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This comment sums up Stoops can't fix the program

K_TIME

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Jan 2, 2003
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These comments from Stoops almost confirms to me....he has no idea of how to turn this thing around. And is eerily reminiscent of Calipari comments while UK bball spiraled out of control and he was never able to get it back.

The football program has fundamental schematic and philosophy problems on offense. Similar style of defense to play conservative way too much. Stoops simply thinking "being tougher" and "playing with an edge " is the issue pretty much tells me he has no realistic pathway to fix things....and he's got to go at seasons end. Great coach like Saban realized he needed to alter his approach to stay on top and did....Stoops has no plan to embrace the needed changes and thusly the program is spiraling as a result.

Mark Stoops
“We’re going to respond. When people hit us, we’re going to hit back. I didn’t feel the edge and the attitude and the fight that we normally play with,” Stoops said.
“You don’t know what’s going to happen come game time. Wild things happen,” said the Kentucky head coach. “You have to respond and we didn’t respond very well today.”

John Calipari

“Now, real simply, we have to get more physical, we have to get 50-50 balls, and that includes rebounds that are free that we’ve gotten and we haven’t gotten,” Calipari added. “And we’ve got to get, I’d say 10% better defensively.”
 
Stoops is a better football coach than cal is a basketball coach. Not really meant as a compliment to stoops coaching either as cal is utter dog shit on the sidelines. Stoops does have a system albeit a failed one but he really doesn’t know how to coach any other way. Good run of 8 consecutive bowl games but that’s coming to an end this year. Don’t see UK ever making another bowl under stoops actually.
 
Stoops is a better football coach than cal is a basketball coach. Not really meant as a compliment to stoops coaching either as cal is utter dog shit on the sidelines. Stoops does have a system albeit a failed one but he really doesn’t know how to coach any other way. Good run of 8 consecutive bowl games but that’s coming to an end this year. Don’t see UK ever making another bowl under stoops actually.
Huh? There’s no way you believe that first sentence. Ones in the Hall of Fame. One has a national championship along with multiple runner ups and final fours. One has been beating #1 teams for decades and has been #1 in the country on multiple occasions. One is listed as a top 25 coach in the history of the sport.

The other.. gets invited to bowl games to play against teams who are barely above .500. Maybe has one win over a top 10 team in his 12 years as a head coach. Has maybe cracked the top 10 once.. although not sure about that. Doesn’t wanna be here but literally can’t find another job at a power conference school who actually wants him.

Again I ask, huh?
 
Stoops is a better football coach than cal is a basketball coach. Not really meant as a compliment to stoops coaching either as cal is utter dog shit on the sidelines. Stoops does have a system albeit a failed one but he really doesn’t know how to coach any other way. Good run of 8 consecutive bowl games but that’s coming to an end this year. Don’t see UK ever making another bowl under stoops actually.
You can tell by their accomplishments that your assessment is wrong.
 
The concerns a lot of us had in the off season (including the OP), revolved around the offensive line. Obviously those were well founded as we were tragically inept in pass pro. This glaring weakness on offense, and a defense that is soft as butter in coverage made me turn off the game early in the 3rd quarter. Unwatchable.
 
The concerns a lot of us had in the off season (including the OP), revolved around the offensive line. Obviously those were well founded as we were tragically inept in pass pro. This glaring weakness on offense, and a defense that is soft as butter in coverage made me turn off the game early in the 3rd quarter. Unwatchable.
But this can’t lot at the feet of just bad Oline?

Four of the five current Oline player last year snd while not a great pass blocking unit….they were at least mediocre imo….

There is serious coaching and scheme deficiency moreso then raw talent. 44 yards passing vs a decent but nowhere elite USC defense….come on now
 
All comes back to recruiting and developing the QB position.
Portal is a crapshoot.
UK and FSU both with QB's who have a "name" but no game.
I don't blame it on the players so much as the scheme and play calling. I've been saying it since 2013 when Stoops came in with the "air raid" and abandoned that to run the wildcat within a couple of weeks.
 
