He has to win 5 this year to get to next year, no bowl next year and he's history.

 

All of this is solved if he goes bowling this year however.

 

If they make a bowl he'll probably get a 10 year extension.

 

What TheDeuce said. If they go bowling this year with that schedule then he should get AT LEAST a 10 year extension.

If they do then the program is doomed even more than it already is.

 

Completely disagree. If they do say go 4 and 8 or 5 and 7 then you have to consider making a change. Especially if they do what they did the last 2 years and get worst as the year goes on.

 

He has done a better job with recruiting and he has all his players. However he has to show progress in the development of them.

 

I have already been on record a few times complaining when they first hired Joker that they messed up then too. The most successful Coach they had was a guy with head coaching experience in Brooks. The last 2 have been guys with no head coaching experience. So I don't think they are doomed at all if they get rid of him after this year. However they have to stay away from coaches with no head coach experience. Get a up and coming head coach with experience of success at a smaller school or even mid major aND see if he can develop these recruits Stoops brought in.

Completely disagree. If they do say go 4 and 8 or 5 and 7 then you have to consider making a change. Especially if they do what they did the last 2 years and get worst as the year goes on.

 

He has done a better job with recruiting and he has all his players. However he has to show progress in the development of them.

 

I have already been on record a few times complaining when they first hired Joker that they messed up then too. The most successful Coach they had was a guy with head coaching experience in Brooks. The last 2 have been guys with no head coaching experience. So I don't think they are doomed at all if they get rid of him after this year. However they have to stay away from coaches with no head coach experience. Get a up and coming head coach with experience of success at a smaller school or even mid major aND see if he can develop these recruits Stoops brought in.

 

Pipe dream. They fire Stoops after this year they will never get a coach worth his salt at UK. Why would any coach who knows what he is doing come to coach at UK in the SEC when making it to the Beach Ball Bowl is considered legendary but incredibly hard to accomplish with an SEC schedule? Career suicide.

Pipe dream. They fire Stoops after this year they will never get a coach worth his salt at UK. Why would any coach who knows what he is doing come to coach at UK in the SEC when making it to the Beach Ball Bowl is considered legendary but incredibly hard to accomplish with an SEC schedule? Career suicide.

 

The same reason why any Coach goes to a bigger school. More money, better facilities, more fans, and chances to boast a resume. Coaches have the biggest egos in the world, so a lot of coaches always believe they can be the ones to turn a program around. Just like Stoops leaving FSU who he knew was going to be loaded and chance to win a title. Yet he left for a chance to prove he can turn UK around.

 

Which UK is not an end destination job. However it is a job up and coming head coaches would seriously look at. Knowing if they turn UK around and be a consistent bowl team they will be loved. However more importantly better football Schools will see a coach who beat the odds and got UK to bowl games and then would go after that coach.

 

Do you honestly believe Stoops viewed UK as an end destination job? He thought if he could come in and do even partly well it would help his chances for a better football school job.

 

UK should use that when selling the job. Embrace being a stepping stone job for up and coming coaches. Shoot UL fans never wanted to admit it, and always acted like it wasn't a stepping stone job. However UL being a stepping stone job for up and coming coaches helped make it the successful job it is and now a very attractive job. John L. Smith left for something better. Petrino left for something he considered better after moving UL forward more, the next Coach didn't work out, but then Strong left UL for something better however he also helped keep making UL a better program. By being a stepping stone school for up and coming coaches he helped make them into a very good football school. Where now even if Petrino left again they would be an attractive job to a lot of coaches.

 

UL was nothing and not an attractive job, but giving up and coming coaches that chance helped make what they are today. Would it be a quick process not at all. Maybe the next Coach gets them to consistently make bowls like Brooks did. Then when that Coach gets a better job, they get another up and coming Coach and see if he can build off that. Will UK ever be a top dog in the second, nope. Could UK become a much more consistent football school and maybe get to the point of every now and then competing for the East? Yes. However it is a process and imo starts by embracing being a stepping stone job for up and coming coaches with head coaching experience.

I will add I don't think the sec is great top to bottom. It is very top heavy, with 3 or 4 teams every year that UK would have zero shot against. However most years the other 10 teams are not these unbeatable teams where UK should have a chance to beat if they get it right. They were on that track with Brooks and did that stupid Coach in waiting stuf with Joker. They would have been an attractive job for up and coming head coaches with experience as a head coach and could have continued on the path Brooks got them to.

The same reason why any Coach goes to a bigger school. More money, better facilities, more fans, and chances to boast a resume. Coaches have the biggest egos in the world, so a lot of coaches always believe they can be the ones to turn a program around. Just like Stoops leaving FSU who he knew was going to be loaded and chance to win a title. Yet he left for a chance to prove he can turn UK around.

