[insideinfo]

I think with BARNHEAD this as good as we could do. This is a lot better than 99% the names that was mention. But I'm a long way from getting season tickets again.

[ekff]

GREAT hire...

Very happy for the UK football program...

Hoping one day I can see a UK and Notre Dame National Championship game..

[Panther Thunder]

Hope those people in the Sean Woods thread are disappointed in the lack of care Barnhart is explicitly showing for his players. :devilflam

Stoops is an intense guy, with a solid scheme. Biggest gripe from me is the lack of turnovers his Defense's have forced, heavily applies the better safe than sorry approach. Which has worked well, but is not a game changing style.

He had a loaded staff of assistants at FSU to help recruit. Not sold on his sole ability to recruit. If he can steal DJ Eliott away, consider it a nice coup for the Cats as Eliott will probably not be promoted to DC at FSU, even though they would like to keep him on for recruiting purposes. Stoops could make him a DC at UK, much like Coley is OC at FSU, in title only. Coley is another solid recruiter, not a ton of coaching responsibility. Coley is very good in the SFLA area. Stoops has a background in Ohio, and has shown ability to pick a few out of Alabama. But getting players to Lexington is a littler different than getting them to Tallahassee.

This is not great timing for FSU. Now they get to prepare for an annoying GT offense with a DC who is packing his things. Going to be hard to hold on to a few of the better recruits like Marquez White (AL) who Saban will now be all over. Hopefully they can be just as quick with a solid hire to secure the class and get ready for next year with a defense depleted to the Draft.

[CAM2006]

I think this is a great hire for UK football. Go Cats!!!

[Spirit100]

Congrats to Coach Stoops, his family, and his staff to be! News conference scheduled for Sunday. Pleased they got a good defensive coach. This is a solid step in the right direction.

http://www.lex18.com/news/it-s-official-...ead-coach/

Looking forward to seeing who his supporting cast will be in the weeks ahead....for know I give Mitch & Co. a B-. Could improve to a B based on the OC and DC. Start recruiting Coach you've got a lot of work ahead of you.

GO CATS!

[insideinfo]

I keep hearing people call this a homerun hire, How can you call someone with no head coaching experience a homerun. It can be a very good hire if he can assemble a pretty good staff. We can't stand no more Rick Minters and Randy Sanders. We need someone that knows what S E C talent looks like.

[FBALL]

It's a home run because its not scumbag.

[insideinfo]

It's a home run because its not scumbag.

Your just mad it was not that dude from out west that plays 8 man football,can't remember his name seem like they play on a blue field,nicker:

[cougarpride08]

Alright! Closet the rest of the thread. Welcome Coach Stoops to the BBN!

[Wildcatk23]

"I want to thank (Kentucky) President Eli Capilouto and Mitch Barnhart for this opportunity," Stoops said in a statement. "I promise the faithful of the Big Blue Nation I will be focused and driven to create a positive, winning atmosphere for the program and an environment that all of Kentucky can be proud of."

[TidesHoss32]

This IS a slam dunk by UK and Barnhart. Stoops has proven that he builds great defenses, because he took FSU from 108th to 2nd, and Arizona (a team 109th in total defense before his arrival) was in the top 25 in total defense his last two seasons(this was when everybody in the Pac 10 was averaging 80 points per game, lol)..Stoops knows defense, and to compete with the big boys in the SEC, you HAVE to play good defense. No it isnt the flashy Petrino hire, but it is a VERY GOOD hire and it makes sense. I love the hire. Love it.

[Downtown10]

I want 9+ wins a year after 2 yrs.

[outdoorsman43]

So if this is true the KSR has got to get some credit because as far as I can tell they were the first to break this.

They were. Matt Jones has increased his number of sources here in the last year or so. His connections are getting bigger and bigger. He now does the pre-game shows for UK IMG with Oscar Combs (who has more UK connections than any media member). Matt is not well-liked by many "UK people", but is by the right "UK people".

