Is Stoops more popular than Cal?

[The Flea Market]

He is the man right now! Better get out that checkbook!  

[ChickenWyngz]

No.

[TheDeuce]

Is this a serious question?

[Jumper_Dad]

Right now, at this moment? Probably so. 

That said, fans would be more upset if Cal were to leave. He would be much harder to replace.

[Irish Cat]

38 minutes ago, Jumper_Dad said:

Right now, at this moment? Probably so. 

That said, fans would be more upset if Cal were to leave. He would be much harder to replace.

I'm not so sure about that.  To this point three of the four coaches prior to Cal won as many championships as he has and two of those three have almost as many final fours.  Cal might have caused a bit more buzz but that could just be a factor of the social media era.  The results on the court are quite similar to what UK fans have seen before.  

Stoops on the other hand seems to be entering uncharted territory for a UK football coach.  Especially if we are taking like 1980's and on.  

 

[Jumper_Dad]

14 minutes ago, Irish Cat said:

I'm not so sure about that.  To this point three of the four coaches prior to Cal won as many championships as he has and two of those three have almost as many final fours.  Cal might have caused a bit more buzz but that could just be a factor of the social media era.  The results on the court are quite similar to what UK fans have seen before.  

Stoops on the other hand seems to be entering uncharted territory for a UK football coach.  Especially if we are taking like 1980's and on.  

 

Everything you said is true. However I think right now, today, it would be harder to replace Cal with a similar quality coach than it would be to replace Coach Stoops. 

Just my opinion. 

[9068]

You might want to pose this question in a few weeks and check the responses. He's doing a fine job. But......fans only remember the good times.

[TheDeuce]

All you have to do is tell UK fans one of the two have to go… You’ll get your answer, in nearly unanimous fashion.

[bugatti]

1 hour ago, Irish Cat said:

I'm not so sure about that.  To this point three of the four coaches prior to Cal won as many championships as he has and two of those three have almost as many final fours.  Cal might have caused a bit more buzz but that could just be a factor of the social media era.  The results on the court are quite similar to what UK fans have seen before.  

Stoops on the other hand seems to be entering uncharted territory for a UK football coach.  Especially if we are taking like 1980's and on.  

 

Let's be real. The bars for these two coaches is night and day. The expectation for Calipari is 37 wins, cutting down the nets every other year, and the top recruiting class that includes two Kentucky born starters (none of which is realistic, obviously). Stoops' bar is to win 2-3 SEC games and to lock up six wins. He has caught a downswing in SEC East competition. Kudos to him for taking advantage to the extent he has, but it is a low bar.

Popularity is subjective. I am sure there are UK only basketball fans that don't know who Mark Stoops is. Definitely college football fans outside Kentucky that don't know him.  I bet there are zero UK only football that don't know Calipari and zero college basketball fans that don't know of him.

[bugatti]

30 minutes ago, 9068 said:

You might want to pose this question in a few weeks and check the responses. He's doing a fine job. But......fans only remember the good times.

Yep. To this point UK has won a singular game they should not have and didn't exactly looks lights out in the other contests. Hope he keeps it up!

[Bert]

5 hours ago, The Flea Market said:

He is the man right now! Better get out that checkbook!  

I agree, Barnhart needs to extend his contract or watch another team steal him away.  If UK beats LSU did Stoops just cost Coach O his job and earn his next job if Barnhart doesn't extend his contract?

[Irish Cat]

1 hour ago, bugatti said:

Let's be real. The bars for these two coaches is night and day. The expectation for Calipari is 37 wins, cutting down the nets every other year, and the top recruiting class that includes two Kentucky born starters (none of which is realistic, obviously). Stoops' bar is to win 2-3 SEC games and to lock up six wins. He has caught a downswing in SEC East competition. Kudos to him for taking advantage to the extent he has, but it is a low bar.

Popularity is subjective. I am sure there are UK only basketball fans that don't know who Mark Stoops is. Definitely college football fans outside Kentucky that don't know him.  I bet there are zero UK only football that don't know Calipari and zero college basketball fans that don't know of him.

I know the bar is higher for Cal but I think several coaches would be capable of coming in and having a similar level of success.  37 wins is nice but more a few losses would easily be forgiven if one were to win more than one title in a decade.  If a couple of games had gone the other way Cal could easily be in a different atmosphere but as things stand he's only won one title.  I think plenty of high level coaches would have interest in the job.  

Perhaps I'll be surprised when the time comes to replace Stoops but I just don't see UK football has having the same level of attraction.  And outside of Stoops nobody has really proven that they put together a string of successful seasons in the last 50 years.  

UK basketball sells itself to some degree.  Anyone who isn't focused on middle school players should be able to recruit here.  I'm just not sure that the football program is at the level that it will sustain itself once Stoops is gone.  Tubby wasn't exactly know as a big time recruiter even still he assembled some pretty good teams.  One more Final Four and I think he would be remembered much more favorably.  

 

 

[Irish Cat]

I think another factor to consider is whether or not Stoops would continue to recruit at the same level if he were to lose Vince Marrow.  He seems to be as much as a reason for the programs success as Stoops.  

[John Anthony]

6 hours ago, Jumper_Dad said:

Right now, at this moment? Probably so. 

That said, fans would be more upset if Cal were to leave. He would be much harder to replace.

We agree on something!  Right now he 100% is.  2 weeks from now it likely goes back to Cal.  Cal is starting to get his lottery picks back and hopefully another trip to the final 4.

[John Anthony]

4 hours ago, TheDeuce said:

All you have to do is tell UK fans one of the two have to go… You’ll get your answer, in nearly unanimous fashion.

What was our basketball record last year?  You take the Lamborghini away from a good driver, you get the results of a Kia Stinger.