budget to match UT. That would've made the whole program stronger, not just stoops.

Not a bad idea, but it would take a lot of creative accounting.

In fact, lest we can prove Stoops isn’t donating to NIL, you might have accurately described what is happening.

The University cannot simply fund NIL. But if they pay me money, I can donate wherever I want.

 

[gojvc]

El Gato, he said “USC lite.”

Think 1942 Rose Bowl (held in Columbia S.C.) and not the left coast!

USCe is a fine state university, but I doubt it has the academic standards of UK.

Actually it was Durham, NC but until I read your post I never knew there was a Rose Bowl played in the east.

1942 Rose Bowl - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[gojvc]

So what? How many good basketball players does the state of Kentucky produce that wound up at UK? Aren’t we still the greatest basketball program in the country?

I wonder how many great football players states like Oregon, North Carolina, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Indiana (Notre Dame) produce? That’s not a good excuse for us to suck like we do

We’re 5-2. We don’t suck.

 

[The-Hack]

Actually it was Durham, NC but until I read your post I never knew there was a Rose Bowl played in the east.

1942 Rose Bowl - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Fear of Jap bombing 25 days after Pearl Harbor.

 

[The-Hack]

We’re 5-2. We don’t suck.

I would seriously give a thousand bucks to be able to hit a magic button revealing each poster’s true school allegiance and primary sport of interest.

I’m just spitballing, here, but these persistent folk I think are 40 percent U of L fans, 15 percent UT/Other SEC fans, 40 percent U K Basketball fans seeking escape from the true source of their misery., and 5 percent actual UK Football fans.

In the last two weeks, two of the more persistent sh!t slingers insisted we played our next game in Knoxville, and that Stoops had topped out at nine wins.

And these are likely Kentucky Basketball fans that have a passing knowledge/interest in the game. Good frauds would likely Google that info, or avoid getting trapped into specific factual errors.

Ten or more times I have checked posting history on these folk and found either (1) very recent membership/or sparse posting over a lengthy period of time, or (2) thousands of posts for many years, 98% on the roundball and other forums.

And the roundball fans confuse me the most: they know that the Grinch is going to steal their Christmas, again, when Cal loses to another unranked team in the post-season.

I guess UK football losses are all they have to hang their hats on, now!!

 

[UKAlum88]

We are not “nothing without him”. But we are something with him, which we have been with only a few other coaches in our history.

I don’t mean to be rude, this is a genuine question, what exactly are we with him??

We very well could have a losing season, this year. It’s a strong possibility even tho I think we get at least to .500

He’s paid top 10 money in the country but the results have NEVER matched the $$$.

 

[BigBlue1992]

We’re 5-2. We don’t suck.

We’ve played TWO good teams so far. One of them had us beat by the end of the 1st quarter and the other one had us beat by the end of the 3rd quarter. And the second one was to Missouri at home.

If we’re such a good 5-2 team, don’t you think we’d be ranked? I fully expect Tennessee and Alabama to do the same to us. We suck.

 

[CatPatrick13]

I don’t mean to be rude, this is a genuine question, what exactly are we with him??

We very well could have a losing season, this year. It’s a strong possibility even tho I think we get at least to .500

He’s paid top 10 money in the country but the results have NEVER matched the $$$.

1) Not a rude question at all. We are in the conversation, with him. We play in a tough neighborhood. Not alot of coaches out there that could have taken UK football where we are now, from where we were with a number of coaches and our reputation in the past.
2) You are right and we could have a losing season. We could have alot of diff things play out. We could beat UT and UL. Why not let it play out?
3) Are you telling me that Mitch wrote a lousy contract paying CMS top 10 money before he did top ten things? Our football coach is overpaid, and I am not sure I could argue with you about that. There are a few instances under his tenure that we have breached the top 10, so I hope to see more of those in the future. I would rather knock on the door of the top 10 with him than try a new coach. Absolutely no doubt.

