Do you only like the basketball program?. If so , why and do you have a favorite "football only" program?
Why is thers till so many ULL tickets left?
- Thread starter TTU/UK fan
- Start date
I'm just excited that I'll be there with three family members.
Just assumed you aren't a football fan because of the comment. If I'm wrong I apoligize
The comment was about the people making excuses as to why they don't attend games then saying they're the most loyal fans.Just assumed you aren't a football fan because of the comment. If I'm wrong I apoligize
Lou, UK has no more of the "best and brightest" than any of the other state schools in the SEC. Those prestigious universities you list are all private schools that are just as expensive for those living in the states where those schools reside as for those out of state. If you live in Ky and are interested in going to a highly selective prestigious university you won't not attend Vandy or ND, etc because they are out of state. Only about 700 of Vandy's 11,000 undergrads are from the state of Tennessee.
Also, has there ever been a more overused, over stated term than "the Joker years"? Reading your's and other's similar postings you would think that Joker was given 10-15 years. The man was here for 3 seasons. The shortest leash ever given to a UK football coach. Three seasons and had won 11 (4 more than Stoops has done to date) games in the first two years and was a play or two away from going bowling in that second season. Further, the man who recommended Joker to be the one to follow him is considered a near deity by many of the same people who want to crush Joker and Barnhart.
As for claims that UK was "milking the cash cow...". Were there or were there not repeated attempts to acquire funding to upgrade football facilities that were getting shot down either by the BoT or the state legislature? Have you ever managed a department budget? Has management ever given you everything you wanted?
The money spent (all cash) on the softball field, soccer field and new track combined were a drop in the bucket against what is being spent to build the new practice facilities, much less the stadium upgrades. I'm not sure what game changing upgrades you expected them to do with the monies available? I can only surmise that some think that if UK couldn't get the money to make upgrades to their football facilities then they shouldn't have spent any money on anything. So while football was going down the crapper might as well let everything else go as well...right?
Perhaps the state and Lee Todd wanted to "milk the cash cow" but the athletic dept surely didn't. What earthly reason would any athletics department ever NOT strive to be as competitive as humanly possible? What incentive exists?
As for defending the fan base... I'm reminded of something an old classmate of my said when a group of us got together to talk about old times. "What you was isn't what you is.".
Repeating the same thing over and over doesn't make it true.
Exactly how many tickets are you proposing are available? I would have bet my favorite par of sneakers on a sellout.
Like I said earlier MB has bosses he has to report to and just can't do every little thing he wants. You can't tell me that a man that has been at UT and Oregon doesn't want a top notch football program. Every P5 conference school does because it is such a money maker if successful. People like to do what they like to do with their time and money, but building a top notch program doesn't come with 15-20 tickets and free parking . I agree that Eli C. has been the most pro football president UK has had . At this time next year , according to the coaches and conditioning people, KENTUCKY WILL HAVE FACILITIES AS GOOD AS ANY IN THE COUNTRY and people are still bitching and moaning. If you cannot get in the boat at this point in time and buy tickets then stop moaning and get out of the way... It is a struggle for me financially to do what I do to support the program , but it is what I CHOOSE to do because I want to support the program...Like the old saying says...you get what you pay for.
I'm probably being too picky, but I have to take issue with your last statement. I supported the FB program for 30+ years with my money and my seat in the stands and I absolutely, unequivocally did NOT get what I paid for. And for the first 10 years of the Barnhart tenure I got even less.
You, fuzz77 and other "Barnharters" can pontificate, analyze, rationalize all you want, BUT without the fan revolt beginning in 2010 and continuing for the next three years, Joker Phillips would still be our coach and the Commonwealth renovations, new practice facility, recruiting room, etc. would still be a "wet" dream of the FB fan base.
I'm too old to enjoy firsthand, i.e., at the stadium, the apparent benefits of the fan revolt, but I will be ecstatic to finally see my Cats have the resources and coaching to become competitive in the SEC. My one concern is that what we are seeing now is simply another example of the UK ADs' and athletics administrators' "crisis management" approach to the FB program. Because without a sustained, ongoing effort in terms of coaching and facilities, the current improvements will be short-lived.
Blah blah blah... the truth is Joker Phillips was fired at the end of his 2nd season, Mitch Barnhart led us to the greatest football facility upgrades in school history, and all you did was bitch and moan the whole way through while demanding credit.