By the way, I think Mitch made a great hire. You never know how these things can/will pan out, but this is a hire that will excite the fanbase, potentially bring in some better caliber recruits, force UK to renovate Commonwealth, practice facilities, etc. (which was probably part of the negotiations to get Stoops to accept the job), and fill the empty seats that Commonwealth has had this season.

If you don't approve of what Mitch has done, then you are simply unsatisfiable.

[outdoorsman43]

This IS a slam dunk by UK and Barnhart. Stoops has proven that he builds great defenses, because he took FSU from 108th to 2nd, and Arizona (a team 109th in total defense before his arrival) was in the top 25 in total defense his last two seasons(this was when everybody in the Pac 10 was averaging 80 points per game, lol)..Stoops knows defense, and to compete with the big boys in the SEC, you HAVE to play good defense. No it isnt the flashy Petrino hire, but it is a VERY GOOD hire and it makes sense. I love the hire. Love it.

Petrino or Stoops?

Give me the Stoops brother....every time.

[Pulp Fiction]

One good thing (that I'm surprised nobody has mentioned thus far)......

When Joker was hired... All the media outlets were living up the fact that another Black head coach was hired in the FBS. And how great it is to see Black head coaches at that level.

I don't care what color/race/gender somebody is... If they can't win, they need to go!

[toussaints]

great hire for Kentucky, if they give him some time to get things going. i don't expect UK to be winning a bunch of games right away, Stoops will have an adjustment period. remember, bobby petrino only went 5-7 his 1st year at arkansas, each coach goes through it.

now, update your facilities to help bring in recruits that will make uk competitive

[cougarpride08]

Wonder who his def and off coordinator will be?

[granddad]

GREAT hire...

Very happy for the UK football program...

Hoping one day I can see a UK and Notre Dame National Championship game..

Uk would destroy Notre Dame. Oh I'm sorry i thought we were talking about Basketball. Just joking. great move. I prefer Stoops over many of the head coaches talked about. You must remember that Jumbo Fisher and Nick Saban were DC. who knows better how to set up an offense than a DC that has scouted oppponets offenses. add in an OC than can implement the scheme and you have the best of both worlds.

[insideinfo]

I want 9+ wins a year after 2 yrs.

Keep Dreaming ,if he win 5 games by year two and 9 games by year 5 he will be consider won of the best coaches in UK history.

[HawksRule]

I want 9+ wins a year after 2 yrs.

I understand you wanting the stars and the sky but you're putting the buggy in front of the horse. Give Stoops some time he is rebuilding one of the worst teams in the nation. By year 4 or 5 when he has his own recruits in his own system we can expect that kind of turn out. Oh and a good thing we have left over from the Joker Era is those nice uniforms Joker was using for recruiting lol

[Real Badman]

This is the best hire in the country. No other active seeking coach could bring the excitement that Mark could. If you don't believe Mark will be a good coach, you're a complete idiot have and have no idea how football works. Stoops is the headman, he brings in his own staff. .

[LWC]

I want everyone to remember this, most people pooped their pants with happiness when Rich Brooks had an 8-win season at UK. Also, this years team played a LOT of Freshmen AND there is a 3-way QB controversy. Year one will be tough, year two will be good, year three will be great.

[launchpad4]

[quote=Panther Thunder]Hope those people in the Sean Woods thread are disappointed in the lack of care Barnhart is explicitly showing for his players. :devilflam

Stoops is an intense guy, with a solid scheme. Biggest gripe from me is the lack of turnovers his Defense's have forced, heavily applies the better safe than sorry approach. Which has worked well, but is not a game changing style.

He had a loaded staff of assistants at FSU to help recruit. Not sold on his sole ability to recruit. If he can steal DJ Eliott away, consider it a nice coup for the Cats as Eliott will probably not be promoted to DC at FSU, even thought they would like to keep him on for recruiting purposes. Stoops could make him a DC at UK, much like Coley is OC at FSU, in title only. Coley is another solid recruiter, not a ton of coaching responsibility. Coley is very good in the SFLA area. Stoops has a background in Ohio, and has shown ability to pick a few out of Alabama. But getting players to Lexington is a littler different than getting them to Tallahassee.
DJ is a heck of a coach, I've gotten to know him a little as he was recruiting a player on the team I coached. He's a great guy and a great recruiter. It would be a coup if they got him to Lexington. If for some reason he could get DJ and then persuade Marcell Harris to follow both of them to Lexington UK's defense would be much improved next year. If you don't know or haven't heard of Marcell I'd suggest a youtube search. When I was at South Lake he started the season with a KR for a TD and only got better. Big hitter, good instincts, and is a great kid. The kind that a program like UK can be built around. You wouldn't have a problem out of him for the 3 years he'd be here.

