[Wildcatk23]

You can't win college football without talent . What was you his expecting ? We play in the SEC. We don't play Arkansas state 6 times a year.

[Spirit100]

You can't win college football without talent . What was you his expecting ? We play in the SEC. We don't play Arkansas state 6 times a year.

Call off the search, he is still alive and kicking. Welcome back Wildcatk23 !

[Paul Crewe]

The future of the University of Kentucky football will be the same results as it has been the past 30 years. I do not see why people expect any different. A coach that wins 6-7 games is Coach of the Year. It will not change.Every 10 years someone will win 6-8 games then back to the sellar. When we chose basketball over Bear Bryant we sealed our fate. Nothing will change...that is the future of Ky Football. Believe it!!!!!

[Wildcatk23]

The future of the University of Kentucky football will be the same results as it has been the past 30 years. I do not see why people expect any different. A coach that wins 6-7 games is Coach of the Year. It will not change.Every 10 years someone will win 6-8 games then back to the sellar. When we chose basketball over Bear Bryant we sealed our fate. Nothing will change...that is the future of Ky Football. Believe it!!!!!

So now you can predict the future? Money talks. If duke can win football games so can kentucky .

[FBALL]

I cannot recall a time in my life when UK has recruited so well and made such a financial commitment to the football program. Give Stoops a couple of years and I think the difference you can already see in attitude will start to show in the win loss column.


My prediction out of nowhere for next yesr though is that Towels will be starting at QB.

[judgementday]

The future of the University of Kentucky football will be the same results as it has been the past 30 years. I do not see why people expect any different. A coach that wins 6-7 games is Coach of the Year. It will not change.Every 10 years someone will win 6-8 games then back to the sellar. When we chose basketball over Bear Bryant we sealed our fate. Nothing will change...that is the future of Ky Football. Believe it!!!!!

Although I agree with some of what you are saying, I think this time it is different. Next year's recruiting class is the highest the program has ever had and UK has FINALLY decided to upgrade facilities.

[Fromthebleachers]

You know how many times I have heard that in the last fifty years? This time is no different. The culture in Lexington will not change. Basketball is year around. Even with the "upgrade" of the stadium (designed for the wealthy) it's not going to help. Most SEC stadiums are still much better. And the climate in most of those destinations is all football. UK will get back to six, seven wins...an upset here and there and a banjo bowl. And the fans will think that is great. UK still has to out recruit Alabama, LSU, Texas A&M, South Carolina, Florida, Ole Miss, Georgia...even Vandy and Missouri to be competitive. Not going to happen. UK wants to drop U of L from the schedule. If the SEC goes to a nine conference game schedule...it could be brutal every year. That only leaves a couple of openings for some cupcakes. UK should join the ACC. It would be an easier schedule...of course UK wouldn't dominate in basketball every year...but better than getting your ass kicked every year in football.

[insideinfo]

We could finish top 10 in recruiting every year and still be lucky to finish 7th or 8th In the SEC and get a Music City bowl invitation. Thats with good coaching I'm still not sold on Stoops. IMO we showed no improvement in any area after year one. He did generate some excitement with his recruiting but is still bottom of the pack in the SEC.

[RunItUpTheGut]

I cannot recall a time in my life when UK has recruited so well and made such a financial commitment to the football program. Give Stoops a couple of years and I think the difference you can already see in attitude will start to show in the win loss column.


My prediction out of nowhere for next yesr though is that Towels will be starting at QB.

If this happens, and Stoops does the right thing, then I wont say a bad word about him next year, even if we go 0-12.
He wasted this whole year on schmucks like Smith and Whitlow.

If Max Smith is the starter in the first game, Ill probably break my tv.

[Colley9288]

I believe that a freshman will start next season at QB, whether it is Reese Phillips (RS FR) or Drew Barker. Barker's coming in early for spring practice so hopefully he can develop his game some more when he gets there. I would love it if Towles would start, but the reality is that he will likely never start at the University of Kentucky. I would like to know why that is, instead of it becoming a hush-hush issue, but I will say that we will never truly know why he's not getting a shot to play. Jojo Kemp will likely start in the backfield and split carries with Stanley Williams and Mikel Horton, and Williams will likely be split out wide at times as well in the passing game.

