Coach Stoops Better Replace D.J. Eliot After the Season...

[rabidcatfan]

I'm fairly confident now that Coach Stoops will be back next season, but it's obvious that this teams defensive turnaround is because of Stoops taking the reigns away from Eliot, so if Eliot is still the DC after the season is over then there should be an uprising because there is no reason for the school to pay a guy to coach the defense when our head coach is making all of the calls.

Would love to see Stoops bring in a guy like Bo Pellini, Pelinni was the Co-DC with Bob Stoops at OU and is now the HC at Youngstown State so there is a lot of familiarity between the two, or how about Jim Leavitt or Todd Orlando the DC at Houston? Why not throw D1 head coach kind of money at a guy like that? There are a lot of quality guys out there who might listen to Coach Stoops and accept a position as the DC and would be worlds better than D.J. Eliot, but regardless somethings definitely got to happen in regards to the DC position for this team to keep moving forward positively.

 

[brianpoe]

I'm fairly confident now that Coach Stoops will be back next season, but it's obvious that this teams defensive turnaround is because of Stoops taking the reigns away from Eliot, so if Eliot is still the DC after the season is over then there should be an uprising because there is no reason for the school to pay a guy to coach the defense when our head coach is making all of the calls.

Would love to see Stoops bring in a guy like Bo Pellini, Pelinni was the Co-DC with Bob Stoops at OU and is now the HC at Youngstown State so there is a lot of familiarity between the two, or how about Jim Leavitt or Todd Orlando the DC at Houston? Why not throw D1 head coach kind of money at a guy like that? There are a lot of quality guys out there who might listen to Coach Stoops and accept a position as the DC and would be worlds better than D.J. Eliot, but regardless somethings definitely got to happen in regards to the DC position for this team to keep moving forward positively.

Why would these guys come here?

Pellini is a HC with a 4-1 team, in 7 years prior to Youngstown his worst record was 9-3? He is from Youngstown and still getting paid that $7M from Nebraska.

Take a step down to be DC at UK?

Not to mention CMS nor MB could handle the guy.


Orlando is DC of one of the hottest teams in the country right now.

Colorado was top 25 entering this weekend, not sure why Leavitt would consider coming down to us...?


I'd love to see us pull something off like you are suggesting but I dont see our HC job being super desirable much less a coordinator spot.

Which defensive coordinator did we have that went on to bigger and better things?

 

[El Gato Calvo]

Why can't Stoops just keep on being the DC and HC?

Lord knows he's paid enough.

 

[51stFan]

When you bring in a DC as a head coach you shouldn't have to worry about coaching on that side of the ball. I find it highly unlikely that Elliot was doing anything different than what MS wanted. I will hold judgement on the defensive improvement until we play an offense that averages more than 10 points a game.

 

[Mojocat_rivals48469]

I'm fairly confident now that Coach Stoops will be back next season...

still too early to count chickens, IMO. Things are better now. If we lose to Mississippi State, or Missouri, for example, really makes getting to a bowl a far fetched scenario. In which case everyone jumps off the wagon, and the stands are empty. I've said it before - I think the win/loss record is important to Stoops future, but probably second to attendance.

We get to the end of the season and the stands look like they did for Joker's last game, all bets are off.....

 

[Black Diamond Cat]

I think Stoops will retain his buddy Elliott, but pretty much in the same role he is currently in. He should remain in the press box, and feed info down to CS.
This is similar to Hinshaw and Gran, with CH in the box communicating down to CEG.

 

[brianpoe]

I think Stoops will retain his buddy Elliott, but pretty much in the same role he is currently in. He should remain in the press box, and feed info down to CS.
This is similar to Hinshaw and Gran, with CH in the box communicating down to CEG.

Hinshaw and Gran are both assistants - that is how everyone does it.

That said, you are probably correct, not sure we can hire a better DC than Stoops.

 

[BlueRunner11]

When you bring in a DC as a head coach you shouldn't have to worry about coaching on that side of the ball. I find it highly unlikely that Elliot was doing anything different than what MS wanted. I will hold judgement on the defensive improvement until we play an offense that averages more than 10 points a game.

