I want change, but not Stoops. This thread calls for him to be fired. Scang isn’t calling great games but our o line isn’t giving time for any play to develop so that’s my biggest concern. How long was Shannon Dawson and Lamar Thomas here? He makes changes when required.
Stoops should resign today.
- Thread starter bigbluedon
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I agree with a lot of what you say with the exception of “being considered a threat to UGA”. The only people that seriously thought that were blue goggled UK fans.
Being considered a threat and having confidence we win is different to me. In hindsight you are obviously correct but at the beginning of this season there were a lot of analysts that had that game listed as one to watch for. I never would say we would be favored or even have any level of confidence in a win but I definitely thought we could play with them and keep it very respectable if our O-line came through.
What’s crazy is those stinking VOLS backup qb had almost the same stats in 3 snaps as Levis did the whole game. FAHR stoops
Really?
I’m not sure if you are serious?
As has been discussed ad nauseam, simply being in the SEC guarantees a top 30-ish recruiting class (see Vandy pulling top 30-40 classes despite losing 27 straight SEC games- oh wait, 26).
So there’s 90 schools right there he’s beaten without getting out of bed.
Now let me ask you- why on earth do you think it’s so difficult recruiting to Kentucky? Every game on networks or ESPN, great facilities, top conference…. What are we missing as a program that even a semi-lucid football coach could not sell to recruits?
I’d argue the only obstacle to luring even more talent here is our mediocre coach and boring AF offense.
This Vanderbilt game will be forever. 10 years, 20 years from now, we will have lost to Vanderbilt. As mad as we are today and tomorrow, that madness and disgust will eventually go away, probably spread to other losses. BUT, we will forever have that game on our record, for our kids, grandkids, and great grandkids to see.
We were ranked #7 this year, then lost to a Vanderbilt team which was 2-6 and ranked 99th out of 131 teams. This will forever be one of, if not the worst football losses I've ever experienced with UK.
We were ranked #7 this year, then lost to a Vanderbilt team which was 2-6 and ranked 99th out of 131 teams. This will forever be one of, if not the worst football losses I've ever experienced with UK.
"Unreal" is expecting the winningest coach in UK football history to pull unilaterally out of a guaranteed lucrative multiyear contract because he hit a big bump in the road. Strong minded men do not think that way. Stoops will evaluate the program's shortcomings and look for solutions, just as he did in 2013-14, and just as he is being paid to do now.
At some point, you guys who miss no chance to dump on our coach need to understand that building a durable, successful football program in an elite conference means building on successes while surviving, learning, and adapting when things go poorly. That is what strong men do. Our conference features coaches who are strong men. Survival in SEC coaching roles is more about managing setbacks than basking in adulation when things are good. Should Nick Saban, Jimbo Fisher, and Sam Pittman resign? Forget that. They are strong guys, committed to supporting their players and fixing their programs. Same for Stoops.
Having said all of that, IMO this is the biggest crossroad Stoops has faced at UK at least since 2014-15. Our defense played poorly yesterday but can easily be fixed, because our defensive roster is still in great shape. But our offense and special teams are seriously flawed and will have to be rebuilt. Complicating this is the present recruiting environment, which has become complicated for a number of reasons. Stoops can handle this, but some painful steps and inspired hires are needed now. I, for one, don't want to see our football program and athletics department burned down. We have seen that before. It is an amateurish, reactionary solution that sets things back for years if not decades.
Yeah reality is hard to accept for So many fans .. we lost to a terrible team , by SEC standards . you want to talk recruiting and players with 4-5 stars by their name , if you play with no desire , pride , and discipline the stars dont mean shit .. I mean , you could have a day 1 NFL starter and a great running back , and a great group of talented receivers and still suck swamp water on offense . See the demonstration yesterday .
