Do You Believe!

willievic

All-American
Aug 28, 2005
6,167
7,111
0
Do you believe that UofK is serious about building a football team? I sure do! This is the first time in many years, and I have been a fan since Coach Bryant was our coach, that I truly felt we were very serious about football. Oh, I know we have had some coaches who produced some good teams, such as , Fran Curci, Jerry Claiborne, Bill Curry, and Hal Mumme.
The difference this time, we have an AD who finally understands that we have to put money in the program, starting with facilities, and paying the coaches a competitive salary.
I know, some fans will say, "Stoops hasn't done anything so far." Well, that's not true. Building a football team that can be competitive in the SEC, requires getting players that can be competitive with the other teams as far as size, speed and athleticism. I think Coach Stoops and the other coaches have done a very good job with that. NO longer are we beating Middle Tenn., Toledo, Akron, etc, for the top players. We are now competitive with Alabama, Ole Miss, Auburn,ND,Mich, etc, the top teams.
I remember Coach Stoops saying that were going to go after the best players, and were not backing off from anyone. I believe he is doing that. Sure we don't win all the battles, probably only 25 to 30%, but in the old days, we didn't go after this type of player.
Joker Phillips and I were having dinner at Ruth Chris one night, and I asked him why we didn't recruit the state of Ohio, especially Cincinnati. His answer, "We can't compete with Ohio State, Michigan, ND, and Michigan State."
I didn't say it, but I wanted to say,"We sure can't if we don't try."
I know I'm going to catch a lot of "FLAK" for this post, but I believe Coach Stoops has built the foundation for a team that will be able to compete and WIN.
As most of you know, my glass is always half full, but it's getting fuller.

OLD STOLL FIELD GUY!
 

mattadam

Freshman
Mar 23, 2004
3,641
67
0
Do you believe that UofK is serious about building a football team? I sure do! This is the first time in many years, and I have been a fan since Coach Bryant was our coach, that I truly felt we were very serious about football. Oh, I know we have had some coaches who produced some good teams, such as , Fran Curci, Jerry Claiborne, Bill Curry, and Hal Mumme.
The difference this time, we have an AD who finally understands that we have to put money in the program, starting with facilities, and paying the coaches a competitive salary.
I know, some fans will say, "Stoops hasn't done anything so far." Well, that's not true. Building a football team that can be competitive in the SEC, requires getting players that can be competitive with the other teams as far as size, speed and athleticism. I think Coach Stoops and the other coaches have done a very good job with that. NO longer are we beating Middle Tenn., Toledo, Akron, etc, for the top players. We are now competitive with Alabama, Ole Miss, Auburn,ND,Mich, etc, the top teams.
I remember Coach Stoops saying that were going to go after the best players, and were not backing off from anyone. I believe he is doing that. Sure we don't win all the battles, probably only 25 to 30%, but in the old days, we didn't go after this type of player.
Joker Phillips and I were having dinner at Ruth Chris one night, and I asked him why we didn't recruit the state of Ohio, especially Cincinnati. His answer, "We can't compete with Ohio State, Michigan, ND, and Michigan State."
I didn't say it, but I wanted to say,"We sure can't if we don't try."
I know I'm going to catch a lot of "FLAK" for this post, but I believe Coach Stoops has built the foundation for a team that will be able to compete and WIN.
As most of you know, my glass is always half full, but it's getting fuller.

OLD STOLL FIELD GUY!
Willevic - sure do and just waiting on Spring game and then kickoff for So. Miss!!
 
Sep 10, 2015
368
193
0
The question was can you believe UK is serious about building a football team. The obvious answer is yes. The result on the field have nothing to do with are the serious about building the program. Look at the massive amounts of money they have thrown around to upgrade facilities. The added emphasis on keeping the coaches they deem good by giving titles and raises. Not being afraid to terminate a coach they are still going to be paying for years. Looking at all that then back at years past I would say yes.
 
Sep 2, 2002
5,764
5,570
113
I'm just not sure yet. I'm 51 and in my lifetime UK has never been serious about putting a competitive football team on the field. UK saw 70,000 in the stands most every week for years no matter what sort of team they fielded, so they used the fball team as an ATM machine.

The fans forced changes twice, once when they wanted Curry gone and then when they wanted Joker out. The fan revolt against Joker forced Mitch's hand to do something to get the fans back, enter the stadium upgrades.

Is this a sign that the UKAA has had a change of heart after all these years? Are they willing to spend what it takes to field a team that's comptetive in the SEC? Maybe they are, but considering their track record it's going to take more to convince me.

Stoops I'm sure is doing everything he can. He's recruited like a madman since he's been here and dispelled the notion you can't recruit at UK. However like the UKAA he's got to show more than what he has as well. Recruiting can only take you so far, (Ron Zook), eventually you've got to prove you can put that talent to use.

Stoops is going to get two more years, that's a given. I hope and want him to be the guy that turns this all around, but we'll see if he is and if the UKAA is serious.
 
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BigBlueCatNation

All-Conference
Jan 31, 2006
77,485
4,411
113
I will believe when I see results, not hype.

This. I'll admit, everything done in the offseason is exciting, very exciting. However, I have no choice but to take a wait and see approach before I'm 'ALL IN' again.

Totally not a knock on Stoops, I've been 'ALL IN' long before Stoops got here. I'm just tired of losing....
 
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greginky1957

All-Conference
Oct 10, 2008
2,384
3,078
113
I believe Willie! And I am happy that CMS has 2 more years to prove himself! I am not real positive that our record will be good enough to get us to a bowl in 2016, but I am hopeful. 2017 is the key year for us to take a major step forward, anything positive in 2016 will just be a bonus in my opinion. I really do hope we can win 6 or 7 games this year and make that leap in recruiting such an advance would bring to our recruiting. I just want to see improvement on the field, and the sidelines too! We need to eliminate getting blown out or at least severely curtail that tendency.
 

Bluetick2100

All-Conference
Apr 15, 2007
5,637
3,642
113
True but your odds of going and the odds of going to one of the better bowls correlate closely to those rankings.
We have better players than Joker or Brooks had.
Yet not even a minor bowl trip.
I wonder what's missing..........?
 

Comebakatz3

Heisman
Aug 8, 2008
41,273
31,276
113

Here is your flak.
:stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:
 

UKCatNnc

All-Conference
Sep 30, 2005
6,163
1,736
0
Yeah last year I believed in the hype way too much, this year it's kinda just like good recruiting class, nice coaching changes, but I'm not gonna get excited until I see something happen.
Yeah, and this year we are going to have a much better offense. - Write it down!! Go Cats!!
 
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