Id say he will probably leave and when Brooks retires he will consider taking the job at UK if he dosent get any better offers.

Good post on striking while the irons hot. I hadn't thought about that. If we go back to mediocrity after this year, Joker may not seem like such a genius. But, I feel that we should be able to win 7 games or so next year which would be quite an accomplishment for UK after losing the players we will lose. It's a gamble either way you look at it. If he goes somewhere else and does poorly he may miss out on his chance to come back to UK. Who knows though, lets just focus on this season, that despite last weeks tough loss has to be classified as magical by our standards. GO Cats!

What kind of timetable do you all think we are talking about here? Not that I want Brooks to leave, because nothing could be further from the truth, but how much longer do you think Brooks will stay in coaching and how much longer do you think Joker will wait?

His stock is high but he will be the next UK coach in 3 years!!!

Would it not be better for UK if he got a head coaching job next year so he will have a couple years of experience when Brooks retires?

Ive noticed more than half of the recruits for next season have been brought in by joker.

I'm more afraid of Sanders leaving...Pulley need Sanders for at least one more year! When Brooks and Joker were hired I have always believed there is a little non-spoken agreement that Joker would have dibs on being the next head man at UK!

I see Joker staying around. He's a former Cat, and appears to love UK. He's an excellent recruiter and is building our program to his liking. IMO it's set up that he will relace Brooks when he decides to step down. I hope we keep him. What a find he was. I feel that as long as we have him on our side we will continue to rise as a program. The reason I don't think he'll leave is because the jobs offered will be struggling teams like possibly Nebraska or even Michigan if they lose to OSU and Les Miles doesn't take the job. Why would he want to do that when in 3 years or so he can have a good team that he helped build?? In three years with continued improvement UK could be an annual threat to win the SEC.

 

You guys are crazy if you don't think that Joker would jump all over the Nebraska or Michigan job. I'm not slighting UK in any way, but these are two of the premiere jobs in all of the land. Most HEAD coaches would drop whatever program they are at to land one of these jobs. Financially, UK will never be able to match what Mich or Nebraska could pay their head coach. The school may be able to pony up to match the "base salary" that the coach makes, but the incentives are what set apart the big name programs from all the rest. For instance, Lloyd Carr only makes 1,460,000 at UM, while Rich Brooks makes 1,000,000 at UK. But Carr also has incentives that include a percentage of ALL team apparel sold (can you imagine what that figure is for Michigan :eek: ), an equal amount to his base salary for his TV and radio appearances, not to mention public appearances and the like. Typically the base salary only makes up 25% of what the coaches actually make. Here are a few links:

 

http://www.collegesportsreport.com/Archives_Pages/Coaching_Changes/DIACoachesComp.htm

 

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/2006-11-16-coaches-salaries-cover_x.htm