Big UK Football Off Season for 2015-16

[UKani]

First let me say, for those who want Mark Stoops fired already just look at Mizzou and its coaching search and understand that we would not have been able to get a better coach than Mark Stoops. Mizzou will probably offer Sonny Dykes, but nobody believes that Dykes will leave Cal for Mizzou. They'll interview Mike Bobo and Troy Calhoun as well, but the likely bet according to others is that Mizzou will end up hiring its current Defensive Coordinator as Head Coach. UK would have been in a similar situation and probably would have had to do a Hal Mumme type of hire, meaning hire a head coach from a level other than FBS level of competition.

As for the off season activities are concerned. Now that Kirby Smart has just about locked up the Georgia job, I think you'll see Derrick Ansley follow him their. Ansley isn't one that Mark Stoops wants to lose, I just think that Ansley's relationship with Kirby Smart will lead to an offer for him to join Georgia and that offer will be took great to resist. So with that said I do believe UK will look for another CB coach this offseason because of that.

As far as any real movement caused by Mark Stoops, I think we are going to have to wait a while before we see anything really happen, baring Shannon Dawson getting a head coaching position. Mark Stoops has a history of taking his time and vetting out the process before making a move, he doesn't make quick moves. With the talk of how important this current recruiting class is to the building of UK Football and the ties that some of these players have to coaches, I really don't see any firings of assistant coaches coming until after the signing period. The only coaches that I see that would be on the chopping block would be Tommy Mainord, John Schlarman, and DJ Elliot.
Tommy Mainord is probably the safest bet of any assistant coach being fired. The WR position was supposed to be UK's deepest and talented this past year and that just didn't show up, add to it that no player of any significants in this current recruiting class has any ties to Tommy Mainord and you've got a candidate to not return next year.
John Schlarman, even though his seat is warm he'll still get a chance to return next year based on current OLine recruits from this recruiting class being vocal that they want him to return. Next year is really a make it or break it year for Schlarman.
DJ Elliot is hard to read a bit, a lot of football minds, not just at UK but other places as well, believed that UK's defense overachieved at times under DJ Elliot. Which is a good thing. However there were other times that people were frustrated with the lack of adjustments by him. Mark Stoops is weighing options here. If DJ Elliot doesn't get fired then look for his responsibilities to change officially or unofficially. Officially, meaning a title change which would be either Co-DC or flat out demotion. Unofficially, meaning he'll keep the title as DC but either Andy Buh will be working more in that capacity with him unofficially or that Mark Stoops will take more control of it.

As for Shannon Dawson, he won't be fired. However Mark Stoops will help him land a head coaching job at ULM. If Shannon Dawson doesn't get the job then he'll be back at UK. If we do see Shannon Dawson leave UK for a HC job, don't expect the next OC to be an Air Raid guy. It still may be a spread offense, but not Air Raid. A likely candidate would be James Coley again, considering that he's going to be out of a job at Miami and that he's a friend of Mark Stoops, it would be a no brainer that he'd be a candidate. Ultimately I think an OC that runs something similar to Bobby Petrino, a true power spread offense, would be the choice.

 

[gobigblue812_rivals29381]

Dawson to a HC position would make things easier. I'd love to have Coley but I'm not sure he'll come. Might have to truly open the checkbook to convince him.

 

[JasonS.]

I think there's a pretty good chance Dykes goes to either Missouri for Virginia. Bidding war possible.

 

[wildcatdon]

Stoops might be better off staying away from hiring his friends. just saying..

 

[Mr Schwump]

First let me say, for those who want Mark Stoops fired already just look at Mizzou and its coaching search and understand that we would not have been able to get a better coach than Mark Stoops. Mizzou will probably offer Sonny Dykes, but nobody believes that Dykes will leave Cal for Mizzou. They'll interview Mike Bobo and Troy Calhoun as well, but the likely bet according to others is that Mizzou will end up hiring its current Defensive Coordinator as Head Coach. UK would have been in a similar situation and probably would have had to do a Hal Mumme type of hire, meaning hire a head coach from a level other than FBS level of competition.