I believe in Coach Stoops and what he is doing. Kentucky fans have to understand that football is not like basketball; you can't recruit one or two guys and expect to win 80-90% of your games with most of the production coming from just those two players. It takes at least 15-18 difference makers out there to turn things around, and from what I saw this season, there were only about seven players who could truly make a big impact if they played somewhere else. These players are: Kemp, Timmons, ZaDarius Smith, Bud Dupree (who's widely inconsistent) Hatcher, Javess Blue, and Jeff Badet. Six of those seven guys were Stoops recruits and four of those six guys are freshmen with the other two players (Smith and Blue) as JUCO recruits (Smith led the team in sacks). Give Stoops time. If he doesn't have the ship righted in three years, then it will be time to call for a change in leadership.

[64cat]

Sounds like the same folks that were ready to run Brooks out of town after the first few years are sounding off again !!!

[64cat]

No doubt UK was bottom of the pack of the SEC this year again. But if you couldn't notice progress from last year to this year then maybe your football IQ is questionable.
Give Stoops a few more years and UK will be much improved.

[insideinfo]

No doubt UK was bottom of the pack of the SEC this year again. But if you couldn't notice progress from last year to this year then maybe your football IQ is questionable.
Give Stoops a few more years and UK will be much improved.

What did we improve on. We could not even put our offense in because our defense was so bad, this what our AD said on the call in show Monday, Did you watch our Special Team. And our quarterback situation, do I need to say more.

[insideinfo]

Sounds like the same folks that were ready to run Brooks out of town after the first few years are sounding off again !!!

Explain to me what Brooks done. I find it embarrassing that Missouri went to SEC championship game in there second year. We have not had winning record against the SEC in over the 30 years.

[insideinfo]

No doubt UK was bottom of the pack of the SEC this year again. But if you couldn't notice progress from last year to this year then maybe your football IQ is questionable.
Give Stoops a few more years and UK will be much improved.

When checking football IQ look in the mirror.

[insideinfo]

I believe that a freshman will start next season at QB, whether it is Reese Phillips (RS FR) or Drew Barker. Barker's coming in early for spring practice so hopefully he can develop his game some more when he gets there. I would love it if Towles would start, but the reality is that he will likely never start at the University of Kentucky. I would like to know why that is, instead of it becoming a hush-hush issue, but I will say that we will never truly know why he's not getting a shot to play. Jojo Kemp will likely start in the backfield and split carries with Stanley Williams and Mikel Horton, and Williams will likely be split out wide at times as well in the passing game.

I believe in Coach Stoops and what he is doing. Kentucky fans have to understand that football is not like basketball; you can't recruit one or two guys and expect to win 80-90% of your games with most of the production coming from just those two players. It takes at least 15-18 difference makers out there to turn things around, and from what I saw this season, there were only about seven players who could truly make a big impact if they played somewhere else. These players are: Kemp, Timmons, ZaDarius Smith, Bud Dupree (who's widely inconsistent) Hatcher, Javess Blue, and Jeff Badet. Six of those seven guys were Stoops recruits and four of those six guys are freshmen with the other two players (Smith and Blue) as JUCO recruits (Smith led the team in sacks). Give Stoops time. If he doesn't have the ship righted in three years, then it will be time to call for a change in leadership.

I agree with everything you said, but to build a program you have to have stability at head coach, our AD hired a coach with zero coaching experience over a proven winner and I'm afraid it will come back to bit us again.

[honestjchsfan]

Explain to me what Brooks done. I find it embarrassing that Missouri went to SEC championship game in there second year. We have not had winning record against the SEC in over the 30 years.

