Expectations for Year Four

[Tomsong]

Sorry if this has already had its own thread that I missed, but I hear this discussed a lot by those who are still dissatisfied. Some fans have made it clear that since CMS didn't reach some proverbial goal line after three years, then he has failed. Others seem to be a little more gracious. So there is clearly a disagreement among fans. Great topic for a message board!

My thoughts. Let's hypothetically say Urban Meyer took over at UG with the same talent that UK had in 2012. I would expect UM to pull out 4 wins in year one, 6 wins in year two, 8 wins in year three, and 10 wins in year four when the elite talented recruits have matured and his system is in full swing. (4 - 6 - 8 - 10). So two years to go bowling and four years to reach 10 wins.

Now the scenario of CMS at UK.
2-4-5-6. I took away wins for Stoops HC experience, culture, recruiting, and stadium crowd. (Yes the crowd IS the 12th player). He can't recruit with the big boys YET. UM at UK would probably look like 3-5-7-8 with his recruiting and HC experience.

So comparing UM at UG and MS at UK:

UM at UG: Bowling in year 2, 10 wins in year 4.

MS at UK: Bowling in year 4. The 10 wins are for another discussion.

What are your expectations and Why? The why is so important because I don't understand why some think we should be further along under CMS.

 

[CB3UK]

A better question is why shouldn't we be further along?

 

[JC CATS]

I would do a dance in the street if Uk went bowling this year. Is that going to happen, it is not only not a guarantee but in all likelihood, it wont happen. If MS wins six, ok let's do this

 

[megablue]

Based on the recruiting hype that we've heard since he's been here, Stoops and the staff's comments in the pre-season, a very weak SEC East and it being his fourth season, I think most fans expect six (6) wins and a bowl appearance this year. That still may happen, of course. The fact that Louisville is doing so well is also a factor, but it is not overwhelming in fan sentiment. They would just like to see enough improvement to receive a bowl bid, in my opinion.

 

[TACcat7]

If UK wins the next two games, nearly all of the criticism will have been silenced. Competitive games against UT and an upset win over Georgia and it will be gone. Have to win games. That's the best silencer.

 

[IFerg1969]

Petrino won 5, 8, 10, 11 at Arkansas (before things went south). I don't bring this up because I'm one of those who thought UK should have gone after him 4 years ago, even though I did think that. I bring it up because that is what a progression of improvement could look like. I just don't understand the people on this board that say everything has to take 4 to 5 years minimum. It doesn't have to! If you hire the right coach you should at least see glimpses of what could be in the future early on. I just haven't seen much of that with CMS, other than in recruiting.

Look, I like Gran and Hinshaw on the offensive side. To borrow a phrase from Eric Bledsoe, I think they will get s&%t right on that side of the ball (eventually). Now the defense has gotten better (this year) and I'm happy about that. But, how much better is it really this year versus last year.

Here are the overall defensive stats for UK from NCAA.com for this year and last.

2016 so far
95 Overall
90 Rushing
90 Passing
89 Scoring

2015
59 Overall
97 Rushing
28 Passing
68 Scoring

While the defense has gotten better from the start of this season until now, it's still behind the full season from last year. Now, the stats may eventually even up, but I wouldn't call that improvement would you? At least not a lot of it. I do feel like the D is getting better, it just hasn't shown itself in the stats yet. Let's remember, Vandy and USCjrs offenses are terrible. The effort against Bama was respectable at best.

Look, I'm not against CMS. I don't care who wins big here as long as someone does. If it's Stoops, so be it. Just stop feeding me the line that it has to take forever to turn a program into a winner. There are lots of other examples of coaches who have turned things around in a shorter period of time (2-3 years), Google it, I don't have time to list them all. Brooks took 4 years but he took over a team that was on probation. While Joker didn't do CMS any favors, that situation was still better than what Brooks inherited.