As for the off season activities are concerned. Now that Kirby Smart has just about locked up the Georgia job, I think you'll see Derrick Ansley follow him their. Ansley isn't one that Mark Stoops wants to lose, I just think that Ansley's relationship with Kirby Smart will lead to an offer for him to join Georgia and that offer will be took great to resist. So with that said I do believe UK will look for another CB coach this offseason because of that.

As far as any real movement caused by Mark Stoops, I think we are going to have to wait a while before we see anything really happen, baring Shannon Dawson getting a head coaching position. Mark Stoops has a history of taking his time and vetting out the process before making a move, he doesn't make quick moves. With the talk of how important this current recruiting class is to the building of UK Football and the ties that some of these players have to coaches, I really don't see any firings of assistant coaches coming until after the signing period. The only coaches that I see that would be on the chopping block would be Tommy Mainord, John Schlarman, and DJ Elliot.
Tommy Mainord is probably the safest bet of any assistant coach being fired. The WR position was supposed to be UK's deepest and talented this past year and that just didn't show up, add to it that no player of any significants in this current recruiting class has any ties to Tommy Mainord and you've got a candidate to not return next year.
John Schlarman, even though his seat is warm he'll still get a chance to return next year based on current OLine recruits from this recruiting class being vocal that they want him to return. Next year is really a make it or break it year for Schlarman.
DJ Elliot is hard to read a bit, a lot of football minds, not just at UK but other places as well, believed that UK's defense overachieved at times under DJ Elliot. Which is a good thing. However there were other times that people were frustrated with the lack of adjustments by him. Mark Stoops is weighing options here. If DJ Elliot doesn't get fired then look for his responsibilities to change officially or unofficially. Officially, meaning a title change which would be either Co-DC or flat out demotion. Unofficially, meaning he'll keep the title as DC but either Andy Buh will be working more in that capacity with him unofficially or that Mark Stoops will take more control of it.

As for Shannon Dawson, he won't be fired. However Mark Stoops will help him land a head coaching job at ULM. If Shannon Dawson doesn't get the job then he'll be back at UK. If we do see Shannon Dawson leave UK for a HC job, don't expect the next OC to be an Air Raid guy. It still may be a spread offense, but not Air Raid. A likely candidate would be James Coley again, considering that he's going to be out of a job at Miami and that he's a friend of Mark Stoops, it would be a no brainer that he'd be a candidate. Ultimately I think an OC that runs something similar to Bobby Petrino, a true power spread offense, would be the choice.

Yeah, I was dreading to see Smart get a job because it's almost a given Ansley would follow. Good young coach and recruiter.

Agree about Mainord. He was pretty much a Neal Brown hire anyway. Schlarman stays but another who is on thin ice I think is Buh. Pretty sure he was on a one year contract. If Stoops were to bring in another DC he could push Buh out and give Eliot his responsibilities. Dawson to ULM would be interesting but only if Stoops can find somebody better who can salvage the O.

 

[Mr Schwump]

Stoops might be better off staying away from hiring his friends. just saying..

Depends on what you mean by "friends." Most all coaches hire people they've worked with or are familiar with. Of course, that may not mean BFFs.

 

[BlueRaider22]

Interesting points UKani. Glad to have you back on board......seems like you've been laying low for a long time.

To me, Eliot isn't too bad.....certainly had ups/downs. I don't like the lack of adjustments at all......but for the most part we did fairly ok. I think we held opponents to about 24 pts/game......and this was with undeveloped personnel and an offense that couldn't do anything.

I think the offense is the main issue that I'm struggling with. We've got too much talent on the offensive side of the ball not to field an offense substantially better than we've seen. And the lack of adjustments and suspect playcalling have just been infuriating.

 

[UKani]

Dawson to a HC position would make things easier. I'd love to have Coley but I'm not sure he'll come. Might have to truly open the checkbook to convince him.

