Why Can't UK Football Become a Successful Program?

[Oldfootballguy]

I am a 67 year old man who has been going to Commonwealth Stadium since 1974 and I have seen and lived the good, the bad, and the ugly ever since and I will be there with my wife again this season in section 226. I love UK football. It has taken up a great deal of my time and passion over the course of my lifetime. I will never be content with 6 and 7 win seasons. I want to win every game and compete for the national championship but obviously that has not happened and is not likely to happen. And so my fellow UK football fans, I pose the following question to you in the hope that you can help me sort out the reasons for our lack of success and maybe give me some hope for the future.
Which of the following is the main reason UK football has not been successful since Bear Bryant?

1. The State of Kentucky produces very few quality football recruits. No recruiting base.
2. Inability to attract and unwillingness to pay a great coach to lead the program.
3. Lack of support from the University Administration to fund facilities and promote the program.
4. Lack of fan support both in numbers and passion.
5. A now 65 year old and growing tradition of losing and being one of the worst teams in college football is almost impossible to overcome.
6. The SEC is too good of a football conference for a team like Kentucky to compete in year in and year out.
7. All of the above.
8. Something else…

I have my own opinion about this but I want to hear what you think.

 

[Big_Blue_1018]

Reasons 2,3 and 6 are spot on. But i think, and I know I'll take heat for this, the stigma of a basketball school really hurts the program.

 

[TBCat]

I'll got with something else as the answer. UK has put money in the football program. That allegation has never been as accurate as some believe. Sure we don't put Alabama or Georgia dollars in it but we do better than most college programs. The real reason we haven't done well is that we have decision makers that make horrible decisions. Not going after Schnellenberger for one. Imagine where we would be if we went after him instead of Curry. Hiring Guy Morris instead of Mike Leach has also been destructive. It has put us on a 20 streak of constant rebuilding. Watching UK football make long term decisions is like watch really bad NBA teams make decisions on Draft night.

 

[Father Torque]

Unwillingness to pay a great coach to lead the program.
Lack of support from the University Administration to fund facilities and promote the program.

These are the two reasons, plain and simple. The university has never cared about winning at the highest levels in college football.

For the most part the university has treated the football team as an ATM for the bball team. No AD before Barnhart cared about fball, it was bball first, second, and third. And Barnhart didn't show much interest in the football team, until the fan revolt.

The truth is we have no idea whether UK can become a successful football program, because the university has never tried to.

 

[greginky1957]

It can, very slowly!

 

[docholiday51]

It is more than just about money:
1. Great coaches don't want to play second fiddle to basketball

2.Young coaches that might become great are reluctant to risk their career with a stop here.

3.Kentucky high schools produce too few good players yearly

4.The perception of UK football does us no favors.The media rarely paint us in any sort of positive light.We don't get the 50/50 calls from officials on a regular basis that Alabama,UGA and other regular top 10 teams get

5.Both players and fans hope they can win more than believe they can win.

6.We have missed the boat on some hires,(the Pipe vs Claiborne) Curci was a good hire except that he was going to cheat(as someone told me in 1974 before he ever coached a game here) We could have hired Claiborne instead of Bradshaw.We could have hired me(or anyone else in the world) instead of John Ray. Brooks was a good hire but probably 4th on the list before we could find anyone to take the job.

 

[uksam21]

Does anybody really believe Matt Jones when he just said he has had 25 people come up to him and all but 1 have asked about basketball?

I refuse to believe that you don't pile into Commonwealth Stadium all the years we have without people who don't have a deep love for the football program. I am one of those, I don't care about basketball until November.

 

[Dallas-Wild]

Does anybody really believe Matt Jones when he just said he has had 25 people come up to him and all but 1 have asked about basketball?

I refuse to believe that you don't pile into Commonwealth Stadium all the years we have without people who don't have a deep love for the football program. I am one of those, I don't care about basketball until November.

Why would anyone ask him about UK football in the first place?