 

[EdgeHD]

The attitude that we should never expect to be a top notch program because of our dreadful past drives me crazy. What a loser mentality. I’m not saying we can ever be Georgia or Alabama, but just because our history isn’t great, doesn’t mean with our resources (coach pay, facilities, fan support, etc.) we can’t expect better than what we are. And I’m not advocating for firing Stoops, but goodness, stop with the lectures of the 2 win season already. Stoops has done a very good job but needs to get better. Fix the issues that have plagued our program for the last 11 years or stand aside and let somebody else give it a go. Tired of seeing the same mistakes play out every single year.

If you are tried of fans dwelling on the past, why did you close out your comment with "tired of seeing the same mistakes play out every single year"? LOL!! Get confused much?

 

[EdgeHD]

We’ve played TWO good teams so far. One of them had us beat by the end of the 1st quarter and the other one had us beat by the end of the 3rd quarter. And the second one was to Missouri at home.

If we’re such a good 5-2 team, don’t you think we’d be ranked? I fully expect Tennessee and Alabama to do the same to us. We suck.

Okay sunshine.

 

[CaptainBoogerBuns]

I would seriously give a thousand bucks to be able to hit a magic button revealing each poster’s true school allegiance and primary sport of interest.

I’m just spitballing, here, but these persistent folk I think are 40 percent U of L fans, 15 percent UT/Other SEC fans, 40 percent U K Basketball fans seeking escape from the true source of their misery., and 5 percent actual UK Football fans.

In the last two weeks, two of the more persistent sh!t slingers insisted we played our next game in Knoxville, and that Stoops had topped out at nine wins.

And these are likely Kentucky Basketball fans that have a passing knowledge/interest in the game. Good frauds would likely Google that info, or avoid getting trapped into specific factual errors.

Ten or more times I have checked posting history on these folk and found either (1) very recent membership/or sparse posting over a lengthy period of time, or (2) thousands of posts for many years, 98% on the roundball and other forums.

And the roundball fans confuse me the most: they know that the Grinch is going to steal their Christmas, again, when Cal loses to another unranked team in the post-season.

I guess UK football losses are all they have to hang their hats on, now!!

I’m one of those UK fans that have to face the fact that the love of basketball has hurt UK Football in various ways over the past decades. This is one of the reasons I can’t be emotionally invested in basketball, because of my love for UK Football.

 

[EdgeHD]

We very well could have a losing season, this year. It’s a strong possibility even tho I think we get at least to .500

Wake up man! South Carolina, Auburn, and Arkansas are headed for losing seasons. We are not. Any team can have a losing season any year, but Stoops has not had a losing season since 2015. It is one thing to be disappointed that we lost a home game. All of us are. But another thing to go limp and act like Barnie Fife. Andy may take your bullet away.

 

[3632]

Not a bad idea, but it would take a lot of creative accounting.

In fact, lest we can prove Stoops isn’t donating to NIL, you might have accurately described what is happening.

The University cannot simply fund NIL. But if they pay me money, I can donate wherever I want.

Why would it be creative accounting? I'm saying they should have just paid Stoops less and the money they decided to give to him just go into recruiting. I'm not talking about NIL, I'm talking about the money that funds recruiting operations, travel, visits....In '22 we spent 900k+. UT spent 2.9m+. They've always spent high on recruiting to cast a wider net. That's why they always have bodies even when they haven't put winners together. Our athletics dept budget is higher than ut but they outspent us 3-1 in recruiting. Instead, we gave an absurd raise and then turn and ask the base for NIL on radio to help recruiting.

 

[sefus12]

NIL aside, I don’t think people realize how much having a solid recruiting base matters in football, especially when compared to basketball. Yes, a Mizzu can have some big $$ boosters go buy a few skill players, but it won’t make them a top-5 team because they don’t have the 4 and 5 star talent to fill the rosters out like the top teams do. Yes, a Bama has name recognition enough to recruit nationally for most any position, but teams further south or in states like OH and MI or TX and CA simply have a LOT more talent than UK does. And when we go to other states, we are typically competing against teams with greater football traditions than we have.

NIL money is great, but so too is being able to point to all the guys you’ve put in the NFL and the success the team has had. UK lacks in both and we don’t have great in-state talent that can compete with the biggest rosters. Stoops’ salary is probably too high, but the lack of top-end talent in KY really hurts UK as well.