First of all I am not one of your "Barnharters" as I have been critical of MB in the past especially with his "microwave" mentality statement of the fan base and I am one of those that revolted after having season tickets since the early 70's...in Jokers 2nd year I had tickets , but after the 3rd game I was done and wouldn't let anyone have or buy my tickets...the next year I dropped them until a change was made . As soon as MS was hired I was back on board and am now happy with all that is being done to support the program...my thing is people like you want to blame EVERYTHING on MB when some of it may be justified, but most of it isnt...he has bosses above him that he answers to and he dosen't have an open check book like many think...I have talked to MB on many occasions and expressed by displeasure and he never dodged a question...I truly believe he wants a top program, but like he told me recently "we had to wait our turn" telling me that he had others above him calling the shots...like you ,several of us in my group are in our 60's to an 80 yr old...we will all be making all the road trips this yr...my point is we have waited a long time for this and I don't want to miss it when it works.#ALLIN
We recruit as good as Mizzou...are they competitive?...If you are looking to be Ala then you may be waiting a long time just like 75 % of the sec is...I gave that up a long time ago..
Last edited:
WOOPS. I apologize. Must have confused you with someone else. My excuse: The comment "you get what you pay for" is one that I have heard countless times from the Barnharters.
PS: Thanks for taking part in the revolt!!!
I'm so ashamed. I truly, truly apologize!!! How could I possibly be so absentminded as to leave you off the list of the Barnharters!!! You and fuzz77, aka rqarnold, vie so hard to be first to defend the indefensible.
Excellent post, in its entirety. Where have you been?
At first I misinterpreted your "The truth hurts" statement, thought you were backing off your statement, but you were telling Fuzz the truth, and I still have to wonder if his desk isn't sitting next to mitch's. UK's official spokesman on here, his worrying about UK getting sued if they didn't kick Tubman out of school, regardless of whether it was right thing to do or not, is classic Fuzz. As it turns out they very well may get sued because they rushed to judgement and kicked him out, which he probably could and should do, given the known facts and some recent cases.
I really don't like to get into all this again, UK has ended up in a good place IN SPITE OF mitch, we have a great coach that campaigned for the job that recognized that UK is a sleeping giant, in large part because of its fan base, had a plan, and hired some great recruiters-----TALENT has always been UK's biggest problem, a lot of it because of the lack thereof in state------with the elite college FOOTBALL programs stealing the best of what we did have-----NO five stars in the whole state in 2010. Much maligned Joker, who recognized the problem and fired a lot of VERY GOOD coaches that didn't want to leave Lexington to recruit, had a group of players as his senior leaders his first year as HC in 2010 (the 77 class, coming off a good year) that had NINETEEN two stars that averaged LESS than a lofty 5.15 on Rivals scale-----even including the ONE 5.4 two star in the class, Lendl, that had to drop football. No one can argue that he wasn't a big failure as a HC, (Had third and seventh ranked recruiting classes at Florida as their recruiting coordinator, wonder why the difference?), but then Claiborne and Curry had GREAT records-----before coming to UK.
But his coaches (and he himself, apparently) couldn't do the job, ending in a TWO WIN season with no SEC wins AND a loss to WKU------you know, the OVC WKU-----and with a talent pool so depleted that Stoops lost to them again in Stoops first year. Incredible, to me.
Loucat fan, remember the LONG thread you started trying to get mitch to commit to replace the OBSOLETE scoreboards and speakers BEFORE season ticket sales so groups like yours could commit to season tickets again? Well, the ONLY worthwhile thing mitch did for football for those TEN years was replace those scoreboards, but no hint that it was possible until after the ticket deadline, and the weird thing is that the money to replace the scoreboards TWO YEARS after they were scheduled to be replaced when built was magically replaced in ONE DAY when the profs protested LOANING a few of the MILLIONS football had given them over the years? No one else finds that strange? And, with the millions starting to roll in from the naming rights (or whatever), $31,000,000 or so, the athletic department still had to commit to repaying all the CW improvements PLUS another $100M or so to get the money they couldn't possibly finance on their own, PLUS the obscene millions already coming in from the SEC, with even more coming in from the SEC network now
Keeping Brown to save the buyout, having Brooks give part of his salary to Joker to keep him on staff, the absolute JOKE of a recruiting room, (the one that Matt said Tee lied to recruits about, and avoided showing them UK's facilities if possible, looks like Tee was smart enough to take my advice to Joker and have recruits meet him at the Kiddieland room at MacDonald's instead of using the "recruiting room" disgrace), the unworkable "IMG plan" that delayed things for years, and you do realize that of the unworkable $450M or so that would have brought in EIGHTY percent or so would have gone to BASKETBALL------which already has the best of everything.