He’d be the last person I’d even contemplate asking about UK football it would be pointless.

 

[docholiday51]

Does anybody really believe Matt Jones when he just said he has had 25 people come up to him and all but 1 have asked about basketball?

I refuse to believe that you don't pile into Commonwealth Stadium all the years we have without people who don't have a deep love for the football program. I am one of those, I don't care about basketball until November.

The recently concluded trip plays a big role in that if that is really the case.There is much talk about what we saw in those 4 games.The football season is a couple of weeks away but there is little real information out there for the average fan to talk about

 

[uksam21]

The recently concluded trip plays a big role in that if that is really the case.There is much talk about what we saw in those 4 games.The football season is a couple of weeks away but there is little real information out there for the average fan to talk about

I agree. You just don't depend on some media outlets for football in this state and that is a fact. There is a difference between being a realist and completely ignoring the sport all together. That is pretty much what one media outlet does.

 

[JDHoss]

* Could have hired Claiborne/Schnellenberger instead of Bradshaw.

* Could have hired Claiborne/Schnellenberger instead of Ray.

* Could have hired Claiborne/Schnellenberger instead of Curci.

* Could have hired Schnellenberger instead of Curry, or at the very least provided Curry with the money to hire and retain competent assistants.

* Could have hired David Cutcliffe instead of Dumme and his band of circus clowns. If Cash Money Newton had hired Cutcliffe, he would have won 7+ games WAY more often than not, and we'd be working on a long string of bowl games. Might have even won the SEC East a couple of times while it was down.

 

[gamalielkid]

I am a 67 year old man who has been going to Commonwealth Stadium since 1974 and I have seen and lived the good, the bad, and the ugly ever since and I will be there with my wife again this season in section 226. I love UK football. It has taken up a great deal of my time and passion over the course of my lifetime. I will never be content with 6 and 7 win seasons. I want to win every game and compete for the national championship but obviously that has not happened and is not likely to happen. And so my fellow UK football fans, I pose the following question to you in the hope that you can help me sort out the reasons for our lack of success and maybe give me some hope for the future.
Which of the following is the main reason UK football has not been successful since Bear Bryant?

1. The State of Kentucky produces very few quality football recruits. No recruiting base.
2. Inability to attract and unwillingness to pay a great coach to lead the program.
3. Lack of support from the University Administration to fund facilities and promote the program.
4. Lack of fan support both in numbers and passion.
5. A now 65 year old and growing tradition of losing and being one of the worst teams in college football is almost impossible to overcome.
6. The SEC is too good of a football conference for a team like Kentucky to compete in year in and year out.
7. All of the above.
8. Something else…

I have my own opinion about this but I want to hear what you think.

I am about the same age as you are and I believe all of the points you have made WERE relevant and causal to the situation. However, I believe UK is getting very close to changing the image. Don't get me wrong- UK in football is like Alabama in basketball. Long standing tradition and pride in the basketball program HAS created a perception problem in the past, but again, I say that WAS the case more than it is now!

Fan support was and has been good considering the way they have been treated by UK. The smaller core base has stood by UK thru thick and then, but the administration - including Barnhart didn't get behind the program until recently. UK could and should be playing in a 80,000 plus state of the art Stadium, it would have been filled in my opinion, but now we are in a very nice 60,000 seat stadium - and I do think it was the right thing to do now - but it was because we didn't take advantage of what we had going - The Joker experiment was not a mistake in my opinion, the mistake was failing to acknowledge it was a mistake TWO years earlier. It was obvious to anyone, who watched football, that after the end of the first year you could see it was doomed. But most fans would understand year 2 - but absolutely no reason for year 3 - and that is the reason why we have a 60,000 seat stadium and still can't fill it every game - but alas that is the past - and now we have facilities that are comparable with the top 20 programs. You can say that some University's with smaller stadiums have had good programs- but then think about it this way- How many National Championship teams and or playoff contenders play in Stadiums under 80,000 or for that matter under 90,000? No matter what everyone says - size of stadium does say something psychologically about your football program! For this reason alone - I think UK will be pressed to EVER have a National Championship caliber team- but I hope I am wrong!