Stoops is right but he's sleeping in the bed he made. The ultimate problem is our culture or lack thereof.

Stoops wants thr culture he talks about and he mostly has it except....he has some offensive guys they paid alot of money and promises of touches and presumably boosters to keep happy.

That makes for an impossible mix that doesn't work. You either have team oriented players upset because touches are getting forced or selfish players upset because they arent getting touches. We saw it derail the offense last year. We saw it again last game. If things wre going good, its all good. When things aren't, everyone's mad about their touches. You cant and wont win that way.

Contrat that with defense who has very little turnover and two potential first rounders like deion and max willing to play their role. Doesn't mean those guys always play well but we never have to change our entire approach just because of promises made.

Until we start paying the nil to the right people culture wise on offense, we are sliding instead of climbing the mountain.
 
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I don't blame it on the players so much as the scheme and play calling. I've been saying it since 2013 when Stoops came in with the "air raid" and abandoned that to run the wildcat within a couple of weeks.
Play calling was terrible Sat. and no adjustments.
FWIW, we could have won the game with Lynn Bowden under center and our current backs.
The weakest part of SC's defense was the middle but BH wants to attack the edge with jet sweeps.
 
Stoops is a better football coach than cal is a basketball coach.
As evidenced by exactly what standard of measurement? Cal deserves a lot of criticism for his post 2015 career at Kentucky, but the fact is, he has had a major impact on the national stage at every step of his career. Stoops has had almost no impact nationally and not much in the SEC.
 
i thought UK looked flat from the outset and never really got into a solid groove outside of the 2nd Q pic and FG.

Is that on the HC or the players? I personally think they underestimated South Carolina, like me, and were looking ahead to #1 Georgia, like me and got punched in the face.
 
A lot of failures in the program right now: 1) inability to adjust in-game by the staff; 2) OL that is in shambles with multi-year players making the same mistakes and seeming to have regressed from FR and SO performance levels; 3) multiple misses in each of the last 3 or 4 recruiting classes, especially on the OL, have left us in a bad spot; 4) undisciplined play on both sides: lining up offsides 2 consecutive plays, catastrophic blown coverages every game, OL that whiff on incoming DL/LBs, etc.; 5) QB who, when in trouble, stares down 1 receiver and then throws into trouble; 6) a roster than looks and plays soft/weak with only a few exceptions, doesn't it seem like our OL gets bullied game after game - where is this excellent S&C program we've heard so much about showing up on the field?

Not sure how to address and/or fix any of the above. Starting over with a new staff would be a drastic step and, most likely, would result in a few really bad years (which may happen anyway). But, it may also be the first step along the path I thought we were on a few years ago: 7-10 wins consistently, physical teams that hit you in the mouth, calculated aggressiveness on both sides of the ball, disciplined, well-coached teams that don't blow assignments consistently.
 
i thought UK looked flat from the outset and never really got into a solid groove outside of the 2nd Q pic and FG.

Is that on the HC or the players? I personally think they underestimated South Carolina, like me, and were looking ahead to #1 Georgia, like me and got punched in the face.
Impossible to know the players mindsets pre game but how many current UK players have had a victory over SC?
Don't see how you could overlook them considering they've won the last two coming in, first SEC game of the season etc
 
Saturday was all on stoops he is now beamers "BIATCH" epic failure too many years stoops gets beat by teams that should not be beating us definition of insanity to keep doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result time for change long overdue
 
Coaching and lack thereof is problem 1 and 2, imho. This team was not prepared, lacked any responses to USC ‘s aggressiveness and showed no evidence of making any adjustments when schemes were not working. I am not sure what the coaches are spending time doing but, it sure doesn’t look like these players are getting what they need to be successful. Time for a major change if things don’t improve immediately - no excuses..
 
Huh? There’s no way you believe that first sentence. Ones in the Hall of Fame. One has a national championship along with multiple runner ups and final fours. One has been beating #1 teams for decades and has been #1 in the country on multiple occasions. One is listed as a top 25 coach in the history of the sport.