Agree. I'm chalking it up to theatrics. Damage control to cool Stoops seat a bit. Look, Our D has been getting blown up since Stoops/Eliot got here. If this year ends up in the ******* like most suspect, Eliot will get the blame and large percentage of the fans will fall for it hook, line, and sinker and all we will hear is next year, next year....Its been UK football song and dance for years.

 

[Deeeefense]

I'm fairly confident now that Coach Stoops will be back next season, but it's obvious that this teams defensive turnaround is because of Stoops taking the reigns away from Eliot, so if Eliot is still the DC after the season is over then there should be an uprising because there is no reason for the school to pay a guy to coach the defense when our head coach is making all of the calls.

Would love to see Stoops bring in a guy like Bo Pellini, Pelinni was the Co-DC with Bob Stoops at OU and is now the HC at Youngstown State so there is a lot of familiarity between the two, or how about Jim Leavitt or Todd Orlando the DC at Houston? Why not throw D1 head coach kind of money at a guy like that? There are a lot of quality guys out there who might listen to Coach Stoops and accept a position as the DC and would be worlds better than D.J. Eliot, but regardless somethings definitely got to happen in regards to the DC position for this team to keep moving forward positively.

I agree and ultimately in this situation it's cheaper, and probably more effective to throw some serous bucks out that for a name-brand DC, then the cost of replacing a head coach.

 

[TTU/UK fan]

Defense looked good vs Bama and still allowed 34 pts. Everyone is going off the 2 games vs the worst SEC offenses/teams. Lets wait til the next few games to make judgements on this defense. Its impressive to hold a team to no TDs, dont get me wrong. But Vanderbilt has an unbelievably terrible offense.

Vandy has failed to score more than 1 TD vs P5 opponents this season. And USCjr has on 2 occasions, and both occasions a TD was scored in the 4th when the game was pretty much over. And no team has scored more than 2 TDs vs p5 schools. Ill wait til we play some offenses. JMHO

 

[TBCat]

I don't think there is any chance Eliot is back next year. You don't take away his responsibilities just to give them back a few months later. The move will become permanent after the season.

The question is, assuming Stoops himself is back, is what to do next. We won't get any of those names on your list. The list of really strong DCs will be sparse and in very high demand. So what does Stoops do from there. He has two likely scenarios. Try his luck at another young up and comer and see if he does better than Eliot. Or he could keep the responsibilities for himself. He could hire someone with previous head coaching experience to assist with game management and Stoops basically takes over the DC role.

 

[brianpoe]

If CMS plans to continue being the DC then hire Ansley back and give him the title.

He was already our CO-DC, been at Tennessee, UCF and Bama twice now.

Could use the recruiting.

 

[sluggercatfan]

When you bring in a DC as a head coach you shouldn't have to worry about coaching on that side of the ball. I find it highly unlikely that Elliot was doing anything different than what MS wanted. I will hold judgement on the defensive improvement until we play an offense that averages more than 10 points a game.

Thank you!!!

 

[RR30]

Hinshaw and Gran are both assistants - that is how everyone does it.

That said, you are probably correct, not sure we can hire a better DC than Stoops.

You don't. You hire one that can recruit like hell unlike Elliot.

 

[gg4uk]

How about keeping it just as it is "RIGHT NOW?"

 

[yoshukai]

Why can't Stoops just keep on being the DC and HC?

Lord knows he's paid enough.

I'd be fine with Stoops coaching the defense and letting Gran assume the head coaching position . Just listening and watching both , Gran seems like he is more head coach ready than Stoops anyway .

 

[brianpoe]

You don't. You hire one that can recruit like hell unlike Elliot.

Bring back Ansley - DC in title only

 

[Cawood86_rivals]

Defense looked good vs Bama and still allowed 34 pts. Everyone is going off the 2 games vs the worst SEC offenses/teams. Lets wait til the next few games to make judgements on this defense. Its impressive to hold a team to no TDs, dont get me wrong. But Vanderbilt has an unbelievably terrible offense.

