This is one of the reasons I can't stand Mitch!

[kywildcat41035]

He's just so oblivious to what is going on. I just wish he would retire and we would get an athletic director in there that would have a set!

Mitch Barnhart Breaks Kentucky Football Silence with Poorly Used Three-Word Phrase

Mitch Barnhart is telling Kentucky football fans who are eager for change to practice patience with head coach Mark Stoops.

www.on3.com

 

[truebluewildcat]

MB isn’t the reason CMS is still around.

The folks who don’t like change and love barely .500 banjo bourbon ball bowls are.

The “well uk football was never good…CMS at least got us to average…” crowd.

If the outrage and threat to funding/tickets/attendance was real enough Stoops would be gone.

Every time Stoops sniffed a bowl and rumors started that every program was beating down the door for him the masses clamored for big extensions.

Kind of like Cal. Most folks bitched at the end but they were all for those big extensions during the good times. Last year it was “Fire Cal…Mitch is an idiot for the contract…”

8-10 years ago it was “Mitch better not let Cal go to Cleveland, LA, etc…sign him to the biggest best deal and lifetime contract…”

 

[K_TIME]

MB isn’t the reason CMS is still around.

The folks who don’t like change and love barely .500 banjo bourbon ball bowls are.

The “well uk football was never good…CMS at least got us to average…” crowd.

If the outrage and threat to funding/tickets/attendance was real enough Stoops would be gone.

Every time Stoops sniffed a bowl and rumors started that every program was beating down the door for him the masses clamored for big extensions.

Kind of like Cal. Most folks bitched at the end but they were all for those big extensions during the good times. Last year it was “Fire Cal…Mitch is an idiot for the contract…”

8-10 years ago it was “Mitch better not let Cal go to Cleveland, LA, etc…sign him to the biggest best deal and lifetime contract…”

I think you are missing a huge perspective.....Mitch is a ton of why Stoops is solidly still here

1. It was Mitch that had a 1 year auto extension when Stoops would win 6 games....not fans
2. Mitch has a history of throwing around Monopoly money to coaches a UK.
3. Even saying "one year blip"...so what were back to back 7 - 6 seasons before the disaster 4-8 season?

 

[cat_in_the_hat]

He's just so oblivious to what is going on. I just wish he would retire and we would get an athletic director in there that would have a set!

Mitch Barnhart Breaks Kentucky Football Silence with Poorly Used Three-Word Phrase

Mitch Barnhart is telling Kentucky football fans who are eager for change to practice patience with head coach Mark Stoops.

www.on3.com

I don't understand your hatred for these comments. To expect a football coach to never have a subpar year UK, when virtually every season at UK has been subpar, doesn't make lot of sense. Every coach will have ups and down years and that's especially true here. Like MB says, if it continues to be mediocre by UK's standards, then something has to change. Otherwise, we've had best football in my 62 living.

 

[truebluewildcat]

I think you are missing a huge perspective.....Mitch is a ton of why Stoops is solidly still here

1. It was Mitch that had a 1 year auto extension when Stoops would win 6 games....not fans
2. Mitch has a history of throwing around Monopoly money to coaches a UK.
3. Even saying "one year blip"...so what were back to back 7 - 6 seasons before the disaster 4-8 season?

Why do you think that “auto-extension” is even a thing?

Because 6-6 is the magic number for “football” fans around here to lose their damn minds, all logic, and reason.

“Just get us to a bowl”

That was/is the standard. MB knows it. If he jeopardizes it by letting said average coach explore even the slightest bit of attention he’s on the hot seat.

He errored on the side of stability. I can’t say I totally disagree.

I don’t disagree that there’s been some questionable contact decisions. I’m not saying MB bats a 1000. Nobody does.

However it’s real easy to look back and make a call. Hind sight is 20/20.

Big contracts and extensions were a fad for a while. Everyone was doing it. It was good for recruiting, moral, stability, generated some headlines…kind of a status symbol.

I think that era has passed as things change more and more in the new age.

MB has probably learned like we all should have as well. I don’t see him signing big block buster extensions anymore. The downside risk of being stuck in an expensive toxic situation where the coach doesn’t budge is greater than the return of keeping him around.

We can find a coach who can win a title in basketball here. We can also find a coach who can white knuckle out a 6-7 win season.

So remember all this whining about Cal and Stoops the past few seasons when Pope is not given a block buster deal after a run. Remember all these discussions if (big if) CMS wins 7-8 games and MB doesn’t roll out the red carpet. Or doesn’t sign CMS’ replacement to a big whopper.