The SEC is both bad and good for UK in football. It has provided a good recruiting platform - when the coaches have used it correctly - Coach Stoops has done that very well in my opinion. The model for successful recruiting of both baseball and football was to market the SEC and UK being the northern most school, it gave the opportunity to athletes north of us to compete in the best football and baseball conference in America. The SEC has also provided fuel and much needed TV exposure to UK. Fortunately, UK has been respectable, at least over the last 4 years and should continue that way.

As to quality of coaching - well that is debatable, but I believe the current staff is as strong a staff as we have had in the modern era. These coaches are/have grown into their positions. Stoops and staff have made many, many in game coaching errors over the years - but people need to understand one other thing about this - he hasn't had the talent luxury to overcome those mistakes - which shine even more when you have to be perfect to win. I think this staff is probably as about as high as we can get under current circumstances. But heads should roll if another debacle like Florida happens again this year! I think the pressure to win and get over the 30 plus years of losing to Florida was too much - which was too bad. I do believe we can and will beat Florida this year - I believe it because the pressure to win is less at Florida than it is in Lexington at the moment. The Florida fans don't take us seriously and it actually makes it easier from the players stand point being on the sidelines, Mullen has worked his magic on UK many, many times!

We definitely made mistakes on Schnellenberger and Leach in my opinion. When Schnelly was ready to come here - the AD feared him and could see football hurting basketball- most people believed this to be the case - and it sure looks like it was the case. It's a shame, because I think UK could/would have been playing for SEC and National Championships at least once in the last 30 years if he had become our coach. I believe we would also be playing in a 90,000 plus stadium as well. He would have had a huge hand in coaching at UK from that point on - which probably would have made a significant difference.

I believe UK is on the cusp of becoming a top 25 school in football. This year and next year are the two years where we will see if we have found the coach to lead us to that goal. I think Coach Stoops will retire here if he can get the results needed - he will become a sought after Coach if he does what I expect to happen here - but I think he will stay- the Stoops family has proven they have a loyal code of honor and I don't think UK will let him get away from here either. On a positive note, If he does leave, I think we would have much better potential candidates than in the past because the way Stoops has set things up over the past 5 years for the future of the program.

I also believe Louisville passing UK in football, sorry to say, has made UK more determined to get the upper hand again. I think UL's success over the last decade plus has hurt UK a lot in recruiting the state. Kentucky's lack of high school talent for years hurt as well - as we watched most of the 4 and 5 star and high 3 star players leave the state. It will always be a problem, because other schools do to us what we do to then in basketball with their home grown talent. Just look at our basketball roster - less than 10% of the roster are Kentucky kids since Cal has been here. But when you look at Alabama in football, 75% of their roster is out of state players. So, UL has taken a lot of players that once wouldn't consider them and would go to UK.

Bottomline, we are going to be relevant in football and a top 25 program and it will happen in the next two years.

Go Big Blue!

 

[NoviG8r]

Many of the reasons why it has not been a consistent success in the past have been mentioned, but there is no reason why UK cannot become a "successful" football program. Certainly there are challenges, and the definition of success can vary from person to person, but unless those criteria include winning league and national titles regularly, anything seems possible. However, it is a process and does take time, especially when starting from a position where success hasn't been regularly enjoyed.

 

[pickled cat]

I am a 67 year old man who has been going to Commonwealth Stadium since 1974 and I have seen and lived the good, the bad, and the ugly ever since and I will be there with my wife again this season in section 226. I love UK football. It has taken up a great deal of my time and passion over the course of my lifetime. I will never be content with 6 and 7 win seasons. I want to win every game and compete for the national championship but obviously that has not happened and is not likely to happen. And so my fellow UK football fans, I pose the following question to you in the hope that you can help me sort out the reasons for our lack of success and maybe give me some hope for the future.
Which of the following is the main reason UK football has not been successful since Bear Bryant?