Then our "PR" man needed a PR man, isolating fans with his stupid microwave fans goof, to some of the best fans in the nation, his mishandling of the Kfund, another long thread on here by numerous (mostly small contributors that he didn't have time for) stating they would NEVER donate money for him to use on his minor sports, and he didn't bother to try to clarify his reasons for that, IF he had any, (the Nebraska AD collected a lot of money for specific FOOTBALL only projects with buckets at the gate), and I sincerely believe that the $156,000 he spent hanging some pictures on a wall somewhere instead of replacing the FOLDING CHAIRS in the "recruiting room" (Couldn't you have put up some walls and maybe even a ceiling, carpeted the floors, replaced the PORTABLE projection screen, etc, etc, with that kind of money?) was his way of showing the "microwave" fans who was in charge at UK.
Thanks all you mitch is a good football AD losers out there for giving me the opportunity to vent, really don't think it is good for the program, more money available now than mitch can possibly spend on his projects and UK lucked out with Stoops (if his staff can coach, and I think they will be just as good there) so probably best to just forget the past unless mitch regresses-----don't think he is dumb enough to repeat his fiasco, but then he did it before.
And UK still has years of neglect to overcome to regain the program that UK football fans deserve. If we had had HALF the support for football that basketball has had for decades we would already be one of the best programs around. And basketball should be (and is, in a lot of respects) a huge advantage in football, more money and the same great fans that will be just as crazy if we have a competitive football team, no reason we can't be among the elite in both sports. MOST of the fan base is the same in both sports.
And Joker was fired after his THIRD season, after upsetting USC in his first year that had 38 four stars and a couple of five stars that committed the previous four years while UK had TWO JC four stars on the team. He also came withing three points of the Auburn team that won the NC featuring Cam Newton. But lots of fans thought he should have been competing with the Florida team that year that had a TWO DEEP that AVERAGED over a 5.9 on Rivals rankings------while UK had TWO four stars with more TWO stars starting than three stars, with TWO walkons starting-----with a 265# walkon tackle lined up against a fifth year 330# OL that was a five star. Why in hell didn't our DT knock him on his A$$, right? That picture of the "recruiting room" won a lot of recruiting battles------for the other teams.
The next year was worse, but UK did end the losing streak to TU with a WR at QB that completed 2 of 5 passes for about 14 yards IIRC. And I have a hard time believing any football coach fighting for his LUCRATIVE job would have lost all chances for a bowl win by disqualifying his excellent QB for DRINKING, even though he took a cab home------without a lot of pressure from above.
Last edited:
You are twisting my words...I meant that in the context of people like you who want a top
Tier fb program but want to pay 1970's prices for tickets and get free parking to boot when NOWHERE in the country does that happen or is talked about in the context of building a program...UK's athletic budget is 19th in the country WAY behind 9 other SEC schools and even behind OTIS...Now guys like you and others want UK to field a top flight fb program , but do it on half what it takes in now I guess...Please tell me how that can work because if you can do it then MB needs to be fired asap and put the reigns of the athletic depth in you hands
Back on subject, why wouldn't any real football fan in driving distance take this first opportunity to see the great young talent that Stoops and Troops has assembled put on a show, even if it is a one sided game. I think anyone that really wants to see the game can just show up a little early and probably get good seats for face value or less, and the important thing to me is to show up and show your support for our TEAM and the coaches. I still think almost all the seats will be filled, the only empty ones being from no shows that didn't try to make sure their seat was filled early enough, something a real fan should do even if they have to give them away..
I also think that if this team blows up like I think it could/should, it will be hard to get in to a lot of the other games this year.
I also think that if this team blows up like I think it could/should, it will be hard to get in to a lot of the other games this year.
Tell you what, you show me a link to $25 tickets and I likely will buy 2. I just searched ticketmaster and I only found $50 tickets. The only discount tickets I see are for faculty and jmi and they require a code.
As I said before, I am on a stricter budget with me being off work with a back injury and refuse to spend over $160 to take my wife to the game when I can watch it for free and take her out to dinner and a movie also(for our anniversary) for about a third of that cost. How about I take a third of your pay away that you are used to getting and give you hundreds of dollars of medical bills (with more to come) and we will see where you stand on the subject?