I'm willing to take a wait-and-see approach at the moment. Beat MSU and Mizzou and we'll see. Outside of that though, I'm just not seeing the amount of improvement I think we should be seeing based on how recruiting has gone in recent years. Sorry, I just had to get that off my chest. I feel better now, thank you! Go Cats!

 

[allabouttheUK]

I never expected instance success and figured it would take 5-6 years to see improvements in the W column (7-8) regular season wins. I think the worst thing that happened was the "success" achieved in year two and three (5 wins). People saw that and immediately jumped to well every year should be an improvement, but that rarely happens when building a program (not rebuilding/reloading). 14 True Freshman played for UK in 2012. Not an ideal situation given the situation. The programs that everyone wants UK to be rarely play more than a handful of true freshman, and red-shirt as many as they can. Why? To give them time to learn and develop mentally and physically. Don't believe me, just ask Jim Harbaugh, or Nick Saban.
We shouldn't have started to see substantial improvement until this year, but with the uptick in year 2 and 3 people jumped ahead of schedule and expected it to be a constant rise with no plateaus or drops. That's just not logical any way you look at it.

 

[gamalielkid]

I never expected instance success and figured it would take 5-6 years to see improvements in the W column (7-8) regular season wins. I think the worst thing that happened was the "success" achieved in year two and three (5 wins). People saw that and immediately jumped to well every year should be an improvement, but that rarely happens when building a program (not rebuilding/reloading). 14 True Freshman played for UK in 2012. Not an ideal situation given the situation. The programs that everyone wants UK to be rarely play more than a handful of true freshman, and red-shirt as many as they can. Why? To give them time to learn and develop mentally and physically. Don't believe me, just ask Jim Harbaugh, or Nick Saban.
We shouldn't have started to see substantial improvement until this year, but with the uptick in year 2 and 3 people jumped ahead of schedule and expected it to be a constant rise with no plateaus or drops. That's just not logical any way you look at it.

You can also add Dan Mullen and Mississippi State to the list of redshirting. If everyone will remember, Coach Claiborne came to UK and red shirted almost everyone from the get go. Results - we didn't win a game in his first year here - but by year 3 we won 9 games. Coach Stoops played a lot more than he's redshirted - it paid off in showing improvement and building recruiting momentum. The reason I compare and say this, after year three, I don't think Coach Claiborne had great success here again - but he was at the end of his career and was starting to be passed by the younger coaches. Coach Stoops on the other hand - he is building for a sustained run IMO. I wanted quick success and was spoiled. I think Coach Stoops and staff have made some errors - but to be fair - everyone needs to look at his successes. I think if hadn't lost Neal Brown, we would be looking at an entirely different situation the last two years. I can't blame Neal and I hope we may have him as our coach some day - but I hope it is later rather than sooner for obvious reasons.

Go Big Blue!

 

[Poetax]

A better question is why shouldn't we be further along?

That's a good question for sure. My #1 reason is, Players. Because of a lack of wins, we lost key recruits at the last minute to more elite programs. We also lost players that we had who left that would have helped the team. And last some have just not produced yet like we hoped. #2, Coaching, there have been lapses and bad decisions made during crucial times in our games. Plus inconsistently on the offensive side of the ball with having 3 OCs since Stoops was hired. Stoops not seeing that he needed to be in control of a defense that just wasn't getting it from Elliot. And allowing discontentment on the roster without ending it immediately. Last of the coaching, trying to make this work without a QB coach and ST coach early. There are others but mainly these two are big to me and I'm not considering what Stoops was left with. I'm just commenting on his time here.

 

[allabouttheUK]

A better question is why shouldn't we be further along?

I'll take a stab at answering that, it's all about recruiting. We have never and probably never will be able to recruit like Bama or any of the other traditional big boys. Many factors go into that, but lets just stick to the numbers.