If Coley doesn't have another job offer, then he'll be sitting at home. He won't be returning to Miami. Not sure you have to come out of pocket too much for that.

 

[UKani]

Yeah BlueRaider22, I've been laying low for a while. After the last fiasco with the hire of Shannon Dawson I decided to quick posting for a while. But I'm back. Been out of it for a little while.

 

[UKani]

Yeah, I was dreading to see Smart get a job because it's almost a given Ansley would follow. Good young coach and recruiter.

Agree about Mainord. He was pretty much a Neal Brown hire anyway. Schlarman stays but another who is on thin ice I think is Buh. Pretty sure he was on a one year contract. If Stoops were to bring in another DC he could push Buh out and give Eliot his responsibilities. Dawson to ULM would be interesting but only if Stoops can find somebody better who can salvage the O.

Buh could be pushed out, but I don't get the feeling that there will be big changes on the defensive side of it. Ansley being one, but its not one forced by Stoops. I think the only one that would be forced by Stoops is the DC, maybe Buh... his status has been quiet. He hasn't even been mentioned at all.

 

[Kybluedude]

I think Buh did a good job with the Lbs. D line was weak. No technique or twists at all.

 

[Pike 96]

Yeah BlueRaider22, I've been laying low for a while. After the last fiasco with the hire of Shannon Dawson I decided to quick posting for a while. But I'm back. Been out of it for a little while.

Good to have you back.....can you provide some more color around what you describe as the "last fiasco" around the Dawson hire? I am not a fan of his and very curious around your input on the back story and your thoughts on the hire?

thx

 

[Mojocat_rivals48469]

Interesting points UKani. Glad to have you back on board......seems like you've been laying low for a long time.

To me, Eliot isn't too bad.....certainly had ups/downs. I don't like the lack of adjustments at all......but for the most part we did fairly ok. I think we held opponents to about 24 pts/game......and this was with undeveloped personnel and an offense that couldn't do anything.

I think the offense is the main issue that I'm struggling with. We've got too much talent on the offensive side of the ball not to field an offense substantially better than we've seen. And the lack of adjustments and suspect playcalling have just been infuriating.

Agree with this. As much as Eliot underwhelms with lack of adjustment, I think the D has played for the most part pretty close to its talent level. Some exceptions, of course - notably the last game where we looked like we'd never seen a QB tuck the ball and run. Melvin Lewis' absence really made a difference to the negative. So, no praise for the D or Eliot, but about what you'd expect.

The Offense was a trainwreck.

 

[WildCard]

Well reasoned post UKani. If guys move on their accord, well, that is just the nature of being an assistant coach, especially a young one. As for guys possibly be dismissed, I am reluctant to even speculate about such changes. Nonetheless, to tag in on a few of your observations...

As far as Mainord goes, if the biggest complaint of about the WRs is catching the ball, I'm not sure how coaching can fix that. Yeah, you can do drills but "catching a ball" is fundamentally an eye-hand coordination thing. Some years back UoL had a guy that caught over 100 balls in a season but still dropped several balls just about every game. You can coach up route running, blocking, etc. but actually catching the ball is a more innate skill. IOW, I'm not sure a new receivers coach could cure Baker's dropsies.

If Schlarman is as important to the key new O-line recruits as you say I agree about his staying on at least 1 more year. You would know better than me but I think it is pretty hard to tell if OLs are being poorly coached or simply don't have the skills (usually footwork IMO) to compete at this level of play.

Regarding Elliot's "performance", given his background with Stoops at FSU, it is really hard for me to thing the "defensive problems" are all on Elliot. As far as defensive philosophy, game planning, etc. it strikes me that he and Stoops are joined at the hip. If Stoops is "engaged" with the defense as much as I think he is, I'm not sure anyone else would have any more success.

Lastly, I don't think Dawson has shown enough at WVA or UK to be a HC candidate on his own merit. If he has "previous connections" to another school seeking a new HC, that might be a different situation. And I'm not sure at all how Stoops could "influence" another school into hiring him.