Jauk11... With all due respect from Tubman to Joker's tenure you have NO clue what you are talking about...LT wants to come back to UK and that was totally out of MB AND coach Stoops hands...One of Jokers own ex players told me that Joker fired his self out of a job and alienated a lot of the ex players...I have friends who got to go to some prayer meetings with players before games for years and as soon as he took over his wife told these guys they they were no longer welcome...RB had everything set up with experienced coaches to help JP, but as soon as RB was out of town he fired them all and everything went to hell in a hand basket...Again guys like you still act like MB had the freedom to do what he wanted with an open ck book and that is just the farthest thing from the truth...hope you read the post about where KENTUCKY'S athletic budget stands amongst sec schools and once again wouldn't be that high if guys like you were in charge...
Listen, there are a LOT of facts in my post, why don't you TRY to argue with them instead of taking off on a tangent. Joker has little to do with my arguments, but I do believe that he was very tired of carrying most of the load in recruiting and fired some of the coaches because they didn't like to leave the city limits to recruit. Very good coaches that got a lot out of mediocre talent, but he recognized the talent problem and TRIED to rectify it partially by firing quite a few of them and bringing in coaches that were good recruiters but not nearly as good as coaches, see Tee. He is still at USC and a great recruiter there, I believe.
The athletic budget has never been a problem to me, the FACT that typically UK spent more on a recruiting budget for usually FOUR recruits for basketball than football for TWENTY FIVE recruits was a huge problem to me. And, of course, since i have pointed it out numerous times, you do know that the operating budget for a MUCH more expensive sport (# of coaches, injuries, travel, etc etc) was about the same for THIRTEEN basketball rides as for EIGHTY FIVE football rides. How was that even possible?
All this, when football, on a minimum maintenance budget, one recent year had an operating profit of about $18,000,000 while basketball in the same year, with the best of EVERYTHING, had a profit of about $5,000,000.
No argument with UK spending a lot of money on sports, but a good business man usually invests more in the "money cow"-----like most of the other SEC teams have been doing for quite a while now. Just getting rid of the "recruiting room" joke might have brought in another Cobb that would have made UK millions of dollars, and headed off the disaster that cost UK millions of dollars from the strike.
And, once again, thanks to all the UK fans that sacrificed season tickets in the family for generations to help bring about change. And a lot of that change is not of mitch's doing, it is the tremendous amount of money from TV contracts and the SEC that sports are now bringing in, MOST of it due to football. mitch really had no choice but to start spending money on football, and it just happened that the unexpected money has been rolling in by the millions.
Some more FACTS for you, mitch allowed UK to almost fall out of the football race with his penny wise pound foolish policies in football. There would have been a lot more money available for all UK sports if he had invested more in football over the years, really abysmal support, NO major improvements in his first ten years. He was lucky Brooks took the job, no other established coach wanted the job. Luckily Stoops seems to be smarter than the average coach.
I agree with loucatfan, probably best to just TRY to forget the past and build the future, but I have a problem with mitch the football hero.
if you looked at the post i was responding to the guy said that otis tickets were more than our tickets. i was just pointing out that i could buy bc vs ul tickets through work for $20 plus a concession voucher thrown in just so it still seems more minor league. just checked again and if i go to the UK ticket office online i am immediately sent to ticketmaster and it does seem that the service fee has come down as the game gets closer but it's still $6 to a co that i have dreaded doing business with since my teenage years.If you are a CAT FAN why the hell are you buying tickets to an Otis game. Would not go for free tickets and dinner at my favorite restaurant
all that is probably for nothing anyway as it now seems that we will be driving up from louisville and just try to scalp 4 tickets on gameday. if we strike out we can run down to one of the bars and watch the game in a very friendly environment.
does anyone know if there is a way to buy single game tickets without going through ticketmaster?
where? i swear i have been there like 15 times the last month and haven't seen a ticket for less that $45 and then a service charge. this is cheaper than the last time i looked though. are you going through UK to ticketmaster or just going straight to ticketmaster?