If you were to take a 4 year snapshot at Bama's recruiting you would see a LOT of top rated players, and not many projects. In most cases those players are red-shirted for development reasons. Everyone knows that not every kid lives up to his rating, that goes for the highly rated and the lower rated players as well. Some play up, and some play down, it's not an exact science.

At UK the number or red-shirts although better than in years past is still behind the top programs, until we can match in the number of red-shirts with the big boys,we will continue to be looking up.

IMO, what should have been done when Stoops arrived should have been to red-shirt ALL incoming Freshman the first two years with no exceptions, it would have been painful to watch, but would have built a stronger base. Sadly with the condition of the program upon his arrival and the "play the best player" way of things, he was unable to do this.

There was never a perfect solution, and it wasn't a perfect situation, but when digging down and looking at the details, it's pretty obvious that we are headed in the right direction, just not as quick as some would like.

I still stand by my statement that the 5 wins in year 2 hurt him more than helped him. I don't believe we should have seen a season like that until last year, and this year should be that or one or two better. But like all things in life nothing is perfect and there are always obstacles.

 

[megablue]

I'll take a stab at answering that, it's all about recruiting. We have never and probably never will be able to recruit like Bama or any of the other traditional big boys. Many factors go into that, but lets just stick to the numbers.

If you were to take a 4 year snapshot at Bama's recruiting you would see a LOT of top rated players, and not many projects. In most cases those players are red-shirted for development reasons. Everyone knows that not every kid lives up to his rating, that goes for the highly rated and the lower rated players as well. Some play up, and some play down, it's not an exact science.

At UK the number or red-shirts although better than in years past is still behind the top programs, until we can match in the number of red-shirts with the big boys,we will continue to be looking up.

IMO, what should have been done when Stoops arrived should have been to red-shirt ALL incoming Freshman the first two years with no exceptions, it would have been painful to watch, but would have built a stronger base. Sadly with the condition of the program upon his arrival and the "play the best player" way of things, he was unable to do this.

There was never a perfect solution, and it wasn't a perfect situation, but when digging down and looking at the details, it's pretty obvious that we are headed in the right direction, just not as quick as some would like.

I still stand by my statement that the 5 wins in year 2 hurt him more than helped him. I don't believe we should have seen a season like that until last year, and this year should be that or one or two better. But like all things in life nothing is perfect and there are always obstacles.

Year 2 may not have helped him in fan sentiment right now, but I believe he got a pretty healthy contract guarantee because of those 5 wins.

 

[JHB4UK]

IMO the ultimate discussion on our end win/loss record & if it met or fell short of expectations ought to take into consideration that this team lost its starting QB on the 1st series of the 3rd game.

 

[NCukcat62]

We definitely should be in a bowl game in year four. I mean you have to think that the past 2 seasons we should of gone bowl games at least but yet we had back to back collapses. Can't have it this year

 

[gamalielkid]

IMO the ultimate discussion on our end win/loss record & if it met or fell short of expectations ought to take into consideration that this team lost its starting QB on the 1st series of the 3rd game.

And the question I have had - did he really get hurt on the first series in the second half of the Southern Miss game? If you watch when he tried to throw/fumble his body and back really got twisted with that hit. Since they are saying it is a back problem - was it a problem that Drew tried to play thru in the second half of that game?

Go Big Blue

 

[vhcat70]

Sorry if this has already had its own thread that I missed, but I hear this discussed a lot by those who are still dissatisfied. Some fans have made it clear that since CMS didn't reach some proverbial goal line after three years, then he has failed. Others seem to be a little more gracious. So there is clearly a disagreement among fans. Great topic for a message board!

My thoughts. Let's hypothetically say Urban Meyer took over at UG with the same talent that UK had in 2012. I would expect UM to pull out 4 wins in year one, 6 wins in year two, 8 wins in year three, and 10 wins in year four when the elite talented recruits have matured and his system is in full swing. (4 - 6 - 8 - 10). So two years to go bowling and four years to reach 10 wins.