All JMO.

Peace

 

[UKani]

Good to have you back.....can you provide some more color around what you describe as the "last fiasco" around the Dawson hire? I am not a fan of his and very curious around your input on the back story and your thoughts on the hire?

thx

Basically what happened was that Stoops narrowed his list down to a certain number of coordinators, and the way that some where talking Eddie Gran was his target. Then Mark Stoops second guessed himself and thought that he needed to keep the offense as similar as possible. So he narrowed it down again, Lincoln Riley and an unknown were the last standing. Stoops appeared unbothered about the hire and told people around him that everything will be fine and that he had his guy. What that meant was that he had 2 verbal agreements from 2 people. We knew who Lincoln Riley was, but we didn't know who the other person was. Then Stoops decided that he needed someone with a more physical nature, which is why he was considering Eddie Gran in the first place. That meant that Lincoln Riley wasn't going to be the guy the unknown person got the offer, which was Shannon Dawson.

So it looked like I was blowing hot smoke to everyone and that I didn't know what I was talking about. All the while situations like this are very fluid and things go back and forth all the time. I also know that Shannon Dawson's age factored into the decision. Neal Brown was a younger and that age had some issues with the players because he was so young, so Stoops thought he was doing a good thing by avoiding that age conflict with Lincoln Riley. I believe that Mark Stoops thought he was getting the next great Air Raid coach. There was nothing there suggesting otherwise. myself as well.

I don't have a big problem with Shannon Dawson. His scheme is fine, there is no scheme problem. And people want to harp on him being predictable, but we aren't talking about the fact that his problem was trying to scheme around UK's weaknesses of weak OLine, in accurate QB, and WRs who drop the ball way too much. When you are that bad it usually means that you aren't good at many things, so the things you are best at you have to do over and over again.
I think the problem with Shannon Dawson is that he's not imaginative enough. When you have bad offensive personnel you've got to try to trick play your way into a win like Vandy or even Florida. There are none with him. The other problem that I have with him is splitting snaps 50/50 between Towles and Barker. If Towles was going to be the starting QB then Towles should have gotten 70% of the practice snaps at a minimum. He needs every opportunity to get on the same page as his WRs. So when I read that he wasn't all season long it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see why.

 

[UKani]

Well reasoned post UKani. If guys move on their accord, well, that is just the nature of being an assistant coach, especially a young one. As for guys possibly be dismissed, I am reluctant to even speculate about such changes. Nonetheless, to tag in on a few of your observations...

As far as Mainord goes, if the biggest complaint of about the WRs is catching the ball, I'm not sure how coaching can fix that. Yeah, you can do drills but "catching a ball" is fundamentally an eye-hand coordination thing. Some years back UoL had a guy that caught over 100 balls in a season but still dropped several balls just about every game. You can coach up route running, blocking, etc. but actually catching the ball is a more innate skill. IOW, I'm not sure a new receivers coach could cure Baker's dropsies.

If Schlarman is as important to the key new O-line recruits as you say I agree about his staying on at least 1 more year. You would know better than me but I think it is pretty hard to tell if OLs are being poorly coached or simply don't have the skills (usually footwork IMO) to compete at this level of play.

Regarding Elliot's "performance", given his background with Stoops at FSU, it is really hard for me to thing the "defensive problems" are all on Elliot. As far as defensive philosophy, game planning, etc. it strikes me that he and Stoops are joined at the hip. If Stoops is "engaged" with the defense as much as I think he is, I'm not sure anyone else would have any more success.

Lastly, I don't think Dawson has shown enough at WVA or UK to be a HC candidate on his own merit. If he has "previous connections" to another school seeking a new HC, that might be a different situation. And I'm not sure at all how Stoops could "influence" another school into hiring him.

All JMO.

Peace

Yeah Dawson is supposed to have some ties to ULM, not sure what they are, but that's the reason why he's being considered and could back into that job since the other coaches are believed to get other jobs or flat out turn it down.