 

[Deeeefense]

No sense of urgency, instead trying to put lipstick on a pig and convince everyone to lower their expectations.
If these comments were made at Alabama, Tennessee, Florida, Auburn, any other SEC team, the fans would be calling for his head.

If Kentucky's brain trust isn't interested in being serious about football, football fans will quit being serious about supporting it.

 

[K_TIME]

Why do you think that “auto-extension” is even a thing?

Because 6-6 is the magic number for “football” fans around here to lose their damn minds, all logic, and reason.

“Just get us to a bowl”

That was/is the standard. MB knows it. If he jeopardizes it by letting said average coach explore even the slightest bit of attention he’s on the hot seat.

He errored on the side of stability. I can’t say I totally disagree.

I don’t disagree that there’s been some questionable contact decisions. I’m not saying MB bats a 1000. Nobody does.

However it’s real easy to look back and make a call. Hind sight is 20/20.

Big contracts and extensions were a fad for a while. Everyone was doing it. It was good for recruiting, moral, stability, generated some headlines…kind of a status symbol.

I think that era has passed as things change more and more in the new age.

MB has probably learned like we all should have as well. I don’t see him signing big block buster extensions anymore. The downside risk of being stuck in an expensive toxic situation where the coach doesn’t budge is greater than the return of keeping him around.

We can find a coach who can win a title in basketball here. We can also find a coach who can white knuckle out a 6-7 win season.

So remember all this whining about Cal and Stoops the past few seasons when Pope is not given a block buster deal after a run. Remember all these discussions if (big if) CMS wins 7-8 games and MB doesn’t roll out the red carpet. Or doesn’t sign CMS’ replacement to a big whopper.

To go back to your original comment....

"MB isn’t the reason CMS is still around.

The folks who don’t like change and love barely .500 banjo bourbon ball bowls are."

Mitch is a huge reason why Stoops is still around after 2 7-6 season, and then this 4-8 disaster of a season. So giving our auto-extensions for 6 win season (especially when you play 3 OOC scrubs, UL had been down, Vandy is down....so all UK had to do was scrape out the USC/Mizzou games and boom...we're re-upping Stoops year over year).

Mitch didn't learn from the Cal debacle of a contract....he gave one to Stoops a handful of years later.....

Finally, what exactly has Pope done "after a run"....what run has Pope gone on? Beating Duke and Zags?

Don't blame fans....the football program has been all but fan backed....Stoops/Mitch got us in this situation.

 

[Jeff Sykes]

My biggest problem with MB is his lack of foresight. He was slow to do alcohol sales, which cost the sports programs money. He was really slow to embrace NIL and UK is still trying to come back from that. Now he is slow playing the hiring of a GM for each money making sports, when other schools are doing it. No foresight and only reactionary will always be fighting from behind.

 

[TuckyFB]

No sense of urgency, instead trying to put lipstick on a pig and convince everyone to lower their expectations.
If these comments were made at Alabama, Tennessee, Florida, Auburn, any other SEC team, the fans would be calling for his head.

If Kentucky's brain trust isn't interested in being serious about football, football fans will quit being serious about supporting it.

I agree with you, but do you believe Jon Sumrall is next in line? How does he make us a serious football program? I was on the Jon Sumrall bandwagon like everybody else after the season, but I think he needs more development at the mid-major level before taking an SEC job. However, I don't believe he could do any worse than Stoops did this past year.

 

[Grumpyolddawg]

Uk is at a big disadvantage when it comes to recruiting. UK has used the "most northern SEC school to land some bigtime recruits from the northern states, but how well does that work on the southern kids? Add that to the relatively small population that doesn't produce a large number of P4 athletes. Now we are dealing with NIL, which I have no clue what UK's numbers are, but you are competing there too.

 

[maroon79]

Well tell us all about it

Let’s get it out

Come on man

Just rant on it
Don’t hold back

 

[Deeeefense]

but do you believe Jon Sumrall is next in line?

good question. I did notice that Sumrall was mentioned as being on North Carolina's want list and he quickly removed his name. Trying to read the tea leaves I was thinking that maybe Mitch had promised him something down the road, but admittedly that's a stretch.
If I were to guess I would say Sumrall would be a strong candidate but it would not make any sense to me to be making a decision on a new coach when he just lengthened the leash on the current one.