1. The State of Kentucky produces very few quality football recruits. No recruiting base.
2. Inability to attract and unwillingness to pay a great coach to lead the program.
3. Lack of support from the University Administration to fund facilities and promote the program.
4. Lack of fan support both in numbers and passion.
5. A now 65 year old and growing tradition of losing and being one of the worst teams in college football is almost impossible to overcome.
6. The SEC is too good of a football conference for a team like Kentucky to compete in year in and year out.
7. All of the above.
8. Something else…

I have my own opinion about this but I want to hear what you think.

Hang in there Brother, with a little success this year things could could get real good, real quick!!

 

[wildcatdonf]

The real reason we haven't done well is that we have decision makers that make horrible decisions. Not going after Schnellenberger for one. Imagine where we would be if we went after him instead of Curry.

Spot on.

 

[CB3UK]

3.Kentucky high schools produce too few good players yearly

4.The perception of UK football does us no favors.The media rarely paint us in any sort of positive light.

These two are interconnected and it always seems to be overlooked by most on here.

Kentucky high schoolers aren't genetically inferior to kids from other states. Population wise no we're never going to churn out Texas/Florida/California numbers, but we can certainly match some other solid states like South Carolina/Arkansas/Missouri. And look at a state like Mississippi. Smaller pop, better football. We can produce better prospects than we are at the high school level if these states can.

The real reason is those kids grow up in a state that pushes football in school and in the media. They grow up with serious middle school programs and local leagues. KY simply does not. We have always had all the things for successful baseball, and again for the same reasons as already mentioned (lack of media and administration support/pushing the message) it's been neglected when there is ZERO reason why UK cant have a perennial baseball powerhouse(....sorry, different soapbox thought.)

Iowa, Nebraska...no issues getting solid in state prospects, because they live and breath it as a state, and a big reason for that is the media pushes it so it is important to them to develop kids early. Mississippi historically sucks. Iowa historically mediocre. Missouri....South Carolina....same. Yet all get better in state commitments with a same or smaller population because their foundational programs are simply superior. Again, I say part of it is because the media makes it important, and because its important the people make it important, thereby perpetuating the cycle.

Meanwhile here, when you have our media talking about preseason basketball 2 weeks before kickoff, you damn sure aren't going to convince non-Kentuckians you're serious about football, and Kentucky kids who are worth a damn already know the drill and high tail it to Alabama and Georgia etc.

Louisville has already shown us in 20 years being respectable and nationally competitive is absolutely plausible. Anything to the contrary is bullshit excuses. They beat Florida in the Sugar Bowl. We havent beaten Florida since I was 3. Thats inexcusable


So in summary, my point is until we take football seriously as a state at the foundational levels, it's going to be damn tough picking everyone elses scraps to build a team that's perennially consistent. And the media plays a large part in that. I've been told all my life how important the Sweet 16 HS tournament is even though I couldnt care less about it. When middle schools in Texas have better weight rooms than our high schools, we arent taking it seriously. And again the media's portrayal of its importance or lack thereof is a huge factor in that.

 

[sluggercatfan]

I am a 67 year old man who has been going to Commonwealth Stadium since 1974 and I have seen and lived the good, the bad, and the ugly ever since and I will be there with my wife again this season in section 226. I love UK football. It has taken up a great deal of my time and passion over the course of my lifetime. I will never be content with 6 and 7 win seasons. I want to win every game and compete for the national championship but obviously that has not happened and is not likely to happen. And so my fellow UK football fans, I pose the following question to you in the hope that you can help me sort out the reasons for our lack of success and maybe give me some hope for the future.
Which of the following is the main reason UK football has not been successful since Bear Bryant?