Vandy has failed to score more than 1 TD vs P5 opponents this season. And USCjr has on 2 occasions, and both occasions a TD was scored in the 4th when the game was pretty much over. And no team has scored more than 2 TDs vs p5 schools. Ill wait til we play some offenses. JMHO

Exactly. UK has beaten 3 teams and none of them are good. Vandy and SC have awful offenses. Some are acting as if we stopped the Florida teams under Spurrier. UT and UGA will show, IMO, if the defense is capable of stopping a good offense.

 

[yoshukai]

If CMS plans to continue being the DC then hire Ansley back and give him the title.

He was already our CO-DC, been at Tennessee, UCF and Bama twice now.

Could use the recruiting.

I agree , if he would come . I kinda got my doubts though . He would have to make ALOT more money to switch , IMO .

 

[UKCatNnc]

I have never felt that Eliot had the leadership skills to fire up the defense. He doesn't seem to motivate the players the way Stoops has been doing. He is just to bland or something. He needs to watch Stoops a lot more closely. Go Cats!!

 

[Cats_2010]

Exactly. UK has beaten 3 teams and none of them are good. Vandy and SC have awful offenses. Some are acting as if we stopped the Florida teams under Spurrier. UT and UGA will show, IMO, if the defense is capable of stopping a good offense.

While I am withholding judgment on the defense for now, they have looked immensely better regardless of competition. NMSU was probably not that much better on offense than vandy or SC but they didn't have any problems moving the ball and scoring the first half of that game. Since that time, and including bama, they have looked better, immensely better. You don't have to have a quality opponent to tell that either but we did have Bama and they played a lot better against bama than I expected. A mention that we still gave up 34 points fails to consider that 7 of those were a defensive score on a Johnson fumble.

I was screaming as loud as the next guy about getting stoops out of here after the way we started the season and I still may be that way after the next few games but for now you have to give credit where its due.

 

[sluggercatfan]

When you bring in a DC as a head coach you shouldn't have to worry about coaching on that side of the ball. I find it highly unlikely that Elliot was doing anything different than what MS wanted. I will hold judgement on the defensive improvement until we play an offense that averages more than 10 points a game.

14 SC ..19..Vandy

 

[51stFan]

14 SC ..19..Vandy

Vandy had scored 10,7, 6 against other P5 opponent. South Carolina between 10-14 and their season high is only 20 against E. Carolina . I'm not saying it's not improved. Just hard to make accurate judgements on those two games. Those offenses as bad as any in America.

 

[Deeeefense]

Vandy had scored 10,7, 6 against other P5 opponent. South Carolina between 10-14 and their season high is only 20 against E. Carolina . I'm not saying it's not improved. Just hard to make accurate judgements on those two games. Those offenses as bad as any in America.

He's another one, the 34 we allowed Bama was their lowest scoring output for the year.

 

[51stFan]

He's another one, the 34 we allowed Bama was their lowest scoring output for the year.

Hard to make judgments in blowouts. When a team gets a three possession lead sometimes they are just content on getting through it with no injuries.

The defense does seem to be playing harder though. Effort has been much better and they seem to be hitting harder. Do they have the talent to keep us in the game with UT, UGA and UofL ? I guess we will see.

 

[John Henry]

Why wait until the end of the season. We have a problem now so demote him to a "special position" (what ever that is) coach and Stoops can run the defense. He can do both.

 

[Mattcg]

Charlie Strong or Derek Mason

 

[NCukcat62]

Eliot needs to be gone 100% or at least demoted. You can obviously see the difference with stoops handling the defense on the field while Eliot just looks at schemes up top.

 

[Jon(-24)]

If the D is actually improved, then Eliot sucks and everyone knows it, including stoops, and has known it even last year...

We were told (god only knows if it's true) the Eliot turned down a P5 DC spot this winter. No way in hell he's getting replaced IMO. If he is the problem he seems to be and Stoops kept him around instead of Ansley... Woof. I don't think you keep eliot if you're really such good friends then kneecap him months after. Its odd to me stoops didn't let or encourage him to take the other job, if it really existed.