As far as if Sumrall would be successful here, I think he has a good shot. He's got a lot of good characteristics, seems to be a good organizer, players seem to play hard for him, he's a good recruiter, and he was able to find an OC he could work with and field a good offense to go with his defensive expertise, something that seems to have eluded Stoops. The one thing he lacks IMO is time coaching under a big name coach. I think that's important and if you look at the resumes of the top flight coaches you will frequently see that they coached under an elite coach at the college or pro level at some point earlier in the career.

 

[screwduke1]

Patience? The guy is the longest tenured coach in the SEC lol. How much longer do we gotta wait?

 

[billoliver40]

Just me:
It seems to me last season was not so much a blip as it was the basement of a surprisingly rapid decline. We experienced surprising disclosures of lack of both discipline and integrity: almost all players accused in the incident with the fraternity were gone. Almost. A three year cycle of Wolford, Yenser and Wolford again only showed disappointment in the O line…and we actually rehired a coach that led the league in sacks from Alabama…so think about that talent. Our defense was a repetition of very good against inferior competition deteriorating when faced against SEC talent and continued to play a bend don’t break system that broke often.
Our highly ranked defensive front seven became a sieve, and our passing game under two OCs was worse than average.
The common factor in these declining years was a head coach that threw his own team under a bus with his ‘I need more money for better players’ statement and a well rumored dalliance with another conference team.

I have been a supporter of Barnhart many times. This interview smacks of ‘microwave fans’. Each year we are told ad nauseum we have superior talent than the previous year, and discipline on the field only gets worse. If the powers that be want a supportive fan base, another 4 win season will kick that in the head……and schedule plus half of the players being new at UK doesn’t give me hope of anything better.

 

[bigblueinsanity]

My biggest problem with MB is his lack of foresight. He was slow to do alcohol sales, which cost the sports programs money. He was really slow to embrace NIL and UK is still trying to come back from that. Now he is slow playing the hiring of a GM for each money making sports, when other schools are doing it. No foresight and only reactionary will always be fighting from behind.

This is the real problem. He continues to put us behind for this very reason.

With the ad constraints, nil money limitations, and insanely tough conference/schedule winning 6-8 games is as good as it will get. Injuries killed us, then the schedule finished us off.

 

[Crankdatmustard]

MB isn’t the reason CMS is still around.

The folks who don’t like change and love barely .500 banjo bourbon ball bowls are.

The “well uk football was never good…CMS at least got us to average…” crowd.

If the outrage and threat to funding/tickets/attendance was real enough Stoops would be gone.

Every time Stoops sniffed a bowl and rumors started that every program was beating down the door for him the masses clamored for big extensions.

Kind of like Cal. Most folks bitched at the end but they were all for those big extensions during the good times. Last year it was “Fire Cal…Mitch is an idiot for the contract…”

8-10 years ago it was “Mitch better not let Cal go to Cleveland, LA, etc…sign him to the biggest best deal and lifetime contract…”

While I agree a change is probably made, "banjo bourbon ball bowls" is not accurate.

He has been to citrus bowl twice, gator bowl multiple times etc. Its not like we are playing in the Liberty bowl every year. We typically play in good bowl games against good competition.

 

[SlykkteeHMail]

Uk is at a big disadvantage when it comes to recruiting. UK has used the "most northern SEC school to land some bigtime recruits from the northern states, but how well does that work on the southern kids? Add that to the relatively small population that doesn't produce a large number of P4 athletes. Now we are dealing with NIL, which I have no clue what UK's numbers are, but you are competing there too.

I respectfully disagree, IMHO this is an egregious fallacy made up by long-suffering football fans to moderate their expectation and excuse sub-standard/mediocre performances.

 

[sieken]

I respectfully disagree, IMHO this is an egregious fallacy made up by long-suffering football fans to moderate their expectation and excuse sub-standard/mediocre performances.

I think both sides of the argument bend towards their position on it. It’s likely not as hard as some of us think, myself included, to land a coach that can win big here. But the pitfalls of trying to do it at UK still exist.

I personally am not interested in trying the Florida method, nor the Tennessee method, for trying to find a big time winning coach. You end up with some pretty crappy coaches, with personalities that are hard to stomach.

 

[cat_in_the_hat]

I think both sides of the argument bend towards their position on it. It’s likely not as hard as some of us think, myself included, to land a coach that can win big here. But the pitfalls of trying to do it at UK still exist.