1. The State of Kentucky produces very few quality football recruits. No recruiting base.
2. Inability to attract and unwillingness to pay a great coach to lead the program.
3. Lack of support from the University Administration to fund facilities and promote the program.
4. Lack of fan support both in numbers and passion.
5. A now 65 year old and growing tradition of losing and being one of the worst teams in college football is almost impossible to overcome.
6. The SEC is too good of a football conference for a team like Kentucky to compete in year in and year out.
7. All of the above.
8. Something else…

I have my own opinion about this but I want to hear what you think.

2. CM(get his name off the stadium) Newton and Cliff Hagan...HOWARD SCHELLENBURGER
3. Every bb only AD before Mitch Barnhardt.

 

[sluggercatfan]

Why would anyone ask him about UK football in the first place?

He’d be the last person I’d even contemplate asking about UK football it would be pointless.

Nick Roush is really good on UK fb and is the only thing worth reading or listening to on that site.

 

[sluggercatfan]

* Could have hired Claiborne/Schnellenberger instead of Bradshaw.

* Could have hired Claiborne/Schnellenberger instead of Ray.

* Could have hired Claiborne/Schnellenberger instead of Curci.

* Could have hired Schnellenberger instead of Curry, or at the very least provided Curry with the money to hire and retain competent assistants.

* Could have hired David Cutcliffe instead of Dumme and his band of circus clowns. If Cash Money Newton had hired Cutcliffe, he would have won 7+ games WAY more often than not, and we'd be working on a long string of bowl games. Might have even won the SEC East a couple of times while it was down.

Curry hired an OPTION OC after successfully recruiting Couch...that was it for me with him after that.

 

[uksam21]

Nick Roush is really good on UK fb and is the only thing worth reading or listening to on that site.

Agree and Lorenzen I could listen to him all day.

 

[JDHoss]

Curry hired an OPTION OC after successfully recruiting Couch...that was it for me with him after that.

And that goes back to Cash Money Newton's penny pinching.....

 

[NewWildcatOrder]

I'm with a lot of you guys, until we change the culture surrounding the program we can't advance the program. Basketball has to share the limelight in order for it to happen. Today and for decades they have hogged the spotlight.

Having a charismatic basketball coach helps lazy journalists continue with their round ball repertoire year after year simply changing the names of the players. As long as people are reading or listening and not demanding equal coverage for football there is no incentive to do anything differently. Only when they lose listeners and readers will they change, and we need them to change to move forward.

This hurts us in recruiting. When recruits visit other schools in the SEC they hear wall-to-wall coverage about football, but when they visit Kentucky they would be hard pressed to even recognize we have a team if judging by the media coverage available.

Loyal fans? To an extent. When things get tough for the team it seems all but the hardcore go AWOL on the team just when they need us most. And things have been tough. Like someone said above the margin for error for our team has been razor thin. One or two plays left unexecuted has easily been the difference between a win and a loss in several of the contests.

We need to put the past behind us and foster a culture for success. For those who are still on the fence about how to measure success for Stoops tenure I found this article interesting. It projects the record for the first five years of the new coaching hires this year.

https://collegefootballnews.com/201...ations-for-2018/amp?__twitter_impression=true

 

[AllCatsEverything5]

Reasons 2,3 and 6 are spot on. But i think, and I know I'll take heat for this, the stigma of a basketball school really hurts the program.

You should never take heat over facts. I love basketball too, but I think it’s definitely had some of a negative effect on football.

 

[BigBlueFanGA]

There are exactly ZERO schools elite in both basketball and football. For myriad reasons, it just doesn't happen. Not even at Texas or Ohio State. Pick your sport I guess. I'd be ecstatic if we could just field a football team that was in the top half of the SEC every year but even then, this is the SEC and we're competing against football schools. Consider yourself Moses. You may see the promised land, but you'll never get there.

 

[mrschwump]

Curry hired an OPTION OC after successfully recruiting Couch...that was it for me with him after that.