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When this super strong man does this evaluation I hope he owns a _______ing mirror !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Rembrandt, could you go into detail about the current recruiting environment and the reasons why it has become complicated. Seems we are not getting the recruits out of Ohio. Is that because of the emergence of Cincinnati, Michigan State and others hitting Ohio hard? Also, in your opinion was some of the offensive lineman over rated or just never progressed once here. Always enjoy your posts
IMO this was easily the worst loss of the Stoops era. But, you cannot fire someone over a very bad loss or because of a single bad season for that matter. But, another year like this one and you have to have a 'come to Jesus' soul-searching about the direction of the program. Two consecutive bad years in the SEC and you're back to being a cellar dweller program.
He's got us "here", for whatever that means. But he ain't getting us farther. Thanks to his contract, he's pretty much got a lifetime job as long as he goes one game over .500, and/or makes a bowl game. That's a pretty low bar. Considering the piss poor OOC scheduling, he only needs 3 SEC wins a year, something any team not named Vandy can do on the regular (aTm and Jimbo notwithstanding). Bowl games? Is it really an accomplishment when your conference is guaranteed 10 bowls, and with the playoffs the possibility of 12 teams in a 14 team conference going to one? Another perspective-- almost HALF of FBS schools will go to a bowl. They've diluted the prestige. Hell, some teams have turned down invitations to bowls because they might actually LOSE money. FWIW, WKU has been bowl eligible 11 of the last 12 years-- do you think they are a good football team? They aren't even considered in the top of Mid-majors.
There's a lot to consider here for sure, but it is not unreasonable for fans to demand excellence. Winning 7 games and a bowl game is mediocrity. Somebody's got to do it, but I don't want it to be UK. I'd like to see us be at least SEC East champs in my lifetime.
There's a lot to consider here for sure, but it is not unreasonable for fans to demand excellence. Winning 7 games and a bowl game is mediocrity. Somebody's got to do it, but I don't want it to be UK. I'd like to see us be at least SEC East champs in my lifetime.
It’s not knee jerk. I haven’t been a fan of his coaching for quite some time now.
I honestly feel like we’re in an awkward spot with Stoops at this point. We can’t realistically fire him for one rough season (that may still result in a winning record) after his recent run of success by our historical standards. It wouldn’t seem fair in principle, and it may actually make us less appealing to a replacement hire by making it look like we have unrealistic expectations.
With all that being said, a lot of us are starting to see the writing on the wall that the program may be about to go backwards. In the modern age of football, intentionally playing one of the slowest paced offenses in the country to try and limit possessions and grind out a 17-13 type win isn’t going to beat anyone in the SEC consistently and probably doesn’t even give us a chance at upsetting the truly elite programs. It also can’t be helping us in recruiting. On top of that philosophy already giving us a low margin for error, we’re still also an undisciplined team that doesn’t pay attention to details. We routinely take dumb penalties, and our special teams are a disaster most weeks.
Bottom line is that I think we may have no choice but to give Stoops more time and hope he makes some changes, but after 10 years and no signs of any evolution, I’m not all that hopeful that he will.
With all that being said, a lot of us are starting to see the writing on the wall that the program may be about to go backwards. In the modern age of football, intentionally playing one of the slowest paced offenses in the country to try and limit possessions and grind out a 17-13 type win isn’t going to beat anyone in the SEC consistently and probably doesn’t even give us a chance at upsetting the truly elite programs. It also can’t be helping us in recruiting. On top of that philosophy already giving us a low margin for error, we’re still also an undisciplined team that doesn’t pay attention to details. We routinely take dumb penalties, and our special teams are a disaster most weeks.
Bottom line is that I think we may have no choice but to give Stoops more time and hope he makes some changes, but after 10 years and no signs of any evolution, I’m not all that hopeful that he will.
Sure will. Prospects want to sign with college programs where they will like and be comfortable with the coaches, win playing time, win games, and generally become well prepared for their futures. Most at least dream about the NFL, and some carry a certain amount of confidence and expectation with regard to the NFL. When you sign almost any 4 or 5 star prospect, you get a player who probably expects to be drafted at some point.