Now the scenario of CMS at UK.
2-4-5-6. I took away wins for Stoops HC experience, culture, recruiting, and stadium crowd. (Yes the crowd IS the 12th player). He can't recruit with the big boys YET. UM at UK would probably look like 3-5-7-8 with his recruiting and HC experience.

So comparing UM at UG and MS at UK:

UM at UG: Bowling in year 2, 10 wins in year 4.

MS at UK: Bowling in year 4. The 10 wins are for another discussion.

What are your expectations and Why? The why is so important because I don't understand why some think we should be further along under CMS.

Got no idea who UG is, but if you're going to be hypothetical, let's compare Meyer at UK with no head coaching experience/name & Joker's remaining talent to Stoops. That's the only valid hypothetical.

 

[mrhotdice]

Sorry if this has already had its own thread that I missed, but I hear this discussed a lot by those who are still dissatisfied. Some fans have made it clear that since CMS didn't reach some proverbial goal line after three years, then he has failed. Others seem to be a little more gracious. So there is clearly a disagreement among fans. Great topic for a message board!

My thoughts. Let's hypothetically say Urban Meyer took over at UG with the same talent that UK had in 2012. I would expect UM to pull out 4 wins in year one, 6 wins in year two, 8 wins in year three, and 10 wins in year four when the elite talented recruits have matured and his system is in full swing. (4 - 6 - 8 - 10). So two years to go bowling and four years to reach 10 wins.

Now the scenario of CMS at UK.
2-4-5-6. I took away wins for Stoops HC experience, culture, recruiting, and stadium crowd. (Yes the crowd IS the 12th player). He can't recruit with the big boys YET. UM at UK would probably look like 3-5-7-8 with his recruiting and HC experience.

So comparing UM at UG and MS at UK:

UM at UG: Bowling in year 2, 10 wins in year 4.

MS at UK: Bowling in year 4. The 10 wins are for another discussion.

What are your expectations and Why? The why is so important because I don't understand why some think we should be further along under CMS.

Their are two divisions in the SEC and it amazes me that some don't get it. Their is UK and Vandy in one division and the rest of the SEC in the other.

You could put Urban Meyer with any team other than UK and Vandy and they would win. The other teams have built in advantages that UK will never have such as local talent, location, and tradition. Put Urban Meyer at Georgia or LSU and he would build a National Championship team in a few years. But in reality at UK I is will take longer than a few years. The Towles failure at QB is the main factor in UK failure to do well.

 

[lex cath]

Petrino won 5, 8, 10, 11 at Arkansas (before things went south). I don't bring this up because I'm one of those who thought UK should have gone after him 4 years ago, even though I did think that. I bring it up because that is what a progression of improvement could look like. I just don't understand the people on this board that say everything has to take 4 to 5 years minimum. It doesn't have to! If you hire the right coach you should at least see glimpses of what could be in the future early on. I just haven't seen much of that with CMS, other than in recruiting.

Look, I like Gran and Hinshaw on the offensive side. To borrow a phrase from Eric Bledsoe, I think they will get s&%t right on that side of the ball (eventually). Now the defense has gotten better (this year) and I'm happy about that. But, how much better is it really this year versus last year.

Here are the overall defensive stats for UK from NCAA.com for this year and last.

2016 so far
95 Overall
90 Rushing
90 Passing
89 Scoring

2015
59 Overall
97 Rushing
28 Passing
68 Scoring

While the defense has gotten better from the start of this season until now, it's still behind the full season from last year. Now, the stats may eventually even up, but I wouldn't call that improvement would you? At least not a lot of it. I do feel like the D is getting better, it just hasn't shown itself in the stats yet. Let's remember, Vandy and USCjrs offenses are terrible. The effort against Bama was respectable at best.