 

Which UK is not an end destination job. However it is a job up and coming head coaches would seriously look at. Knowing if they turn UK around and be a consistent bowl team they will be loved. However more importantly better football Schools will see a coach who beat the odds and got UK to bowl games and then would go after that coach.

 

Do you honestly believe Stoops viewed UK as an end destination job? He thought if he could come in and do even partly well it would help his chances for a better football school job.

 

UK should use that when selling the job. Embrace being a stepping stone job for up and coming coaches. Shoot UL fans never wanted to admit it, and always acted like it wasn't a stepping stone job. However UL being a stepping stone job for up and coming coaches helped make it the successful job it is and now a very attractive job. John L. Smith left for something better. Petrino left for something he considered better after moving UL forward more, the next Coach didn't work out, but then Strong left UL for something better however he also helped keep making UL a better program. By being a stepping stone school for up and coming coaches he helped make them into a very good football school. Where now even if Petrino left again they would be an attractive job to a lot of coaches.

 

UL was nothing and not an attractive job, but giving up and coming coaches that chance helped make what they are today. Would it be a quick process not at all. Maybe the next Coach gets them to consistently make bowls like Brooks did. Then when that Coach gets a better job, they get another up and coming Coach and see if he can build off that. Will UK ever be a top dog in the second, nope. Could UK become a much more consistent football school and maybe get to the point of every now and then competing for the East? Yes. However it is a process and imo starts by embracing being a stepping stone job for up and coming coaches with head coaching experience.

 

So when Stoops gets fired who is going to hire him as a head coach again? He'll have to go back to that coordinator life he had at FSU and it'll be a long long time before he is ever a head coach again at a quality school if he can't hang on at UK.

 

And yes, UK being a stepping stone school and embracing that mentality is exactly why they need to keep letting Stoops be the head coach for the next 3 years at least. If after 7 years and no bowls then fire him but after only 4 years isn't enough time. You're not a stepping stone school if you are firing coaches. You are a stepping stone school if your coaches are leaving you for better programs or making lateral movements like Petrino and Strong did at UL. Stoops doesn't have the background that those two did and UK's next coach will be like Stoops was coming in to UK. If we're being truthful if they fire Stoops this year chances are the next coach will be even less qualified than Stoops was when he was hired.

 

This is the SEC and the SEC has been kicking Stoops' butt since he stepped on campus. Off the top of my head I'm sure he has a winning record against non-SEC teams. It's the conference schedule that is killing him. A first time head coach for an SEC school? That man needs more than 4 years to figure out how to win as a head coach in the toughest conference in college football.

Off the top of my head I'm sure he has a winning record against non-SEC teams. It's the conference schedule that is killing him.

 

I would hope so... Outside of Louisville they play exactly no one OOC.

I would hope so... Outside of Louisville they play exactly no one OOC.

 

Very true. They shouldn't. The SEC is brutal enough. And if he was losing to those teams then I'd have an issue with him. For now I don't.

What should be three automatic wins in the non-Louisville, non-conference schedule.

 

South Carolina now has Will Muschamp's bumbling without Florida's talent.

 

Vanderbilt is spiraling downward.

 

Missouri doesn't seem to be getting any better and have struggled mightily to recapture their big moment a couple years ago.

 

I'm giving UK the benefit of the doubt and saying they win all of those but still drop games to Louisville and Florida (what I'd consider the other two winnable games o the list).

 

6-6. Stoops gets his bowl and Cat fans can legitimately view the program as moving in a positive direction.

Very true. They shouldn't. The SEC is brutal enough. And if he was losing to those teams then I'd have an issue with him. For now I don't.

 

They shouldn't even be playing Louisville right now if we're being honest.

They shouldn't even be playing Louisville right now if we're being honest.

 

I agree BUT they can't back out of that. Just gotta take those lumps until they grow up a little more.

So when Stoops gets fired who is going to hire him as a head coach again? He'll have to go back to that coordinator life he had at FSU and it'll be a long long time before he is ever a head coach again at a quality school if he can't hang on at UK.

 

And yes, UK being a stepping stone school and embracing that mentality is exactly why they need to keep letting Stoops be the head coach for the next 3 years at least. If after 7 years and no bowls then fire him but after only 4 years isn't enough time. You're not a stepping stone school if you are firing coaches. You are a stepping stone school if your coaches are leaving you for better programs or making lateral movements like Petrino and Strong did at UL. Stoops doesn't have the background that those two did and UK's next coach will be like Stoops was coming in to UK. If we're being truthful if they fire Stoops this year chances are the next coach will be even less qualified than Stoops was when he was hired.

 

This is the SEC and the SEC has been kicking Stoops' butt since he stepped on campus. Off the top of my head I'm sure he has a winning record against non-SEC teams. It's the conference schedule that is killing him. A first time head coach for an SEC school? That man needs more than 4 years to figure out how to win as a head coach in the toughest conference in college football.