I personally am not interested in trying the Florida method, nor the Tennessee method, for trying to find a big time winning coach. You end up with some pretty crappy coaches, with personalities that are hard to stomach.

I always try to look at UK football objectively, which is why I think Stoops has done nice job here. I think it is quite difficult to land a coach that can win big here, not impossible, but difficult. If it were likely not as hard as many think, you would see program after program go from bottom feeder to powerhouse. That rarely ever happens. Even Alabama went through long streak of mediocrity because they couldn't find a good coach. I think finding real difference maker is not easy to do. AD's will fail more than succeed trying to find great coaches. It's like looking a needle in a haystack. If you are not a top program, it's even harder because you're probably not going to take top coach from a top program.

 

[Rembrandt90]

No sense of urgency, instead trying to put lipstick on a pig and convince everyone to lower their expectations.
If these comments were made at Alabama, Tennessee, Florida, Auburn, any other SEC team, the fans would be calling for his head.

If Kentucky's brain trust isn't interested in being serious about football, football fans will quit being serious about supporting it.

Wow. What a sad, depressing thread. In your role here, being what it is, it sure seems you probably should refrain from piling on the school There is already more than enough of that. JMO.

 

[Deeeefense]

Wow. What a sad, depressing thread. In your role here, being what it is, it sure seems you probably should refrain from piling on the school There is already more than enough of that. JMO.

My role here as an unpaid volunteer moderator is to help provide a venue for people like you to express your opinion for free, and to make sure members follow the rules. Besides being a moderator I'm also a paying premium member. As a member I have a right to express my opinion, and I'm certainly not obliged to agree with everything the athletics director says. I've generally been a supporter of Mitch over the years but telling fans after experiencing a 4 win season that they may have to wait 2 or 3 years for something better is IMO lame and sends a message of a lack of commitment, an opinion agree to by other members so far. You're welcome to disagree, but I really don't need your advise on what I should or should not post that's not your role here as a member.

 

[Rembrandt90]

My role here as an unpaid volunteer moderator is to help provide a venue for people like you to express your opinion for free, and to make sure members follow the rules. Besides being a moderator I'm also a paying premium member. As a member I have a right to express my opinion, and I'm certainly not obliged to agree with everything the athletics director says. I've generally been a supporter of Mitch over the years but telling fans after experiencing a 4 win season that they may have to wait 2 or 3 years for something better is IMO lame and sends a message of a lack of commitment. You're welcome to disagree, but I really don't need your advise on what I should or should not post that's not your role here as a member.

I'm not disputing that you have a right to an opinion. Everyone in the US has civil rights. I'm questioning why a moderator on this UK fan board is piling on the school. Can you? Sure. But it's very sad.

 

[3632]

Uk is at a big disadvantage when it comes to recruiting. UK has used the "most northern SEC school to land some bigtime recruits from the northern states, but how well does that work on the southern kids? Add that to the relatively small population that doesn't produce a large number of P4 athletes. Now we are dealing with NIL, which I have no clue what UK's numbers are, but you are competing there too.

It is a historic truth that UK's geography and in-state talent for sports like football and baseball are terrible. The NIL/transfer portal era has made that less true. More valuable now is coaches that can coach the game and with ingenuity/flexibility. I would also make the point that even before this era of movement, stoops has been coach during a time in which kids and people are more willing to travel and go away from home than they've ever been and the growth in nashville has given him a northern and southern border state that provides nearly 150 d1 football players a season to recruit from. UK still has that disadvantage but it isn't what it historically has been. It just has to be taken advantage of.

 

[Deeeefense]

I'm not disputing that you have a right to an opinion. Everyone in the US has civil rights. I'm questioning why a moderator on this UK fan board is piling on the school. Can you? Sure. But it's very sad.

Mitch is not "the school", and taking issue with his public statement is not "piling on" don't mischaracterize what I said. Once again the opinions i state are my own.

 

[Rembrandt90]

Mitch is not "the school", and taking issue with his public statement is not "piling on" don't mischaracterize what I said. Once again the opinions i state are my own.

AFAIK, I did not mischaracterize anything. And I certainly do not hold any ill will or ulterior motive toward you. Your comments are not restricted to Mitch. Look up the definition of "moderator". Respectfully.

 

[kywildcat41035]

No sense of urgency, instead trying to put lipstick on a pig and convince everyone to lower their expectations.
If these comments were made at Alabama, Tennessee, Florida, Auburn, any other SEC team, the fans would be calling for his head.