Rich Brooks done a lot for UK football! First of all he beat every team in the powerful SEC West with the exception of Bama. He had UK rated in the Top Ten at one point. Those 'Banjo Bowls" are important to building a football programs. The Bowl practice period is very important to player development. I honestly think that the major mistake that Brooks made was having the Joker on his staff. Joker's poor play calling kept Brooks from beating more SEC teams. What kept Brooks from moving UK to the upper class of the SEC was depth. Brooks at one point had the Nations longest nonconference winning streak. Go to Rivals and take a look at some of UK's recruiting classes, the 2002, 2003 and 2004 recruiting classes had a total of three 4 Star recruits Micah Jones, Andrea Woodson are two of the three the other one (Yancey Reynolds) never made it to UK. Of those 3 classes they were made up mostly of 2 Stars guys. IMO Stoops is on the right track, he is bringing in a higher level of talent.

[BlackcatAlum]

Rich Brooks done a lot for UK football! First of all he beat every team in the powerful SEC West with the exception of Bama. He had UK rated in the Top Ten at one point. Those 'Banjo Bowls" are important to building a football programs. The Bowl practice period is very important to player development. I honestly think that the major mistake that Brooks made was having the Joker on his staff. Joker's poor play calling kept Brooks from beating more SEC teams. What kept Brooks from moving UK to the upper class of the SEC was depth. Brooks at one point had the Nations longest nonconference winning streak. Go to Rivals and take a look at some of UK's recruiting classes, the 2002, 2003 and 2004 recruiting classes had a total of three 4 Star recruits Micah Jones, Andrea Woodson are two of the three the other one (Yancey Reynolds) never made it to UK. Of those 3 classes they were made up mostly of 2 Stars guys. IMO Stoops is on the right track, he is bringing in a higher level of talent.

Brooks was a great coach. What kept him from moving UK forward was the lack of a financial commitment from the administration. He couldn't competitively recruit against the likes of the rest of the SEC. If you want to win consistently, you have to be able to recruit. Now the administration is backing the football program. A big time investment has been made to upgrade Commonwealth Stadium to one of the nicest stadiums in the country. The program will finally have a recruiting room, that Brooks begged for.

I think Stoops will get the job done. This is a job that he wanted. I don't think he realized just how bad this job was until he got here, but with the way he and his staff are recruiting you can only be excited. I don't think any other staff could've come on and landed a recruiting class as good as this 2014 class is at the moment.

If your expectations are for more than 4 wins next year then you're crazy. I'm guessing 3-4 wins next season and hopefully a shot at a bowl in 2015. That's realistic expectations for this program.

[64cat]

What did we improve on. We could not even put our offense in because our defense was so bad, this what our AD said on the call in show Monday, Did you watch our Special Team. And our quarterback situation, do I need to say more.

While this years team has left much room for improvement there were modest gains from the previous year. The offense led by an inept qb situation did gain more than 85 yds a game more than last year and score 3 points a game more. Plus last years team was shut out twice compared to none this year against what was one of the country's toughest schedules in FBS all the while being competitive in all of the games save two.
This years team will return around 8 starters on both sides of the ball, which bodes better for next year coupled with the schools best recruiting class in history set to come in. I realize the end results are the same but as I said if you couldn't see the improvement then..........

[64cat]

Explain to me what Brooks done. I find it embarrassing that Missouri went to SEC championship game in there second year. We have not had winning record against the SEC in over the 30 years.

Besides the fact of taking UK to five straight bowls ( school record ) and defeated a #1 team ( and National Champion LSU. A lot by UK's standards and past history.

[64cat]

When checking football IQ look in the mirror.

If I could hold a mirror next to this computer screen, the mirror holds a lot more !!

[insideinfo]

While this years team has left much room for improvement there were modest gains from the previous year. The offense led by an inept qb situation did gain more than 85 yds a game more than last year and score 3 points a game more. Plus last years team was shut out twice compared to none this year against what was one of the country's toughest schedules in FBS all the while being competitive in all of the games save two.
This years team will return around 8 starters on both sides of the ball, which bodes better for next year coupled with the schools best recruiting class in history set to come in. I realize the end results are the same but as I said if you couldn't see the improvement then..........

If you call finishing 13th in total defense and 13th in total offense improvement I will give it to you.

[insideinfo]

Besides the fact of taking UK to five straight bowls ( school record ) and defeated a #1 team ( and National Champion LSU. A lot by UK's standards and past history.