Look, I'm not against CMS. I don't care who wins big here as long as someone does. If it's Stoops, so be it. Just stop feeding me the line that it has to take forever to turn a program into a winner. There are lots of other examples of coaches who have turned things around in a shorter period of time (2-3 years), Google it, I don't have time to list them all. Brooks took 4 years but he took over a team that was on probation. While Joker didn't do CMS any favors, that situation was still better than what Brooks inherited.

I'm willing to take a wait-and-see approach at the moment. Beat MSU and Mizzou and we'll see. Outside of that though, I'm just not seeing the amount of improvement I think we should be seeing based on how recruiting has gone in recent years. Sorry, I just had to get that off my chest. I feel better now, thank you! Go Cats!

Ferg is bringing the stats :bomb:

 

[Tomsong]

A better question is why shouldn't we be further along?

Good question. IMO for the same reasons that 6 wins is a reasonable expectation for year 4. 1) Stoops was a first time HC. He's gonna make mistakes as he did and will again. But I think we should be considering the coach he is going to become through those mistakes rather than the coach he is or has been. My outlook would be totally different with a 20-year HC. 2) Culture is a real thing that had to be overcome. It's not easy to change and it affects everything from confidence and game day energy to off season workouts and why recruits might choose Ky. Not to mention locker room chemistry which showed up in spades last year. 3) Recruiting, although this was a real positive in year 1, we saw how little room for error we have at UK when we had so many flips in year two. That has had a big impact on this year's roster and talent level. 4) I've gotta keep this one on the list. Best way to put it... playing at the Swamp versus CWS, which home team has the edge?

The way I see it, we have to consider history and outlook. History begs the question: why should Stoops be expected to surpass the performances of his predecessors? Even Brooks couldn't break the hurdle of 7 regular season wins and no coach has broken .500 since Collier. There is a reason for that: Outside of the BBN, the world does not think UK and football go together. Can that be changed? I believe UK has proven it's not making the same mistakes it did with Morriss and Brooks regarding money and facilities. That alone gives a new outlook that we never had at UK. I think we're entering a new era and everyone is wondering if Stoops is the right guy to ride this wave. Well didn't he make the wave and should be given a chance to ride it out?

 

[rabidcatfan]

Here were my actual, honest expectations after CMS took over and landed that first huge class:

2-3 wins in YEAR ONE
4-5 wins in YEAR TWO (I upgraded this to 6 wins after we started 4-1)
6+ wins in YEAR THREE
6-8 wins in YEAR FOUR
5-7 wins a year from there on out with an occasional 8+ win season.

These are not unreasonable expectations and this coaching staff are clearly not going to achieve that now.

 

[LowCountryCat]

Nothing like the soft bigotry of low expectations to assure mediocrity in perpetuity.

 

[WildCard]

Way too many hypotheticals in the OP. However, for the record, I don't think there was anything unrealistic about "expecting" a 6 win 2016 season. And there still is not. A 6 win season is still very reasonable.

And if it does happen, IMO, the SC game will have been the critical win. As I noted before there was a HUGE difference coming out of Tuscaloosa 2-3 rather than 1-4. JMO

Peace

 

[J. Shellacque]

Out of alll P5 conference coaches there is only one that has a worse record than Stoops as far as I can tell. David Beaty. That is astonishing considering Stoops' complaints about fan support. Far better coaches make way less money than Stoops is being paid and produce more. Stoops' record is actually worse than even Joker's, when you consider that Joker actually reached a bowl game. An achievement Stoops may never realize.

 

[CB3UK]

Stoops record at the end of year 3 was worse than Jokers, but of course Joker started with a better foundation. I expected 6-7 wins this season. It simply isn't unrealistic. SJ can play better than he showed against Vandy. He can be a serviceable QB and get us there.

 

[J. Shellacque]

I suppose you could throw in Derek Mason, but he has yet to have a chance at four years of pitiful.

 

[kb22stang]

We definitely should be in a bowl game in year four. I mean you have to think that the past 2 seasons we should of gone bowl games at least but yet we had back to back collapses. Can't have it this year

Complete and utter nonsense, we won early because the schedule was backloaded. There was no collapse, our record was simply bloated b/c of the way the schedule fell.