[launchpad4]

I keep hearing people call this a homerun hire, How can you call someone with no head coaching experience a homerun. It can be a very good hire if he can assemble a pretty good staff. We can't stand no more Rick Minters and Randy Sanders. We need someone that knows what S E C talent looks like.

I completely agree!!! I coached a school in Florida last year that had 5 D-1 kids on it. The #1 Kicker last year and #2 safety this year. Our HC told the UK coach we had a coach from Lexington on staff, dude didn't even so much as say hello to me or any of the players that are now playing in BCS conferences that were on that team. One would think you'd try and get to know the guy from your state and get him to try and persuade kids to go to your school. It never happened, at that point I knew UK was in trouble. We had a kid that was getting hard looks from ND and OSU and he told be he'd love to play for UK. Straight up plain and simple he liked that it was a little closer to home and he thought he could play right away. UK lost out on a kid that dominated the NIKE circuit and was a great player at 4 different positions for us through the year. They have to address their inability to recruit kids from Florida and to keep the top talent from Kentucky. From what I've seen Joker did neither. They aren't on the list for any top kids from Trinity and I believe the kid from Franklin County said no. You can't win without doing decent in Florida and dominating Kentucky. They need to have a staff that locks down from Pikeville to Paducah and any good player never leaves Lexington and then be able to get 10-15 kids from Florida, Georgia, South Carolina every year.

[Strikeout King]

Wonder who his def and off coordinator will be?

It's said that he's bringing James Coley (FSU OC) or at least that's the plan. Coley isn't happy at FSU because he can't call plays like their head coach said he could

[MVP2]

^

Stoops has offered Coley the job, we should know something within the next few days. From what I've read Coley is a great recruiter, one of the best in the nation!

[cougarpride08]

Since Stoops is great with defense who will be therefore coordinator? Any names popping around?

[Strikeout King]

MVP2, If he's unhappy at FSU then it should be a no brainer to get out of there and come to BBN. If he doesn't come their is rumors going around that he's gonna try and get Brown from Texas Tech.

[insideinfo]

I completely agree!!! I coached a school in Florida last year that had 5 D-1 kids on it. The #1 Kicker last year and #2 safety this year. Our HC told the UK coach we had a coach from Lexington on staff, dude didn't even so much as say hello to me or any of the players that are now playing in BCS conferences that were on that team. One would think you'd try and get to know the guy from your state and get him to try and persuade kids to go to your school. It never happened, at that point I knew UK was in trouble. We had a kid that was getting hard looks from ND and OSU and he told be he'd love to play for UK. Straight up plain and simple he liked that it was a little closer to home and he thought he could play right away. UK lost out on a kid that dominated the NIKE circuit and was a great player at 4 different positions for us through the year. They have to address their inability to recruit kids from Florida and to keep the top talent from Kentucky. From what I've seen Joker did neither. They aren't on the list for any top kids from Trinity and I believe the kid from Franklin County said no. You can't win without doing decent in Florida and dominating Kentucky. They need to have a staff that locks down from Pikeville to Paducah and any good player never leaves Lexington and then be able to get 10-15 kids from Florida, Georgia, South Carolina every year.

I agree 100% we have to get evey Kid from the state,a couple from Ohio Indiana,West Virginia and the rest from traditional S E C recruiting grounds.But its real important we get every kid from the state that can play S E C football.

[Strikeout King]

I tweeted Kentucky Recruiting and they said that Coley would more than likely come and not be surprised if some of the FSU recruits follow them to UK. I would post the tweet but that would be giving away my identity and we're not allowed to do that