If Kentucky's brain trust isn't interested in being serious about football, football fans will quit being serious about supporting it.

That's exactly it and what do you think most of the schools have done in the SEC in basketball... They've gotten serious about supporting basketball and that's why we had 14 out of 16 make the NCAA tournament. That's the problem we have in football everyone says we cant be competitive in football in the SEC I call BS. If these historically bad schools can now consistently become good in basketball why can't we as a school that's opposite in football do the same?

 

[billoliver40]

Not that I in any way like the direction of the program, but in all honesty Barnharts biggest failing as AD has seemed to be in contracts. The Gillispie paper napkin fiasco.
The 'lifetime extension' for John Calipari.
Stoops buy out clause. And the premium pay for not premium results. The Joker Phillips deal.

Now...in all honesty at first glance the original hiring of these men wasn't bad at all. It's the buyout and discipline parts that are the question.
IF Stoops was actually speaking with aTm..I would think that would trigger...something.
The disciplinary problems under Stoops tenure SHOULD have some repercussion...on and off the field. Especially the fraternity fiasco a few years ago and players falsifying time cards to the University. Yes I know players were reprimanded....but cmon...the school vacated 10 wins...and that was under Stoops oversee.

So yes....I think MB is far from a Hitler AD...in fact I think he allows himself and therefore the University to be taken advantage of.

Just my two cents.

 

[billoliver40]

In all respect about the comment about support/ and NIL....

A basketball tram can get 10 good players and if they are all healthy can do real well.

A football team needs likely 50-60 good players for that type result. It boils down to the money thing. Especially now. Experienced depth is going to be rare for most programs. If not non-existent. The days of kids riding the bench two or three years is pretty much gone.

 

[Deeeefense]

In all respect about the comment about support/ and NIL....

A basketball tram can get 10 good players and if they are all healthy can do real well.

A football team needs likely 50-60 good players for that type result. It boils down to the money thing. Especially now. Experienced depth is going to be rare for most programs. If not non-existent. The days of kids riding the bench two or three years is pretty much gone.

true and also most P5 programs prioritize football heavily over basketball, because that's where the money and fan interest is. So the competition for the best players and coaches is much more intensive for football.

 

[CRZ4UK]

My biggest problem with MB is his lack of foresight. He was slow to do alcohol sales, which cost the sports programs money. He was really slow to embrace NIL and UK is still trying to come back from that. Now he is slow playing the hiring of a GM for each money making sports, when other schools are doing it. No foresight and only reactionary will always be fighting from behind.

Exactly. Mitch is just a watcher. He gets paid 2 million a year to watch other ADs for about 4 years to see how their ideas work. Then says…. That seems to work. Let’s do that.
Why that doesn’t work is like investing. Nvidia has been on a two year mega run. Mitch would now pour thousands into it because it’s done well. Guess what. The smart guys got in 2 years ago and are Selling their shares high looking for the next big thing. Mitch will keep that stock another 3 years before he buys the things smart people are selling now.
That’s our AD in a nutshell.
Scared money don’t make no money.
Scared and lazy ADs wait till the others succeed before they jump in.
Our marketing is terrible.
Our game day experience is terrible.
Our forward thinking is terrible.
If you wanna see how it’s done go to a Texas game. That was insane.
Commercials on the radio to promote the 3 live bands. An App to guide you thru activities on game day. Totally 2025. We are stuck in 1998.

 

[Grumpyolddawg]

I respectfully disagree, IMHO this is an egregious fallacy made up by long-suffering football fans to moderate their expectation and excuse sub-standard/mediocre performances.

I can appreciate you disagreeing with me, I am just not sure what you are disagreeing with. I have seen multiple posters talk about using the northern most SEC state to recruit kids from OHIO and MICH. UK with a relatively low population doesn't produce the number of P4 athletes that multiple other SEC states do. I think most people agree it's harder to recruit an OOS kid than a home grown kid.

I believe UK football fans are as rabit as any other than AU and Bama, not many shootings after a UK game. But they have just been so overwhelmed by having BB people in positions of power who didn't want to take away from BB to help football. But with recent upgrades that's no longer the case.. UK's NIL is better than what many think, Vandagriff didn't come here because he liked blue,AU wanted him and came hafter him. him. I had posted Brock never looked happy, and as it turned out he was tired of playing. But UK gave him a very nice NIL package and his dad assurances of starting.