6 wins in year should have been the goal from the start. In all likelihood we'll fall one short of that because of the 2nd half collapse against Southern Miss. That's not very off and it warrants a 5th year.

I'd still like to see one example of a coach at turning around a perennial loser, in a P5 conference, coming off a situation resembling what Joker did here, in a shorter time frame then 4 years. There may be a handful of examples but there aren't many, which means you don't use that as the standard.

 

[NCukcat62]

Complete and utter nonsense, we won early because the schedule was backloaded. There was no collapse, our record was simply bloated b/c of the way the schedule fell.

6 wins in year should have been the goal from the start. In all likelihood we'll fall one short of that because of the 2nd half collapse against Southern Miss. That's not very off and it warrants a 5th year.

I'd still like to see one example of a coach at turning around a perennial loser, in a P5 conference, coming off a situation resembling what Joker did here, in a shorter time frame then 4 years. There may be a handful of examples but there aren't many, which means you don't use that as the standard.

You're joking right? Did you watch the Vanderbilt or Louisville game last year? I guess not. I was at the Louisville game. It was an epic collapse

 

[The_Godfather_rivals]

Their are two divisions in the SEC and it amazes me that some don't get it. Their is UK and Vandy in one division and the rest of the SEC in the other.

You could put Urban Meyer with any team other than UK and Vandy and they would win. The other teams have built in advantages that UK will never have such as local talent, location, and tradition. Put Urban Meyer at Georgia or LSU and he would build a National Championship team in a few years. But in reality at UK I is will take longer than a few years. The Towles failure at QB is the main factor in UK failure to do well.

James Franklin completely obliterated this notion and James Franklin is proving at Penn State that he isn't exactly Bear Bryant either.

Name me a UK coach who began his time at UK with 4 straight losing seasons.

 

[J. Shellacque]

Stoops record at the end of year 3 was worse than Jokers, but of course Joker started with a better foundation. I expected 6-7 wins this season. It simply isn't unrealistic. SJ can play better than he showed against Vandy. He can be a serviceable QB and get us there.

I hope you're right CB. I just don't see it happening.

 

[WildCard]

James Franklin completely obliterated this notion and James Franklin is proving at Penn State that he isn't exactly Bear Bryant either.

Name me a UK coach who began his time at UK with 4 straight losing seasons.

John Ray (2-8, 2-9, 3-8 and 3-8 between 1969 and 1972). Of course, that was the end of his time as well. [winking]

Peace

 

[J. Shellacque]

John Ray (2-8, 2-9, 3-8 and 3-8 between 1969 and 1972). Of course, that was the end of his time as well. [winking]

Peace

John Ray? Are you kidding me?

 

[J. Shellacque]

Was John Ray one of Plato's contemporaries?

 

[lex cath]

I just want to watch them act like they know they are going to win when they step on the field

 

[buckkiller]

No less than 7 coming into year and not including bowl game. Was hoping 8-5 after bowl victory. That isnt happening unless we get a miracle.

 

[BoulderCat_rivals187983]

Hypothetically I don't need UK football. There's a football team doing OK around here. What I need as a UK football fan is 6-8 wins a year. That's all. Not 10-12 an SEC or NCAA title just a few frigging wins when the skies of November turn gloomy.

 

[SanAntonioCat_rivals376502]

Here were my actual, honest expectations after CMS took over and landed that first huge class:

2-3 wins in YEAR ONE
4-5 wins in YEAR TWO (I upgraded this to 6 wins after we started 4-1)
6+ wins in YEAR THREE
6-8 wins in YEAR FOUR
5-7 wins a year from there on out with an occasional 8+ win season.

These are not unreasonable expectations and this coaching staff are clearly not going to achieve that now.

