Stoops to Auburn Speculation is EVERYWHERE now!
- Thread starter The-Hack
- Start date
My buddy is saying Stoops to Auburn is a done deal. Anyone here know for sure? My guy doesn't have the best track record.
Therein lies the rub...when you get a coach who takes you to new heights, it also increases fan expectations to take a program to even loftier heights. There's the old story of Frank Broyles when he became the HC at Arkansas. The hogs won an NC, Broyles goes to meet with the AD, and the first thing the AD tells him is now you will have to live up to that expectation every year.
Heck, look at Saban. Visit a Bama message board after a rare Bama loss, or even a close miss. Half the board will have decided the game has passed Saban by.
It is the nature of the beast that comes with success.
If I was a cat fan I wouldn't be too eager to get rid of Stoops. Do some things maybe need to be tweaked here and there? I don't know; that's up to Stoops, but you do have a new OC, and changes at the coordinator position often come with hiccups as players adjust, and it can be especially difficult at the QB position. I would let the season play out and if problems don't get corrected during the season, then see what adjustments are made during the offseason because as frustrating as it is when a season doesn't meet expectations, coaching searches are the worst.
I like Stoops and want him to coach here. I've been very happy with what he's brought to UK. That said, IF he did go to Auburn (which I don't think would happen), it would be interesting to see how he would do at a school that will go all in on supporting the program. Paying for top tier assistants, NIL money and not a "basketball school" mentality.
I’m shocked his track record sucks
He’s not leaving, haha. The only person fooled by this stuff is Mitch B who will panic and give him another raise
Auburn also has more money and better history and tradition. Stoops on paper should do well if he goes to auburn or if he had went to lsu.
There is something beyond paper though that tells me he would never win anything that matters at auburn either.
That's why I said it would be interesting to see, if he had full resources what he could do. He's been able to accomplish more than any other coach here with not near the resources behind him. What would happen if he had that open checkbook? I doubt we'll find out anyway.
Let me briefly weigh these two options:
A. Continue at UK, making what $6M a year, and where you are the all time winningest coach and have as much job security as any P5 job in the US; or
B. Jump to Auburn, who just fired a coach mid way through his 2nd year, and also fired a NC winning coach a few years before that . . . and by the way, you will almost always be no. 2 in the state. Plus, I know it will soon change, but isn't Georgia Auburn's annual east division rival?
Personally, that would take me about 2 nanoseconds to decide, even if I wasn't a Kentucky fan.
A. Continue at UK, making what $6M a year, and where you are the all time winningest coach and have as much job security as any P5 job in the US; or
B. Jump to Auburn, who just fired a coach mid way through his 2nd year, and also fired a NC winning coach a few years before that . . . and by the way, you will almost always be no. 2 in the state. Plus, I know it will soon change, but isn't Georgia Auburn's annual east division rival?
Personally, that would take me about 2 nanoseconds to decide, even if I wasn't a Kentucky fan.
I have to think uga will be one of Auburn 3 permanent rivals if they go to the 3-6 model.
I agree with you if he just wants a job with little expectations and no job pressure ever he should retire at UK. If he actually wants to have a chance to win the SEC and maybe make a national title run maybe he does consider one of these jobs if offered one day.
It will be even more "interesting" -read "terrifying" - to see who our AD would hire behind Stoops.
One of the top five benefits to Stoops' longevity is the fact that it has prevented AD from making the call on another HC hire for a money sport.
If Stoops bolts and AD starts the narrative "No one wants to come to Lexington"....he's fired before the echo from that sentence dies out in the room (if we have a UK President worth his salt).
GBB!
I would say the counter is, you feel like you can take it to the next level if you had support and resources behind you with NIL money, budget to hire/pay top tier talent on staff, not battling the "basketball school" mentality.
I totally agree. I like Stoops alot and for the haters, the devil you know very well may be better than the devil you don't know. Honestly, I don't have confidence that a better hire would be made. Whoever would be hired, is still going to have to combat the issues of support, NIL money, basketball school mentality, etc. Hiring the "up and coming" coach is always a risky bet.
Most of the articles about Lane and Ole Miss is NIL money. Auburn will pony up and throw more resources than Ole Miss. I think it's a long shot Auburn gets him, he's building something at Ole Miss. But who knows with things are today.
Stoops has done a better job than any other coach UK has had at tapping into the one advantage we have on the other SEC schools, proximity to Ohio talent. The only replacement that might be able to do that is Fickell, and he would have better offers than UK if he wants to leave Cincinnati.
Kiffin won't stay at Ole Miss for the long term, but he may be content to stay for the short term. He wants to win championships so he needs to be at a school that has the resources and NIL money, but he is young and has the time to be picky. As long as he can work the portal and stay competitive in the tough West he can bide his time and wait for the right school.