The other.. gets invited to bowl games to play against teams who are barely above .500. Maybe has one win over a top 10 team in his 12 years as a head coach. Has maybe cracked the top 10 once.. although not sure about that. Doesn’t wanna be here but literally can’t find another job at a power conference school who actually wants him.

Again I ask, huh?
Cal was the best recruiter in the game, no doubt, which aside from his UMASS days was the catalyst of his success. He got loads of talent at Memphis and UK yet never knew how to coach it. Really don’t care about his hall of fame induction as that is a mere slap in the face to those who actually belong. Stoops has taken UK and made them a respectable program in the best conference in the land despite coaching like a scared pussy the majority of the time. UK might never take that next big step of being a consistent competitor in the SEC and top 15 but it certainly will not with stoops as he cannot or will not adjust his coaching schemes.

We have all watched cal coach enough for the past 15 years to see he actually knows nothing about actual coaching. Give me a break about his accolades list, it’s talent driven, not because he is some great mastermind. If he was just average he would have 4-5 titles on his resume instead of the 1.
 
Stoops is a better football coach than cal is a basketball coach. Not really meant as a compliment to stoops coaching either as cal is utter dog shit on the sidelines. Stoops does have a system albeit a failed one but he really doesn’t know how to coach any other way. Good run of 8 consecutive bowl games but that’s coming to an end this year. Don’t see UK ever making another bowl under stoops actually.
This is one of the worst takes on any of the message boards. One at least Cal HAS won, Stoops is a "also ran" who has never accomplished anything. My daddy never gave me much in life, but one thing he said that always stuck with me. "You can do whatever you want inlife, just do not be mediocre", Look up the definition of mediocre and Stoops picture will be beside it. He has had the luxury of taking over a desperate football program, won a few games, had some good years, won bowls games, but at the end of the day, he always ends up back where he started, MEDIOCRE. Beat a few scrubs OOC, beat Vandy, beat a couple down teams in the SEC, beat a good team every now and again, go to a bowl, that is it, that is his accomplishments. For ever big win he has had, he has had just as many or more, bad losses. Mediocre.
 
But this can’t lot at the feet of just bad Oline?

Four of the five current Oline player last year snd while not a great pass blocking unit….they were at least mediocre imo….

There is serious coaching and scheme deficiency moreso then raw talent. 44 yards passing vs a decent but nowhere elite USC defense….come on now
Mediocre last year? I don't know man, we were 12th in the conference in offensive production. I didn't see any scheme issues....just our guys getting bull rushed right into Brock's grille.
 
This is one of the worst takes on any of the message boards. One at least Cal HAS won, Stoops is a "also ran" who has never accomplished anything. My daddy never gave me much in life, but one thing he said that always stuck with me. "You can do whatever you want inlife, just do not be mediocre", Look up the definition of mediocre and Stoops picture will be beside it. He has had the luxury of taking over a desperate football program, won a few games, had some good years, won bowls games, but at the end of the day, he always ends up back where he started, MEDIOCRE. Beat a few scrubs OOC, beat Vandy, beat a couple down teams in the SEC, beat a good team every now and again, go to a bowl, that is it, that is his accomplishments. For ever big win he has had, he has had just as many or more, bad losses. Mediocre.
You think stoops could win at Alabama. Cal accomplished what he did coaching at the Alabama of college basketball. Stoops did good to get us to where he did but he has peaked and doesn’t have it in him to take even the slightest step forward, in fact we are now going backward. My post is not dumb at all. This isn’t a post about recruiting ( cal is one of the best there) rather coaching. I can seperate the two and most anyone with any sense of logic can do the same.
 
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Stoops is right but he's sleeping in the bed he made. The ultimate problem is our culture or lack thereof.

Stoops wants thr culture he talks about and he mostly has it except....he has some offensive guys they paid alot of money and promises of touches and presumably boosters to keep happy.

That makes for an impossible mix that doesn't work. You either have team oriented players upset because touches are getting forced or selfish players upset because they arent getting touches. We saw it derail the offense last year. We saw it again last game. If things wre going good, its all good. When things aren't, everyone's mad about their touches. You cant and wont win that way.