 

[gg4uk]

The defense has allowed just 6 TD's in the last 14 Qtrs. 4 of those were against Bama. In the team's first 10 Qtrs they allowed 16 TD's.

 

[Poetax]

If the D is actually improved, then Eliot sucks and everyone knows it, including stoops, and has known it even last year...

We were told (god only knows if it's true) the Eliot turned down a P5 DC spot this winter. No way in hell he's getting replaced IMO. If he is the problem he seems to be and Stoops kept him around instead of Ansley... Woof. I don't think you keep eliot if you're really such good friends then kneecap him months after. Its odd to me stoops didn't let or encourage him to take the other job, if it really existed.

You actually think that Ansley didn't leave on his own so that he could be a coach on the BEST college football team in America? Thats almost funny.

 

[Jon(-24)]

You actually think that Ansley didn't leave on his own so that he could be a coach on the BEST college football team in America? Thats almost funny.

You actually think he would have left for DB coach over DC? If he was given the D and the chance to call plays, he'd have stayed. It would have been better money and moved his career further.

 

[rabidcatfan]

I'm cool with CS being the DC as long as HE is the one making the play calls. but I have a feeling like he'll turn the reigns back over to D.J. after the season is over and we'll end up back in the same boat again. I also agree that we won't find a better DC than CS. He was one of the top DC's in the nation when he took the job, but it looks like the pressure of being the HC and the DC may be taking a toll on him and he may not want to do that again next season.

 

[Crushgroove]

Eliot needs to be gone 100% or at least demoted. You can obviously see the difference with stoops handling the defense on the field while Eliot just looks at schemes up top.

I don't think it happens. Stoops went on and on about how this system works for them, how none of this was possible w/o DJ creating the defensive schemes and that they've done this before (split duties).

Hard to argue with the results. I've got $5 says Eliot is still here next year in some capacity.

 

[Crushgroove]

The defense has allowed just 6 TD's in the last 14 Qtrs. 4 of those were against Bama. In the team's first 10 Qtrs they allowed 16 TD's.

Shhhh.

You trying to get killed or something talking common sense?

 

[bigbluewildcat84]

Stoops is owed credit. He is the HC and made some kind of changes to improve the defense. Demoting Elliot and taking over DC maybe smoke and mirrors but something has changed. If the change is Elliot, then he should be replaced. We have suffered long enough with a bad defense.

 

[truebluewildcat_rivals34254]

Staff changes have to happen.

I don't know if CMS will fire DJ, but he should reassign him to some sort of assistant and give him a larger recruiting role.

I'd rather CMS not take over the D. For one, it's been his strategy, scheme, and way of developing players the past 3 years and we are where we are. Secondly, he needs to focus on being HC.

CMS and MB need to hit the open market hard this off season in search of a top DC, and make offer to make him the top paid in the country.

 

[bigblueinsanity_rivals250340]

Defense looked good vs Bama and still allowed 34 pts. Everyone is going off the 2 games vs the worst SEC offenses/teams. Lets wait til the next few games to make judgements on this defense. Its impressive to hold a team to no TDs, dont get me wrong. But Vanderbilt has an unbelievably terrible offense.

Vandy has failed to score more than 1 TD vs P5 opponents this season. And USCjr has on 2 occasions, and both occasions a TD was scored in the 4th when the game was pretty much over. And no team has scored more than 2 TDs vs p5 schools. Ill wait til we play some offenses. JMHO

7 of those was a defensive td. Another 7 was in garbage time. If you couldn't see the difference in the d, then you have your head in the sand. Had that been elliot running the d, they would've scored 34 in the first quarter.

He's another one, the 34 we allowed Bama was their lowest scoring output for the year.

 

[BARRYBLUE1]

Leave well enough alone. Whatever they're doing is working out. A new DC may have conflict with Stoops.
Input is still being given by Elliot in my opinion.

 

[Poetax]

You actually think he would have left for DB coach over DC? If he was given the D and the chance to call plays, he'd have stayed. It would have been better money and moved his career further.

Ask Ansley, I'm sure he's happier where he is then going through what we have gone through.