Agree completely and would add that a prime requirement of the Auburn job, to remain employed, is to beat AL with some regularity. I would not bet my career with the state of AU's program/roster that I could beat AL in the next 3 years, which is the notional length of time a new coach will have.
Not til he gets with the times with regard to the offensive side of the ball
That's dumb. Do you understand how mediocre to outright awful this program was for the better part of 60 yrs pre Stoops?
Just speculating but possibly Auburn made the early move to fire Harsin to get the jump on Matt Rhule. Is he a better coach than Stoops? Debatable. But he is a flashier hire.
Iirc kiffin repeatedly stated he hates nil. Of course it's kiffin, so him saying it and meaning it are two different things
Speaking of Auburn, they've reassigned some asst coaches. Moved Mike Hartline from offensive analyst to QB Coach where he'll serve out the remainder of the season, so another ex-UK player is slowly building his coaching resume. Of course, that's an interim position but still........
He will hate it unless he sees that it works to his advantage.
The thing is, he might not plan on leaving until UK comes calling. It’s not like he is gonna quit and then see who offers.
He may hate it, but he’s smart enough to know it’s a necessary evil. Saban hates it too, at least that’s what he says, but Alabama will be knee deep in NIL money.
Sounds as if Lane Kiffin badly wants Deion to go to Auburn and get out of the state of Mississippi.
Lane Kiffin addresses Auburn vacancy, other jobs; says 'I'd hire Deion (Sanders)'
Kiffin praised his fellow Magnolia State coach, Deion Sanders, on the SEC Teleconferencefootballscoop.com
I think my buddy knows your buddy because he told me that his buddy told him the same thing.
I hope he stays.
But was responding to a post (in another thread) saying his name was not being mentioned, at all, which by direct reasoning and inference is a negative toward Stoops.
My Google search was "Auburn Stoops" so that obviously directed me to the half-dozen articles where the link was made.
On both of these threads, I am pointing out to those who have soured on our winningest Coach in 70 years the relative national respect he has deservedly gained.
Lest NIL is truly a foregone loser, here, I think he stays and continues the battle. If we are truly behind without hope of advancing NIL, I expect him to be gone, but not necessarily to Auburn.
He will have many opportunities if he gets frisky.
You must be very young.
UK has had a College Hall of Fame Coach who posted a losing record whilst at UK (Claiborne), another who might sniff the HOF primarily for his work at Oregon (Brooks), and a Championship NFL Coach (Blanton Collier), all three of whom failed to set the benchmarks Stoops has achieved.
Stoops' record is notably better in his tenth season than the record posted by Frank Beamer his first ten seasons at Virginia Tech.
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Bill Curry was the current SEC Coach of the Year when we hired him. He went 26-52 (14-40 SEC) at UK.
en.wikipedia.org
Bill Curry - Wikipedia
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Too lazy to luck it up but it seems I recall Collier had a winning record vs TN, none of the others did or have.
Stoops isn’t leaving Kentucky for AuburnAll sites discussing the Auburn job list him: most sites have him Top 2.
He is being mentioned repeatedly.
ESPN Has Named 2 Frontrunners For The Auburn Job | The Spun: What's Trending In The Sports World Today
“"I think the two SEC coaches that would be high on Auburn’s court list would be Lane Kiffin and Mark Stoops. I think there’s a distinct difference between the Auburn and the Ole Miss job," Thamel said Monday, via 247Sports.”
Top candidates for Auburn head coaching job
dknation.draftkings.com
“If Auburn wants to establish some consistency and stability, why not just poach one of the most successful current coaches in the SEC?”
Tuesday Headlines: Mark Stoops an option for Auburn?
www.aseaofblue.com
“The reported interest from these programs hasn’t come by accident, as Stoops has become one of the better coaches in the country and his Wildcats are mostly a regular inside the Associated Press Top-25.”
[URL
unfurl="true"]https://www.on3.com/teams/kentucky-...ial-replacement-auburn-football-bryan-harsin/[/URL]
“
Here’s the case Feldman makes for Mark Stoops at Auburn:
Auburn coaching candidates: Lane Kiffin, Mark Stoops lead ESPN's discussion as Matt Rhule, Hugh Freeze follow
I would take a hard pass on Mullen. First off he is a jerk that nobody would want to work with and second he had one 10 win season at Miss St and 2 at Florida and those 2 were with Jim McElwain's players.
Collier was the coach when I became a student at UK. The sentiment among the students was "at least we can beat Tennessee".
Collier was fired and went to the Cleveland Browns and won a championship. Blanton Collier was an offensive genius and a master of the passing game.