Contrat that with defense who has very little turnover and two potential first rounders like deion and max willing to play their role. Doesn't mean those guys always play well but we never have to change our entire approach just because of promises made.

Until we start paying the nil to the right people culture wise on offense, we are sliding instead of climbing the mountain.



Timely example. Barrion half assing because he wasn't getting enough touches. I understand we need explosive players. I understand hes explosive. You just cannot allow one guy to suck up nil and dictate so much on offense when frankly he isn't a great wr.

This is a culture problem. I wrongly thought it was coen but its clear now it is stoops. Hes scared of losing guys and we're suffering as a program.
 
Cal was the best recruiter in the game, no doubt, which aside from his UMASS days was the catalyst of his success. He got loads of talent at Memphis and UK yet never knew how to coach it. Really don’t care about his hall of fame induction as that is a mere slap in the face to those who actually belong. Stoops has taken UK and made them a respectable program in the best conference in the land despite coaching like a scared pussy the majority of the time. UK might never take that next big step of being a consistent competitor in the SEC and top 15 but it certainly will not with stoops as he cannot or will not adjust his coaching schemes.

We have all watched cal coach enough for the past 15 years to see he actually knows nothing about actual coaching. Give me a break about his accolades list, it’s talent driven, not because he is some great mastermind. If he was just average he would have 4-5 titles on his resume instead of the 1.
So....

Wooden - 10
Coach K - 5
Rupp - 4
Calhoun - 3
Knight - 3
Roy Williams -3

So your'e saying an average coach can sleep walk to 4? Only 3 guys in history have every achieved that milestone.
 
You think stoops could win at Alabama. Cal accomplished what he did coaching at the Alabama of college basketball. Stoops did good to get us to where he did but he has peaked and doesn’t have it in him to take even the slightest step forward, in fact we are now going backward. My post is not dumb at all. This isn’t a post about recruiting ( cal is one of the best there) rather coaching. I can seperate the two and most anyone with any sense of logic can do the same.
WTF is any of that suppose to mean ? And hell no he couldn't win at Alabama. He is too conservative and bland. Doesn't have the Nutts it takes. And the Cal comment is even dumber, He ALSO won at FN UMASS and Memphis. You can shit on Cal all you want, he deserves it for the last 4/5 years here, but comparing MFN Mark Stoops and John Calipari is borderline insane. One is in the Hall Of Fame, considered by people who know as one of THE best to ever do it, the other is a .500 career coaching record beating up on mostly lifeless teams and about as bland and conservative as the come. Cal was a innovator in several things coaching, Stoops is a MEDIOCRE mid level college coach.
 
So....

Wooden - 10
Coach K - 5
Rupp - 4
Calhoun - 3
Knight - 3
Roy Williams -3

So your'e saying an average coach can sleep walk to 4? Only 3 guys in history have every achieved that milestone.
With the talent Cal had yes he should have 4, at a bare minimum 3. He pissed one away at Memphis and pissed another one away in 2015 here.
 
Cal was the best recruiter in the game, no doubt, which aside from his UMASS days was the catalyst of his success. He got loads of talent at Memphis and UK yet never knew how to coach it. Really don’t care about his hall of fame induction as that is a mere slap in the face to those who actually belong. Stoops has taken UK and made them a respectable program in the best conference in the land despite coaching like a scared pussy the majority of the time. UK might never take that next big step of being a consistent competitor in the SEC and top 15 but it certainly will not with stoops as he cannot or will not adjust his coaching schemes.

We have all watched cal coach enough for the past 15 years to see he actually knows nothing about actual coaching. Give me a break about his accolades list, it’s talent driven, not because he is some great mastermind. If he was just average he would have 4-5 titles on his resume instead of the 1.
Respectable? Who respects UK football? What are some of Stoops accomplishments? Why haven’t Florida, LSU, Oklahoma, etc or any powerhouse schools come after him yet? Do you remember Texas A&M? I still haven’t figured out how every school in the country can see he’s a joke and a fraud but for whatever reason a lot of UK fans still think he’s the second coming of Bear Bryant.