 

[Jont0805]

Have I missed the response that answers the question of what fans upset with stoops fix is making Kentucky a national contender year in and year out?

Or is it just like another poster suggested instead of paying $9 million they want a cheaper coach and just try and be bowl eligible each year as that is all they see stoops as?

How can the university of Kentucky become Georgia? Alabama? Notre Dame, etc.

 

[3632]

NIL aside, I don’t think people realize how much having a solid recruiting base matters in football, especially when compared to basketball. Yes, a Mizzu can have some big $$ boosters go buy a few skill players, but it won’t make them a top-5 team because they don’t have the 4 and 5 star talent to fill the rosters out like the top teams do. Yes, a Bama has name recognition enough to recruit nationally for most any position, but teams further south or in states like OH and MI or TX and CA simply have a LOT more talent than UK does. And when we go to other states, we are typically competing against teams with greater football traditions than we have.

NIL money is great, but so too is being able to point to all the guys you’ve put in the NFL and the success the team has had. UK lacks in both and we don’t have great in-state talent that can compete with the biggest rosters. Stoops’ salary is probably too high, but the lack of top-end talent in KY really hurts UK as well.

KY has no instate talent base. No doubt about it. Never has, never will. It just isn't a football state relative to population. MS puts out way more players with similar pop and TN puts out 4-500% the number of d1 kids with only 30% more population. But that's why it's important to put money into recruiting, etc instead of unnecessarily into the coach. UT has outspent its weight on recruiting for decades and they've never had personnel talent issues. A coach may make bad character evaluations, or may not be able to coach on the field, but they've always had access to players because they've spent enough to go outside a small footprint to bring in players. We now have money to do that as well...administration just has to make better choices. Recruiting is more complicated than it ever has been but it's also the best time there has ever been for schools to grab some kids outside of some small geographic footprint.

 

[3632]

Have I missed the response that answers the question of what fans upset with stoops fix is making Kentucky a national contender year in and year out?

Or is it just like another poster suggested instead of paying $9 million they want a cheaper coach and just try and be bowl eligible each year as that is all they see stoops as?

How can the university of Kentucky become Georgia? Alabama? Notre Dame, etc.

It isn't getting a cheaper coach. It's that we didn't have to pay 9 for Stoops, but we did... meanwhile we could put additional money into things that would help make any coach successful. The more you put into the program to make things better the more easily you attract coaching interest whenever change does happen.

 

[Jont0805]

It isn't getting a cheaper coach. It's that we didn't have to pay 9 for Stoops, but we did... meanwhile we could put additional money into things that would help make any coach successful. The more you put into the program to make things better the more easily you attract coaching interest whenever change does happen.

True but calipari was a big reason for that $9 million and his “basketball school” comment as well as an athletic director that is so scared to have to make a basketball or football hire he would probably pay twice that lol.

Obviously stoops has put us in position to maintain a real football program for the first time in our history. The next hire could take us back to the joker days, could keep us at the same level or could propel us to something else.

What is that something else I guess is the true question?

 

[EdgeHD]

NIL aside, I don’t think people realize how much having a solid recruiting base matters in football, especially when compared to basketball. Yes, a Mizzu can have some big $$ boosters go buy a few skill players, but it won’t make them a top-5 team because they don’t have the 4 and 5 star talent to fill the rosters out like the top teams do. Yes, a Bama has name recognition enough to recruit nationally for most any position, but teams further south or in states like OH and MI or TX and CA simply have a LOT more talent than UK does. And when we go to other states, we are typically competing against teams with greater football traditions than we have.

NIL money is great, but so too is being able to point to all the guys you’ve put in the NFL and the success the team has had. UK lacks in both and we don’t have great in-state talent that can compete with the biggest rosters. Stoops’ salary is probably too high, but the lack of top-end talent in KY really hurts UK as well.

Largely agree, but you failed to mention Stoops is putting a bunch more players in the NFL than any other Kentucky coach did. We need to get back to putting offensive linemen like Landon, Fortner, and Kinnard in the NFL. If that means Yenser isn't up to the task, then fix it and move ahead.