Curry initially wanted to bring Homer Smith, the top OC or one of the top OCs at the time in college football, with him from Alabama but Newton wouldn't pay him. Smith went on to great success at UCLA and other schools before retiring. Curry turned to the young, inexperienced Tommy Bowden who eventually left to be HC at Tulane. But true, hiring Uzelak was a mistake but not as big as Newton's screw up with Smith.

 

[RedLotCat]

Steve Spurrier wanted the UK job when Curry got it.

 

[Patterson Building]

I am a 67 year old man who has been going to Commonwealth Stadium since 1974 and I have seen and lived the good, the bad, and the ugly ever since and I will be there with my wife again this season in section 226. I love UK football. It has taken up a great deal of my time and passion over the course of my lifetime. I will never be content with 6 and 7 win seasons. I want to win every game and compete for the national championship but obviously that has not happened and is not likely to happen. And so my fellow UK football fans, I pose the following question to you in the hope that you can help me sort out the reasons for our lack of success and maybe give me some hope for the future.
Which of the following is the main reason UK football has not been successful since Bear Bryant?

1. The State of Kentucky produces very few quality football recruits. No recruiting base.
2. Inability to attract and unwillingness to pay a great coach to lead the program.
3. Lack of support from the University Administration to fund facilities and promote the program.
4. Lack of fan support both in numbers and passion.
5. A now 65 year old and growing tradition of losing and being one of the worst teams in college football is almost impossible to overcome.
6. The SEC is too good of a football conference for a team like Kentucky to compete in year in and year out.
7. All of the above.
8. Something else…

I have my own opinion about this but I want to hear what you think.

None of the above, because the basis of your assumption is not correct. The Wildcat program is successful. If it does not meet your personal expectations, that’s a different issue.

 

[Deeeefense]

I don't consider any of those reasons, I consider them excuses. Show me a loser and I'll show you someone or some program with a zillion "reasons" that they can't succeed.

Other programs succeed because they have the will and the passion to succeed. They commit the energy, the effort and the resources to be successful. college football is highly competitive and you aren't going to have 10 win seasons every year. Even the USCs and Bamas of the world have down seasons over the course of time.

I think Barnhart has finally put us on a path to have a highly successful football program but fans should start focusing on improvements in areas like recruiting and facilities and less on temporary set backs. Fan attitude and support DOES have an effect on the success of the program.

 

[Bilrus61]

You left out reason 9, fans that go to games for 44 years supporting mediocrity leading to a complacent attitude on the part of the administration.

 

[BigBlueFanGA]

You left out reason 9, fans that go to games for 44 years supporting mediocrity leading to a complacent attitude on the part of the administration.

So you think its better to not support the players? I bet they wouldn't even notice.

 

[CB3UK]

So you think its better to not support the players? I bet they wouldn't even notice.

I think his point was that it gave the administration zero impetus to change what they were doing....milk keeps flowing out of the cash cow despite on field results.

Which goes to my point about the media acting like UK fans don't care. Clearly, we care about football quite a damn bit.

At the end of the day gross mismanagement by the UK administration is where the blame lies.

 

[Blue Decade]

I am a 67 year old man who has been going to Commonwealth Stadium since 1974 and I have seen and lived the good, the bad, and the ugly ever since and I will be there with my wife again this season in section 226. I love UK football. It has taken up a great deal of my time and passion over the course of my lifetime. I will never be content with 6 and 7 win seasons. I want to win every game and compete for the national championship but obviously that has not happened and is not likely to happen. And so my fellow UK football fans, I pose the following question to you in the hope that you can help me sort out the reasons for our lack of success and maybe give me some hope for the future.
Which of the following is the main reason UK football has not been successful since Bear Bryant?