And LOL accolades don’t mean anything??? I do agree he has had a ton of talent but do horrible basketball coaches get great players year after year? I don’t know of any. Yeah maybe they strike gold for a year or two but no coach does it for decades unless there’s something there.

He’s done what only one other coach has done and that’s take three teams to a final four. If you can’t accept those facts then I don’t know what to tell you.
 
Mediocre last year? I don't know man, we were 12th in the conference in offensive production. I didn't see any scheme issues....just our guys getting bull rushed right into Brock's grille.
We scored 29 pts a game last year.... that was not 12 in SEC.....it was 8th in SEC.

And we lost Ray Davis (which even Traynum would be a step back), Leary (I'd argue he's not much of a loss vs. Brock), Tayvion (but I'd argue Maclin is about as good...probably better) and Flax (and I'd argue on paper Mincey has to be as good...if not better). So basically RB is the only spot we took a step back...and the other 10 spots had a year to get better and/or portal shopping.

So you're telling me coming back with another year of 4 of the Oline, Barion/Key, solid TE room is back intact....and the fall off is this much?

It's clear as the noon day sun....Coen (even with the shifts/slow pace of play) is eons better than Boise St-Bush Hamden. And Stoops has no idea what to do when OC is not getting it done.
 
WTF is any of that suppose to mean ? And hell no he couldn't win at Alabama. He is too conservative and bland. Doesn't have the Nutts it takes. And the Cal comment is even dumber, He ALSO won at FN UMASS and Memphis. You can shit on Cal all you want, he deserves it for the last 4/5 years here, but comparing MFN Mark Stoops and John Calipari is borderline insane. One is in the Hall Of Fame, considered by people who know as one of THE best to ever do it, the other is a .500 career coaching record beating up on mostly lifeless teams and about as bland and conservative as the come. Cal was an innovator in several things coaching, Stoops is a MEDIOCRE mid level college coach.
Cal was an innovator in several coaching things? Cant wait to see this list? Already acknowledged cal did a fine “coaching” job at UMASS but once he went to the nba and came back to college, he relied on talent and talent alone which he amassed a great deal of. He told us himself, I recruit the best of the best. He was never innovative in any aspect of actual coaching, ever. He sucked at coaching, period. I’m not even saying stoops is a good coach here, he’s slightly better than cal which isn’t saying much because cal sucks. Don’t give a rats ass if I’m on this island alone or not. Give cal a mediocre roster and see how well he coaches them up. Hint::he can’t, he doesn’t know how.
 
Respectable? Who respects UK football? What are some of Stoops accomplishments? Why haven’t Florida, LSU, Oklahoma, etc or any powerhouse schools come after him yet? Do you remember Texas A&M? I still haven’t figured out how every school in the country can see he’s a joke and a fraud but for whatever reason a lot of UK fans still think he’s the second coming of Bear Bryant.

And LOL accolades don’t mean anything??? I do agree he has had a ton of talent but do horrible basketball coaches get great players year after year? I don’t know of any. Yeah maybe they strike gold for a year or two but no coach does it for decades unless there’s something there.

He’s done what only one other coach has done and that’s take three teams to a final four. If you can’t accept those facts then I don’t know what to tell you.
Where in the hell was I advocating for stoops? I wasn’t and never have and in fact called him a pussy in this very thread and said it is time for him to go. A&M’s fan revolt screwed us big time. Love how cal is a used car salesman and can’t coach for shit and now this board is taking up for him like he’s John wooden 😂.
 
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With the talent Cal had yes he should have 4, at a bare minimum 3. He pissed one away at Memphis and pissed another one away in 2015 here.
Part of rating a coach in the past era was obtaining talent in addition to on court coaching, player development, etc...so many of us feel like Tubby was a superior coach while Cal just got more talent.....but in the end, Cal did a better job with his 10 year-ish UK era than TUbby did with his 10 year-ish UK era.

So in my eyes..>Cal is no question a better coach than Tubby....in the end winning is what matters and he won more at the same job. It's hard to argue otherwise.

