As Yogi Berra once said, "it's deja Vu all over again."
I wish I were younger so I didn't have the history of the John Ray debacle, the hope and then despair that was Fran Curci, the mediocrity that was Jerry Claiborne, the disaster that was Bill Curry, then again the hope and despair that was Hal Mumme. My kids only remember the slightly better than mediocre football of Rich Brooks. They have only had one sip of the Kentucky football losing cup with the disaster that was Joker.
IMO, we lost part of a generation of football fans during the last year and a half of the Joker regime. Whether it was the AD making controversial statements and questioning fans "agenda" or just poor uninspired play on the field, or a combination of all.....fans just quit. I had more than one person tell me a similar story. They take time off work, they give up a weekend, they drive 8 hours and spend hundreds of dollars and for what? It's not worth the time, money and heartache to give a crap.
Then we hire Mark Stoops and have immediate success in recruiting. We were not getting Alabama talent but we were getting better talent than we had seen here in decades. We hire an air raid protege who had success at Texas Tech, he was a KY kid and former player. Mark Stoops said in his announcement press conference we were going to "throw it around". We are upgrading our facilities, soon we will have as nice a training facility as anyone. The football program had a pulse.
Year 1 was a pass. Year two was a pass also but we came within a minute or two and a couple of plays of going to a bowl. Year 3 came the optimism. We had more than a pulse, we had a legit chance to get 6-7 wins, make a bowl and my gosh first play of the year, Boom goes for 80. The new stadium was rocking and finally....even the most negative fan had to feel that something special was brewing.
Then...sigh....we almost blew the ULL game and I had visions of that night practice that Stoops had to call because the team kinda quit on the coaching staff. We should have known in the EKU game that something was awry and that our margin for error is ever so slim, this team that is 4-4 could be 7-1 or 1-7. Stoops knows this. They have to coach and prepare perfectly and we have to play perfectly to beat teams with superior talent. If the EKU game shook the teams confidence, IMO, the Auburn game sucked the life out of the team. Sucked it like a Linda Lovelace moment. It shows the last two games...the first sign of a problem and the players lose all semblance of having a football IQ. And everyone panics from the QB to the coaching staff.
So here we are...fans again grumbling and questioning the coaching staff. Deja Vu all over again. There has been legit discussion that a lot of what's happened that's taken away our competitive edge is on the coaching staff. From their game preparation to in game coaching decisions. That's something Stoops has to take a hard look at after the season. Who on the staff has "it". We need "it" coaches. I include in that discussion the OC.
But I want to make one thing clear, the final chapter on this season has not been written and we are not yet dead. I am not giving up on this team winning the 6 games I predicted at the beginning of the year and I feel we have a shot at 7 games. Playing UofL is going to be like playing Missouri. We can beat them.
Whether I like it or not...whether the sunshine pumpers like it or not...and whether it's fair or not..the next 4 games are going to define Mark Stoops as our head ball coach. We HAVE to give Georgia a game that scares Mark Richt's pants off and even puts the nail in his coffin.... Win or lose. We must beat Charlotte and Vandy. Then UofL...if we go 2-1 in that stretch, we beat UofL.
Finally..I urge my fellow UK fans to also not give up just yet. Don't quit on this team even if you feel they have quit on you. It would be easy and perhaps understandable to quit on them. Let's do the hard thing and support them and let the last 4 games play out.
I wish I were younger so I didn't have the history of the John Ray debacle, the hope and then despair that was Fran Curci, the mediocrity that was Jerry Claiborne, the disaster that was Bill Curry, then again the hope and despair that was Hal Mumme. My kids only remember the slightly better than mediocre football of Rich Brooks. They have only had one sip of the Kentucky football losing cup with the disaster that was Joker.
IMO, we lost part of a generation of football fans during the last year and a half of the Joker regime. Whether it was the AD making controversial statements and questioning fans "agenda" or just poor uninspired play on the field, or a combination of all.....fans just quit. I had more than one person tell me a similar story. They take time off work, they give up a weekend, they drive 8 hours and spend hundreds of dollars and for what? It's not worth the time, money and heartache to give a crap.
Then we hire Mark Stoops and have immediate success in recruiting. We were not getting Alabama talent but we were getting better talent than we had seen here in decades. We hire an air raid protege who had success at Texas Tech, he was a KY kid and former player. Mark Stoops said in his announcement press conference we were going to "throw it around". We are upgrading our facilities, soon we will have as nice a training facility as anyone. The football program had a pulse.
Year 1 was a pass. Year two was a pass also but we came within a minute or two and a couple of plays of going to a bowl. Year 3 came the optimism. We had more than a pulse, we had a legit chance to get 6-7 wins, make a bowl and my gosh first play of the year, Boom goes for 80. The new stadium was rocking and finally....even the most negative fan had to feel that something special was brewing.
Then...sigh....we almost blew the ULL game and I had visions of that night practice that Stoops had to call because the team kinda quit on the coaching staff. We should have known in the EKU game that something was awry and that our margin for error is ever so slim, this team that is 4-4 could be 7-1 or 1-7. Stoops knows this. They have to coach and prepare perfectly and we have to play perfectly to beat teams with superior talent. If the EKU game shook the teams confidence, IMO, the Auburn game sucked the life out of the team. Sucked it like a Linda Lovelace moment. It shows the last two games...the first sign of a problem and the players lose all semblance of having a football IQ. And everyone panics from the QB to the coaching staff.
So here we are...fans again grumbling and questioning the coaching staff. Deja Vu all over again. There has been legit discussion that a lot of what's happened that's taken away our competitive edge is on the coaching staff. From their game preparation to in game coaching decisions. That's something Stoops has to take a hard look at after the season. Who on the staff has "it". We need "it" coaches. I include in that discussion the OC.
But I want to make one thing clear, the final chapter on this season has not been written and we are not yet dead. I am not giving up on this team winning the 6 games I predicted at the beginning of the year and I feel we have a shot at 7 games. Playing UofL is going to be like playing Missouri. We can beat them.
Whether I like it or not...whether the sunshine pumpers like it or not...and whether it's fair or not..the next 4 games are going to define Mark Stoops as our head ball coach. We HAVE to give Georgia a game that scares Mark Richt's pants off and even puts the nail in his coffin.... Win or lose. We must beat Charlotte and Vandy. Then UofL...if we go 2-1 in that stretch, we beat UofL.
Finally..I urge my fellow UK fans to also not give up just yet. Don't quit on this team even if you feel they have quit on you. It would be easy and perhaps understandable to quit on them. Let's do the hard thing and support them and let the last 4 games play out.
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