1. The State of Kentucky produces very few quality football recruits. No recruiting base.
2. Inability to attract and unwillingness to pay a great coach to lead the program.
3. Lack of support from the University Administration to fund facilities and promote the program.
4. Lack of fan support both in numbers and passion.
5. A now 65 year old and growing tradition of losing and being one of the worst teams in college football is almost impossible to overcome.
6. The SEC is too good of a football conference for a team like Kentucky to compete in year in and year out.
7. All of the above.
8. Something else…

I have my own opinion about this but I want to hear what you think.

Emotions are powerful, but nothing is more powerful than the truth. UK football went to bowl games 7 times in the last 12 seasons. A coach who won 2 games in his 1st season in 2013 just won 7 games with .500 SEC records each of the last 2 years. Now the coach has his best team yet. Snell, Conrad, and 4 starting offensive linemen are back on the offense, and 9 starters are back on the defense. Our coaching staff is stable. Our football stadium has been completely remodeled, with a state of the art recruiting room. Our new practice facility is 1 of the best in the country. Our football team is hungry. There is every reason to be hopeful and excited. And then you see a post like this.

 

[Larry Skaggs]

We should be in a conference with Kansas and North Carolina and they should call it the Football Basketball Conference.

 

[JasonS.]

Which of the following is the main reason UK football has not been successful since Bear Bryant?

1. The State of Kentucky produces very few quality football recruits. No recruiting base.

This is the predominant reason. Kentucky has by far the lowest per capita African-American population of any state in the SEC. We were pretty good at football before integration (well, until the shenanigans of the Charlie Bradshaw era) ... and pretty bad at it afterwards.

Everything else is window dressing.

 

[megablue]

How have all the coaches who have been here and left answered this question?

 

[TuckyFB]

Why would anyone ask him about UK football in the first place?

He’d be the last person I’d even contemplate asking about UK football it would be pointless.

I’d ask a blind person and sit for 50 minutes of them describing soccer before I’d ask Matt Jones about football. And of course fans are going to ask about basketball. They just got done watching a 4 day event of AAU games.

 

[TuckyFB]

There are exactly ZERO schools elite in both basketball and football. For myriad reasons, it just doesn't happen. Not even at Texas or Ohio State. Pick your sport I guess. I'd be ecstatic if we could just field a football team that was in the top half of the SEC every year but even then, this is the SEC and we're competing against football schools. Consider yourself Moses. You may see the promised land, but you'll never get there.

You’re wrong. Michigan is a perfect example.

 

[BIGWYYNER]

We finally started to put more money into our football. We almost always were in top 25 for football attendance astounding for the product put out on the field most years. We are getting competitive in football now. Florida and OSU had some great runs in FB and bb. We need to raise the players stipend to what UL and UC pay their players!

 

[CatGotMyTongue]

There are exactly ZERO schools elite in both basketball and football. For myriad reasons, it just doesn't happen. Not even at Texas or Ohio State. Pick your sport I guess. I'd be ecstatic if we could just field a football team that was in the top half of the SEC every year but even then, this is the SEC and we're competing against football schools. Consider yourself Moses. You may see the promised land, but you'll never get there.

So does this mean basketball has to tank in order for us to be elite in football?

 

[Black Diamond Cat]

* Could have hired Claiborne/Schnellenberger instead of Bradshaw.

* Could have hired Claiborne/Schnellenberger instead of Ray.

* Could have hired Claiborne/Schnellenberger instead of Curci.

* Could have hired Schnellenberger instead of Curry, or at the very least provided Curry with the money to hire and retain competent assistants.

* Could have hired David Cutcliffe instead of Dumme and his band of circus clowns. If Cash Money Newton had hired Cutcliffe, he would have won 7+ games WAY more often than not, and we'd be working on a long string of bowl games. Might have even won the SEC East a couple of times while it was down.

BINGO ... Jerry Claiborne, if hired in 1962, would IMO have put the Cats on a successful run for several years. Bradshaw was a lunatic, who ran off a slew of good talent.
Claiborne would have integrated the program in a 1st class way, and UK would have had a 3-5 year jump on that before the rest of the SEC came around.