But to argue any run of the mill coach can rack up 4-5 titles is sort of nuts. Only 3 have ever done that at any school. Cal was good but never great (2 titles would have earned him that moniker) and not even close to elite coach. And his personality of being a condescending, liar, douche back makes him less likeable....but still doesn't change his coachign output (or lack thereof).
 


Timely example. Barrion half assing because he wasn't getting enough touches. I understand we need explosive players. I understand hes explosive. You just cannot allow one guy to suck up nil and dictate so much on offense when frankly he isn't a great wr.

This is a culture problem. I wrongly thought it was coen but its clear now it is stoops. Hes scared of losing guys and we're suffering as a program.
I'm glad you posted this....both of these are coaching issues....not play calling.

1. Part (not all) of the pass blocking problem was Brock pussing out and not stepping up in pocket. When you try to escape pressure vs. climb the pocket....it makes the Oline job much harder. In the first clip....the blocking was adequate....Brock just pussed out and missed a window to throw in middle of field. Brock, Bush and Stoops are the blame.
2. I don't agree with Van Hiles...Barion was running a 10 yard in route (not a slant)....I can't even see the first part of the route in the camera angle....so to call lazy route by Barion...I just don't see enough evidence to make that case. USC brought 6 rushers and UK Oline was obliterated. UK had not hot route or adjustments to audible from pressure look. Plus it's hard for any offense to win on 3rd and long....that will only be compounded by an Oline like UK...which is why staying in good down and distances is vital for this offense to succeed.

I like Van Hiles alot...but he tends to blame the players too much and it's hardly ever the coaches he faults. But to be fair.....that is what makes a coach great....he gets his players to execute the gameplan more often than another coach can. To have a QB in this 3rd year of college that can't climb the pocket....that is a coaching issue as much as player problem. If the kid can't do it....it's your job to have a QB that will execute the gameplan.
 
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Where in the hell was I advocating for stoops? I wasn’t and never have and in fact called him a pussy in this very thread and said it is time for him to go. A&M’s fan revolt screwed us big time. Love how cal is a used car salesman and can’t coach for shit and now this board is taking up for him like he’s John wooden 😂.
Nah but to call Stoops a better coach than almost anyone other than maybe Mickey Mouse is borderline insanity. LOL
 
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i thought UK looked flat from the outset and never really got into a solid groove outside of the 2nd Q pic and FG.

Is that on the HC or the players? I personally think they underestimated South Carolina, like me, and were looking ahead to #1 Georgia, like me and got punched in the face.
When has uk football been in any position to overlook a SEC school??? If that’s the mentality of these players along with coaches, we’re at 3 wins maybe 4 and vandy will be a tough one at this point.
 
All comes back to recruiting and developing the QB position.
Portal is a crapshoot.
UK and FSU both with QB's who have a "name" but no game.
Not a QB n the nation that will look good with a wet cardboard box OLine. You put Tom Brady in a “hurried” 10 out of 15 drop backs where the pocket breaks within 2.5 seconds and his statline will be garbage too

We need to get back to a big, physical, downhill blocking O Line and stop with pretending we can recruit a 3 deep of NFL caliber guys. Get the best road grader type linemen you can get and focus on a high level power run game. Get a dual threat QB. And then throw quick hitter passes for the passing game to the edges. Occasional play action that is set up off the RPO and dominant run game.

We had the model right under Gran but people didn’t like it bc it wasn’t flashy and “we aren’t going tk attract big name WR recruits playing that way”. Who cares. We’ll never out recruit the traditional brand names anyways and you can find plenty of gems in the 3 star range for skill positions outside of QB. It’s why FCS schools can produce NFL skill position talent yearly but you hardly ever see an FCS linemen make the league.

For the ppl who thought “we can at least be the Iowa of the SEC from a consistent success standpoint”….guess what…there is a reason they also run a methodical, power football offense to minimize the recruiting and talent gap. If they try to be a minor league NFL pro style copy paste…they’ll fall off too
 
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