AS for Tommy Mainord, its a couple of reasons. Stoops wants to really get into the DMV area and he has Tommy Mainord in that area. Last recruiting season we had a lot of activity in that area, but since the DE decommitted and went to Virginia Tech all activity in that area has been non-existant. Stoops really feels his best bet at great talent is going to be outside the SEC where the playing field is a little more even. The other part is that some just don't feel like the WR position was handled properly. Each position coach is responsible for subbing in and out there own players at their position. With that said, WR was the deepest position on offense, but seldom saw anybody other than the starters on the field. When Dorian Baker wasn't giving max effort in games he was never pulled. Also they took the redshirt off TV Williams but however wasted the year instead of developing. Because of the handling of this position you'll see some transfers.

 

[JHB4UK]

One rumor I heard last weekend was DJ Elliot switching over to being special teams coordinator & a new DC hired, or someone to share the DC duties with Buh. means someone on the coaching staff loses their job, guess it would have been Brumbaugh.

UK's tough spot for hiring a head coach is the same for hiring a great DC though. With the Maryland hiring this offseason the schools looking to hire new DC's are:
Alabama
Georgia
Michigan
maybe Ohio St

 

[Mr Schwump]

Yeah Dawson is supposed to have some ties to ULM, not sure what they are, but that's the reason why he's being considered and could back into that job since the other coaches are believed to get other jobs or flat out turn it down.

AS for Tommy Mainord, its a couple of reasons. Stoops wants to really get into the DMV area and he has Tommy Mainord in that area. Last recruiting season we had a lot of activity in that area, but since the DE decommitted and went to Virginia Tech all activity in that area has been non-existant. Stoops really feels his best bet at great talent is going to be outside the SEC where the playing field is a little more even. The other part is that some just don't feel like the WR position was handled properly. Each position coach is responsible for subbing in and out there own players at their position. With that said, WR was the deepest position on offense, but seldom saw anybody other than the starters on the field. When Dorian Baker wasn't giving max effort in games he was never pulled. Also they took the redshirt off TV Williams but however wasted the year instead of developing. Because of the handling of this position you'll see some transfers.

Re DVM, I was really excited to see UK's involvement there and disappointed it fizzled out so quickly. Va Tech, and to a lesser degree Penn St, has had a strangle hold on that area for decades. Lots of great players have come out of there. Looked for awhile too that UK was trying to get into NJ but that's apparently petered out too.

As for QBs/WRs....I've often wondered what these guys do on their own in the off season when they aren't allowed to work with their coaches. Do they do drills, weight room, study film, etc? Lots of things these guys can do on their own to get better but if they don't do or if they do it half-assed it won't help, could hurt.

 

[UKani]

I know they have student assistants on staff, they've been spotted working with players in the offseason. So I know they work on stuff. You'd think that would speed up development and you would see major payoff in year 3.

 

[kentucky_wildcat_#1]

I don't want Stoops fired and want nothing but Stoops being the man to turn this program around. I feel like he would stay loyal to us for staying loyal to him and him being the man to turn things around would be the best thing for all involved. You have to give the man at least one more year to coach his team. If things don't look any better after next season, he could be in trouble. I think we could do better than the tigers of mizzoo! If you want a big name coach, you have to pay more than the school you are bidding against is paying. It's that simple. If Kentucky wants to win at football anytime soon, they will start paying coaches like the big boys pay. Can we afford to do that? Who knows! If not, we will have to hope to get lucky by hiring nobodies and hoping they turn out to be the next big thing.

 

[RR30]

Stoops might be better off staying away from hiring his friends. just saying..

Coley isn't the best coach but he's an upgrade over Dawson and a MUCH better recruiter with ties in the south that we badly need. Hopefully everyone we replace are guys with ties down there. The DMV pipeline is useless and has netted nothing. Focus in the south.