Recruiting is always a competition with other coaching staffs. The better the player, the better the programs with which you will compete for his commitment. Of course, coaches don't always agree on upsides of particular players, so talent evaluation is an essential skill. Stoops has as always been good at it.
UK had 10 win seasons in 2018 and 2021. At that level of success, you compete for young prospects with all the other SEC teams and the top B10 teams. That's what UK has been doing, and our 2022 class was the school's best in over 60 years. Success breeds more success, so you plan and expect to build on it.
But GA, AL, TN, LSU, AR, OM, MS St, Clemson, OH St, MI, and others are also having success and competing for the same pool of hs players. Meanwhile assistant coaches come and go in all programs, and with them go the personal connections and pipelines to certain hs programs.
If a team is in the CFB playoffs every year, or if a team won the national championship within the last decade or so, it is reasonable for those fan bases to expect top 10 classes most years because those are the programs and coaches with the best name recognition.
UK is located in a small state with a small number of hs programs and a relatively low level of hs competition. Our fans don't like to hear this, but our coaches need to have strong out of state recruiting in order to compete in the SEC at a high level. Stoops has done an amazing job at this, especially when compared to previous UK coaches.
NIL is another issue, but I am far less certain than a lot of other posters just how NIL will eventually be codified into a durable, lasting system of governance.
In any case, every year is a new recruiting cycle, and every hs player has to decide what is best for him. Some plan to get drafted, but some are looking for an engineering program or a dental school because they don't necessarily anticipate professional sports in their futures.
So recruiting is a very fluid process, and credibility is very important. Every year, each school's credibility goes up or down at least slightly, because things never stay exactly the same.
If I was a hs offensive prospect, I would have concerns about UK at this point. You know the reasons. Coach Stoops needs to rebuild offensive credibility.
UK's coaches are not having trouble recruiting defensive prospects. Stuart, Anglin, and Godfrey are high level commitments. UK recently got campus visits from Ja'Keem Jackson, Kendrick Gilbert, and Will Norman. Unfortunately, our offense probably didn't impress them very much, but that can and does happen during a bad week at any school. How would you like to be recruiting for Auburn or Missouri about now?
Recruiting is a crap shoot. Class rankings have only a tangential relationship, if that, with recruiting results. You have to give a class three years before you can begin to assess its actual quality. Coach Marrow says 2015 was one of our best classes, but that class was widely criticized at the time. That class brought in Josh Allen, Calvin Taylor, Jordan Jones, Derrick Beaty, CJ Conrad, George Asafo Adjei, and Logan Stenberg.
One big problem with our 2023 recruiting is that Stoops might not have very many scholarships to offer this year, especially if he wants to take a bunch of transfers out of the portal. I would not leap to any conclusions, since there are some elite commitments in our 2023 class. But Stoops has to hang onto them.
Stoops' coaches are currently recruiting hard in GA, FL, and AL. That is a function of connections that our current staff has. But we have two strong commitments from OH in Brown and Lemaster, and we are still recruiting a group of other OH prospects. This is a weak year inside KY.
I am not convinced that our offensive linemen are overrated. I don't think they are being developed very well. A bunch of them have huge upsides.
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He's not going to be fired. He's the winningest all time coach in history. He does have some serious coordinator issues but nobody is being fired.
Exactly. So why do our fans feel the need to talk about it every single day? There are productive conversations to have on here. Will the Oc make it? Can we repair the OL? Who can we grab in the portal next year? Who will take will’s place? Will we beat UL? What bowl will we get?
But no. We don’t use common sense here. We like to rage about needing to fire the coach when we damn well know that’s not happening. Then we put out a list of dream coaches when we know we aren’t looking for a new coach. I guess a sports fans way of venting is living out their fantasies online. Isn’t this called LARP?
Disagree with you on Stoops fixing the offense. Until he has a "genuine " philosophical change nothing is going to get better. Scoring is the "it" in today's cfb and I don't think he'll ever change his beliefs. No more we are scoring too fast!