 

That is my point. You act like if UK fired Stoops, they wouldn't be able to get anyone. Just like in the case with Stoops, all coaches have big ego's and think their way of coaching will be the way that works. Which is why Stoops took the UK job because he thought he had what it takes to turn it around. Which UK was in a lot worst place after Joker than they would be after Stoops if they fired him.

 

Which for UK to be a stepping stone job, a coach would have to come in and be successful. The last 2 years Stoops teams have got worst as the year went on and not better. Which is why I said if we see the same thing again, then you have to look into getting rid of him. UK would be a more attractive job than it was after Joker, because Stoops did recruit better, he just hasn't shown to coach them up well yet. So for a young up and coming head coach with experience at a smaller school it would be attractive. People would see some talent here, and know if they get UK to a bowl game they would be beloved while here at UK, and more importantly for them. It would look good on their resume for getting a better job after UK, for being a coach that got UK to bowl games. Just like if Rich Brooks wasn't so old at the time, and he was younger he probably would have had a chance to leave UK for a better job too.

 

Getting rid of Stoops would not completely kill this program like you say it would. Hopefully Stoops does well this year, which I think they will be a bowl team. My point is if they are like they were the last 2 years, then you have to strongly consider making a change.

That is my point. You act like if UK fired Stoops, they wouldn't be able to get anyone. Just like in the case with Stoops, all coaches have big ego's and think their way of coaching will be the way that works. Which is why Stoops took the UK job because he thought he had what it takes to turn it around. Which UK was in a lot worst place after Joker than they would be after Stoops if they fired him.

 

Which for UK to be a stepping stone job, a coach would have to come in and be successful. The last 2 years Stoops teams have got worst as the year went on and not better. Which is why I said if we see the same thing again, then you have to look into getting rid of him. UK would be a more attractive job than it was after Joker, because Stoops did recruit better, he just hasn't shown to coach them up well yet. So for a young up and coming head coach with experience at a smaller school it would be attractive. People would see some talent here, and know if they get UK to a bowl game they would be beloved while here at UK, and more importantly for them. It would look good on their resume for getting a better job after UK, for being a coach that got UK to bowl games. Just like if Rich Brooks wasn't so old at the time, and he was younger he probably would have had a chance to leave UK for a better job too.

 

Getting rid of Stoops would not completely kill this program like you say it would. Hopefully Stoops does well this year, which I think they will be a bowl team. My point is if they are like they were the last 2 years, then you have to strongly consider making a change.

 

Agree to disagree. If they fire Stoops after this year they will never have a quality coach ever again.

 

This team is not a bowl team at all. I hope I'm wrong but I don't see 6 wins on that schedule. Stoops' teams got worse as the year went on because of injuries and lack of depth. He can't bring in 3-4 star players off the bench like most of these SEC teams can and do. Until he gets to that point he needs to be given all the time in the world.

Agree to disagree. If they fire Stoops after this year they will never have a quality coach ever again.

 

This team is not a bowl team at all. I hope I'm wrong but I don't see 6 wins on that schedule. Stoops' teams got worse as the year went on because of injuries and lack of depth. He can't bring in 3-4 star players off the bench like most of these SEC teams can and do. Until he gets to that point he needs to be given all the time in the world.

 

That's the point. What has he shown that makes him a quality head coach? Just take a look at last year. Yeah they struggled in the SEC but they also struggled against teams they should never struggle against like Eastern Kentucky, forgot what the other team was.

 

I agreed that he needed another year still after last year. However he is year 4 now, so there has to be some growth shown. They could end up only winning 5 games again but look much better doing it. The last 2 years they got worst as the year went on and that included against teams not in the sec. He has all his own players and so there is no reason to now show some growth this year.

 

Which if they get worst as the year goes on. I have no idea how you could possibly think they couldn't get someone better than him. He was a good DC but being good coordinator doesn't mean your a good head coach. If they fired him they could get a younget coach with head coach experience who may be better at coaching players up than him. I don't know what is so hard to grasp about that. At UK your not going to get star players. So you have to be able to coach up the ones you do have. Rich Brooks proved that was possible, but once again he also had head coaching experience before coming here. Which is my point UK could get someone with head coaching experience even if it's a mid major school. So I don't know how you can say there is no way someone else could end up doing better if UK still looks the same this year

Agree to disagree. If they fire Stoops after this year they will never have a quality coach ever again.

 

This team is not a bowl team at all. I hope I'm wrong but I don't see 6 wins on that schedule. Stoops' teams got worse as the year went on because of injuries and lack of depth. He can't bring in 3-4 star players off the bench like most of these SEC teams can and do. Until he gets to that point he needs to be given all the time in the world.

 

Sorry for the long post. However you are right we have to agree to disagree. Because I certainly don't see how you can say UK has no chance to find a coach who could do better than Stoops. If UK once again shows no growth and gets worst as the year goes on.