 

[andreIGUODOLLAsigns4UK]

First let me say, for those who want Mark Stoops fired already just look at Mizzou and its coaching search and understand that we would not have been able to get a better coach than Mark Stoops. Mizzou will probably offer Sonny Dykes, but nobody believes that Dykes will leave Cal for Mizzou. They'll interview Mike Bobo and Troy Calhoun as well, but the likely bet according to others is that Mizzou will end up hiring its current Defensive Coordinator as Head Coach. UK would have been in a similar situation and probably would have had to do a Hal Mumme type of hire, meaning hire a head coach from a level other than FBS level of competition.

As for the off season activities are concerned. Now that Kirby Smart has just about locked up the Georgia job, I think you'll see Derrick Ansley follow him their. Ansley isn't one that Mark Stoops wants to lose, I just think that Ansley's relationship with Kirby Smart will lead to an offer for him to join Georgia and that offer will be took great to resist. So with that said I do believe UK will look for another CB coach this offseason because of that.

As far as any real movement caused by Mark Stoops, I think we are going to have to wait a while before we see anything really happen, baring Shannon Dawson getting a head coaching position. Mark Stoops has a history of taking his time and vetting out the process before making a move, he doesn't make quick moves. With the talk of how important this current recruiting class is to the building of UK Football and the ties that some of these players have to coaches, I really don't see any firings of assistant coaches coming until after the signing period. The only coaches that I see that would be on the chopping block would be Tommy Mainord, John Schlarman, and DJ Elliot.
Tommy Mainord is probably the safest bet of any assistant coach being fired. The WR position was supposed to be UK's deepest and talented this past year and that just didn't show up, add to it that no player of any significants in this current recruiting class has any ties to Tommy Mainord and you've got a candidate to not return next year.
John Schlarman, even though his seat is warm he'll still get a chance to return next year based on current OLine recruits from this recruiting class being vocal that they want him to return. Next year is really a make it or break it year for Schlarman.
DJ Elliot is hard to read a bit, a lot of football minds, not just at UK but other places as well, believed that UK's defense overachieved at times under DJ Elliot. Which is a good thing. However there were other times that people were frustrated with the lack of adjustments by him. Mark Stoops is weighing options here. If DJ Elliot doesn't get fired then look for his responsibilities to change officially or unofficially. Officially, meaning a title change which would be either Co-DC or flat out demotion. Unofficially, meaning he'll keep the title as DC but either Andy Buh will be working more in that capacity with him unofficially or that Mark Stoops will take more control of it.

As for Shannon Dawson, he won't be fired. However Mark Stoops will help him land a head coaching job at ULM. If Shannon Dawson doesn't get the job then he'll be back at UK. If we do see Shannon Dawson leave UK for a HC job, don't expect the next OC to be an Air Raid guy. It still may be a spread offense, but not Air Raid. A likely candidate would be James Coley again, considering that he's going to be out of a job at Miami and that he's a friend of Mark Stoops, it would be a no brainer that he'd be a candidate. Ultimately I think an OC that runs something similar to Bobby Petrino, a true power spread offense, would be the choice.

Where is this air raid you speak of? I've heard of it. But never actually really seen It? I pray and pray and pray Dawson gets that head coaching job. I think he deserves a lot more heat than Elliot. Schlarman, Dawson, mainord all need to go IMO. Mostly Dawson though I think the guy is a complete joke.

 

[zannmann]

We will be fine. Stoops is gonna get more grueling in the off season. Get the kids 10% tougher and feed them pop tarts to put on some weight. We are also gonna run a more fast paste offense, no more delay of game penalties.

 

[Chuckinden]

Where is this air raid you speak of? I've heard of it. But never actually really seen It? I pray and pray and pray Dawson gets that head coaching job. I think he deserves a lot more heat than Elliot. Schlarman, Dawson, mainord all need to go IMO. Mostly Dawson though I think the guy is a complete joke.

You had to see a lot of it this season when Towles would throw the ball away in the stands. Some fans have more receptions than our receivers. That's the only air raid I saw.