Well, the coaching staff and athletic department will certainly thank you for your foresight and sports acumen. I would recommend filling out an application to work in the athletic dep't. They clearly need you.

 

[51stFan]

I think we will get a lot better feel of the state of the program in the 2nd half. We have won three that we should ,got beat one that we shouldn't of, failed to show up at one and didn't get beat 70 in the other.

If we can win three more and be competitive against two of three against UT, UGA, and UofL I think we see progress. If we lose to MIZZ or Miss.St. and get waxed in two or three against the big boys, then I start to wonder. We have to start getting competitive against middle of the pack SEC.

 

[sluggercatfan]

Sorry if this has already had its own thread that I missed, but I hear this discussed a lot by those who are still dissatisfied. Some fans have made it clear that since CMS didn't reach some proverbial goal line after three years, then he has failed. Others seem to be a little more gracious. So there is clearly a disagreement among fans. Great topic for a message board!

My thoughts. Let's hypothetically say Urban Meyer took over at UG with the same talent that UK had in 2012. I would expect UM to pull out 4 wins in year one, 6 wins in year two, 8 wins in year three, and 10 wins in year four when the elite talented recruits have matured and his system is in full swing. (4 - 6 - 8 - 10). So two years to go bowling and four years to reach 10 wins.

Now the scenario of CMS at UK.
2-4-5-6. I took away wins for Stoops HC experience, culture, recruiting, and stadium crowd. (Yes the crowd IS the 12th player). He can't recruit with the big boys YET. UM at UK would probably look like 3-5-7-8 with his recruiting and HC experience.

So comparing UM at UG and MS at UK:

UM at UG: Bowling in year 2, 10 wins in year 4.

MS at UK: Bowling in year 4. The 10 wins are for another discussion.

What are your expectations and Why? The why is so important because I don't understand why some think we should be further along under CMS.

What will you think if this year ends 4-8? Mark Stoops main problem is he still thinks defense wins games in 2016. If your offense isn't averaging 30-35 ppg you aren't winning many games...just go look at where the top teams rank in offensive production and ppg...where does UK rank you ask?...that would be 87th in the country..when your head coach says your offense is scoring to fast then you have a problem. His 1960's philosophy is going to keep him from being a successful head coach...look at Gran's offensive stats at UC last yr vs UK this year. You could do the same for NB and SD this year.

 

[sluggercatfan]

You can also add Dan Mullen and Mississippi State to the list of redshirting. If everyone will remember, Coach Claiborne came to UK and red shirted almost everyone from the get go. Results - we didn't win a game in his first year here - but by year 3 we won 9 games. Coach Stoops played a lot more than he's redshirted - it paid off in showing improvement and building recruiting momentum. The reason I compare and say this, after year three, I don't think Coach Claiborne had great success here again - but he was at the end of his career and was starting to be passed by the younger coaches. Coach Stoops on the other hand - he is building for a sustained run IMO. I wanted quick success and was spoiled. I think Coach Stoops and staff have made some errors - but to be fair - everyone needs to look at his successes. I think if hadn't lost Neal Brown, we would be looking at an entirely different situation the last two years. I can't blame Neal and I hope we may have him as our coach some day - but I hope it is later rather than sooner for obvious reasons.

Go Big Blue!

There is more behind the NB leaving than you think.

 

[51stFan]

Please go on.....

I've always wondered that. SEC coordinator vs. C-USA head coach. Really about a lateral move imo. Makes you wonder if he saw something to make him think it might not work out here. May be nothing. Don't know, but surely someone knows something. He is an alumni and is from Danville.

 

[sluggercatfan]

Please go on.....

I've always wondered that. SEC coordinator vs. C-USA head coach. Really about a lateral move imo. Makes you wonder if he saw something to make him think it might not work out here. May be nothing. Don't know, but surely someone knows something. He is an alumni and is from Danville.

Let's just say not a lot of Kumbaya...can't say more or who told me.