UK Coaching Search 1990

[WildcatofNati2]

I always liked it when Spurrier would say you can't spell citrus without a U and a T to troll the Tennessee program. In the 90's the SEC 2nd place team always went to the Citrus Bowl and the 1st place team went to the Sugar.

As a UK fan, I like a shot at Tennessee, but we haven't been to a better bowl than the Citrus since the Peach Bowl in 76, which wasn't as elite as it is now, and before that, since Bear Bryant.

 

[cat_in_the_hat]

That hire should've been David Cutcliff, TN OC at the time and he wanted the job. He had recruited Tim Couch to be Manning's replacement. Who knows, could've eventually brought in Eli Manning. It took years, no decades, for UK football to overcome the damage CM Newton did to the program....and of course his name is on the field. Cutcliff would have been a solid hire.

I was never a fan of Cutcliff. I didn't think he could resurrect UK football, but he probably would have been better than many of the coaches we have hired over the years.

 

[mrschwump]

I was never a fan of Cutcliff. I didn't think he could resurrect UK football, but he probably would have been better than many of the coaches we have hired over the years.

He would've been a barely over .500 guy but there never would've been the Brooks/Phillips regimes nor the Mumme probation.

 

[Kybluedude]

He would've been a barely over .500 guy but there never would've been the Brooks/Phillips regimes nor the Mumme probation.

And what do you think Bob Stoops or Jim Tressel with their Ohio ties would have done as HC at UK?

I honestly think either would have been better than Cutliffe - who was a terrific coach.

 

[Blueworld_3.0]

Wow, looking at UK football from 30,000 feet, it's amazing the number of bad hires, retreads and missed opportunities this program has had since Curci. And let's be truthful, Mark Stoops was a nearly unknown quantity when he was hired. DC at FSU for 2 years before taking the UK job? Not exactly a hot name at the time. Credit where it's due though...he's worked a minor miracle to make UK at least competitive in the SEC. However, that may be about to change with conference expansion next year and most likely a 9 game SEC schedule soon thereafter.

 

[JHB4UK]

Mark Stoops wasn't known to casuals in 2012, but he was a rising young star. Made his name coaching the secondary of those nasty Miami (fl) teams of the early 2000's under Butch Davis, players like Ed Reed. Then became Mike's DC at Arizona, put very good defenses on the field, showed he could handle the whole D If anyone thought Mike was the real brains behind that, Jimbo Fisher hiring Mark to be his DC at FSU dispelled that notion. Obviously his excellent coaching at the Noles got him on Barnhart (and Tim Couch) radar

 

[grevey35]

And 65-0 the following year.

Also, lost to UT 52-0 and 48-0 in back to back years.

Curry was an unmitigated disaster. Hindsight is 20/20. By any reasonable measure it looked like a good hire at the time however.

 

[Trubluepopeye]

Mark Stoops wasn't known to casuals in 2012, but he was a rising young star. Made his name coaching the secondary of those nasty Miami (fl) teams of the early 2000's under Butch Davis, players like Ed Reed. Then became Mike's DC at Arizona, put very good defenses on the field, showed he could handle the whole D If anyone thought Mike was the real brains behind that, Jimbo Fisher hiring Mark to be his DC at FSU dispelled that notion. Obviously his excellent coaching at the Noles got him on Barnhart (and Tim Couch) radar

Rich Brooks was the miracle worker ! He gave people a glimpse of what was possible at UK. What’s amazing to me is coach after coach came in here and went south to recruit against the big boys. It never worked . Fran Curci built a championship quality team by recruiting North. Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Ohio all had quality football players. Mark Stoops came in with the idea he’d recruit his home state as well as Michigan. The truth though is what saved Ky football was the SEC network. The millions it poured into our university made it possible to build the facilities to compete in the league. What a lot of people didn’t know was the university yearly would take revenue from football to fund its hospital and other pet projects. In the 70s and 80s they averaged over 3.5 million a year given to the school. Money that was desperately needed for upgrades.

 

[Tskware]

And Newton put Ivy in his chair

As if a rising star was going to take over a historically bad program entering severe ncaa sanctions. Reminder, 2 yrs later Urban turned down his dream job where he previously worked, Notre Dame, to coach at Florida instead.

But sure, UK football could have hired Urban Meyer in 2003

Sorry but very much disagree, Meyer was coaching at Bowling Green 200 miles from Lexington. Doubt he was even contacted. Wasnt like Utah was a national power then, were not even in a P5 league.

Now whether we could have kept him very long is a different issue