I call being in the hunt for SEC championships and playing in major bowls successful. Not a losing record against SEC competition. Yes you can call Brooks successful by Kentucky standards but at most SEC schools his record gets you fired. Maybe me believing that just because your at Kentucky you can't be successful is a bunch of bull. If you can win at Virginia Tech and Boise St. You can win anywhere. Just because we have AD that cares more about Olympic sports and try to bargain hunt on football coaches so he can tout his success in these sports. By the way I was at everyone of Brooks home games, two of his Bowl games and more than a few away games. But I will never step foot in Commonwealth again until BARNHEAD is gone.

[insideinfo]

If I could hold a mirror next to this computer screen, the mirror holds a lot more !!

I'm not hiding behind anything I just call them like I see them.

[Fromthebleachers]

UK will get better. Back to what they were... competitive...midnight madness rolls around..forget it. Basketball will take the forefront as usual.

[honestjchsfan]

Brooks was a great coach. What kept him from moving UK forward was the lack of a financial commitment from the administration. He couldn't competitively recruit against the likes of the rest of the SEC. If you want to win consistently, you have to be able to recruit. Now the administration is backing the football program. A big time investment has been made to upgrade Commonwealth Stadium to one of the nicest stadiums in the country. The program will finally have a recruiting room, that Brooks begged for.

I think Stoops will get the job done. This is a job that he wanted. I don't think he realized just how bad this job was until he got here, but with the way he and his staff are recruiting you can only be excited. I don't think any other staff could've come on and landed a recruiting class as good as this 2014 class is at the moment.

If your expectations are for more than 4 wins next year then you're crazy. I'm guessing 3-4 wins next season and hopefully a shot at a bowl in 2015. That's realistic expectations for this program.

I agree with your point about the lack of financial commitment. When Jerry Claiborne was coach at UK he had many 5 or 6 win seasons and it seemed he was always playing UT for a chance to go to a bowl game. UK would always lose a few starters by the time they got to UT. UT's superior depth was their major advantage VS UK. I think Stoops has a plan to improve UK's rooster from top to bottom and is recruiting the type of players needed to do this. I disagree with your expectations for next season. With the number of returning starters and the incoming transfers along with the incoming freshmen UK should be much improved next season and there is no reason why they should not be able to win 5 or 6 games. The key to winning those games will be better play at QB. I honestly think that by the middle of next season we will see a very good UK defensive unit.

[BlackcatAlum]

I agree with your point about the lack of financial commitment. When Jerry Claiborne was coach at UK he had many 5 or 6 win seasons and it seemed he was always playing UT for a chance to go to a bowl game. UK would always lose a few starters by the time they got to UT. UT's superior depth was their major advantage VS UK. I think Stoops has a plan to improve UK's rooster from top to bottom and is recruiting the type of players needed to do this. I disagree with your expectations for next season. With the number of returning starters and the incoming transfers along with the incoming freshmen UK should be much improved next season and there is no reason why they should not be able to win 5 or 6 games. The key to winning those games will be better play at QB. I honestly think that by the middle of next season we will see a very good UK defensive unit.

5 or 6 wins wouldn't shock me, but you're right, it all really relies on whether or not UK has a quarterback who can go out there and throw the ball successfully. Heck, UK probably beats Miss State, Vandy, WKU, and maybe Tennessee this past season with at least an average quarterback.

Next year they will have more depth, but with that depth will be youth and inexperience. A lot of freshman will play next season, likely even more than this past season.

[insideinfo]

His many recruits are we going to lose?

[RunItUpTheGut]

Sounds like the same folks that were ready to run Brooks out of town after the first few years are sounding off again !!!

I was sounding off on Brooks, Joke, Mumme, Curry, etc.

Weve never had a good coach in my lifetime.

[honestjchsfan]

I was sounding off on Brooks, Joke, Mumme, Curry, etc.

Weve never had a good coach in my lifetime.

Not sure how old you are but Jerry Claiborne was a great football coach! BlackCatAlum hit the nail on the head about the "lack of a financial commitment from the UK administration"!