Sorry about your situation!!!...I am retired and on a fixed income so you can't touch my money
Ck with UK, but if all the tickets aren't sold by game day you may be able to get them at the will call...If you are buying scalped tics wait as late as you can ...they magically become cheaper
Also a lot of your facts are wrong . I gave you some first hand knowledge of Tubman and Joker's situation, but you don't seem to refute them either. Boy it really worked out great for Joker by jumping the gun didn't it by totally demolishing what RB set up for him. Joker's problem was he was just way in over his head and he was a train wreck that no one saw coming..But , I do agree with one thing I think you said that if the fans had not revolted "the athletic administration" NOT just MB may have let Joker stay. MB is not allowed to be an Emperor AD like Jurich is at Otis. He has bosses he answers to while Jurich runs the university ..Not saying MB is perfect and that I agree with him on everything, but you give him way more power than he has. Like I said earlier that he told me recently "we had to wait our turn" when it came to getting all this done. And did I mention also that reportedly ALL the funding for the practice facility came from donors that had NEVER given to football before.
Name the facts that are wrong, most of them came from UK budgets, etc at the time. What has Tubman and Joker's situation got to do with the situation, what is it that I should have to refute? My facts were not defending Joker, and no, I did not say that Joker would have been (or should have been) allowed to stay, maybe two NONE CONFERENCE wins can be defended when rebuilding (Claiborne had zero his first year and led us to a much rarer bowl game after that) but not when you are coming off bowl seasons------and I think he lost a lot of player support by not giving the team a chance to win their bowl game, whoever suspended Hartline cost the whole team, not just Hartline.
Did mitch have to wait his turn when doing all the other improvements with the money the football program brought in, and isn't he the face of UK athletics, does he deserve none of the blame? If he is just a PR man he was a big failure at that, as pointed out before, and you don't remember the long thread about fans on here saying they wouldn't donate anything to any UK programs because of the way he ran the KFund?
Of course fans were willing to donate to football projects, they finally had some support from UK for the program they love.
You know, if he had just been guilty of a few of the offenses I pointed out it would be one thing, but the list of his failures in our football program is long in both their number and their duration.
Was everyone remotely connected with UK athletics just dumb, did they not notice the tremendous increase in interest in football AND the money it brought in, wasn't he supposed to be the ATHLETIC DIRECTOR, shouldn't he have pointed out those facts to them?
You stricter budget allows you to go to Texas Roadhouse and the movies, like I said if you'd rather do other thongs than support UK football that's cool, just stop making excuses.
While the program needs the $$ support of "fans" to buy tix and fill the seats - no one should be saying to someone "you are less of a fan because you don't go". I had season tix for a while and gave them up, and there is no one that has more passion for UK football than me. I wish I had the time to go, but between coaching HS football, having three kids(two who play fall sports!), and being a husband and homeowner, I just cannot make many games.
Unless you are at a special program (Neb, Bama, etc.) - its no secret that nationwide attendance is down at most schools. Between HDTV broadcast, more channels so ALL games are on live, and folks in my situation with kids playing sports year-round now, it makes sense that more is competing for fans time and cash. I think UK was very smart in downsizing the stadium for the sake of amenities and visual perks. Once we get the new players facility by 2016 we will right up there with the rest of the Nation. Exciting times are on the horizon!!
Unless you are at a special program (Neb, Bama, etc.) - its no secret that nationwide attendance is down at most schools. Between HDTV broadcast, more channels so ALL games are on live, and folks in my situation with kids playing sports year-round now, it makes sense that more is competing for fans time and cash. I think UK was very smart in downsizing the stadium for the sake of amenities and visual perks. Once we get the new players facility by 2016 we will right up there with the rest of the Nation. Exciting times are on the horizon!!
I want to go so bad I can taste it, but i'm disabled and can not walk nut just a very short distance. Plus not having a parking place would be another concern. I go by there all the time on my way to the Va hospital. I will be getting an electric mobility chair from them sometime this month so maybe I can still find a way to make a game or 2.
There are lots of others on here just like me who would love nothing better but are handy capped is some way. GBB
There are lots of others on here just like me who would love nothing better but are handy capped is some way. GBB
I'm surprised it's not a sell out. I mean UK got Sundy Best and Matthew Mitchell to perform a concert before the game. That should draw in a huge crowd of 60K. Remember when Commonwealth had 72K there for games. Every stadium in the SEC is getting bigger and we downsize.
Budgeting a small amount to go out with my wife for our anniversary is not an excuse. Stop acting like a douche. Maybe you put sports above your family but some of us don't.
Since the attendance record in CWS is 71,024...no I don't ever remember having 72K for games.
Question: can additional seating be added to CWS?
Another question...were you against the stadium upgrades?
More drama queening. If its not in the budget its not in the budget but people were talking about going to Texas Roadhouse and a movie instead, talking about parking, even going to UL games instead. If UK football isn't a priority for you guys, just admit it, stop making excuses.
Similar threads
