Fans are like

[shutzhund]

the blind men who were asked to touch an elephant and give their impressions. One touched the tail and said an elephant was like a tree limb. A second touched a leg and said the elephant was like a tree trunk and so on and on it went.

Many watch games and yet don't seem to get any more from it than those sightless men. Very few who have been involved in the sport ever post or even read these sites. Their are exceptions and, not to damn them with the other segment, GrumpyoldDawg would be an example along with WildCard. There are others but way too few and they post way too little.

Lately, there are those who are clinging to, what I suppose to be superficial evaluations, who blame the staff for all the problems. Maybe Saban and his staff would have won more games but that is blind speculation. The meat of the problem is what has always cursed UK. Recruiting at UK, with the glaring exception of Fran Curci, has consistently been at the bottom of the SEC. That may well not be the only problem but posters who blame all past and present coaches don't seem to recognize what's right in their faces. Their rebuttal is player development(coaches fault) with seemingly no idea of what that entails.

I don't care if it's the present staff or not. Support the recruiting path and the coaches who are good at doing so. Give those recruits time to get the football, peach fuzz off their cheeks before you allow the fire the staff group to lead you down an intellectual blind alley.

We are all UK fans. Some just evaluate the problem from different perspectives. What do you think?

 

[richbrookstomato]

How long do we that know so little about football have to wait for our team to not get beaten by the following:

Lining up correctly
The spread option QB
Dropping passes
A Junior High trick play
Discipline
Blocking
Tackling
Just asking?

 

[NCukcat62]

Ok

 

[uk_king_cat2]

Let me guess.....You wanna :cookie:

 

[Anjiejo]

the blind men who were asked to touch an elephant and give their impressions. One touched the tail and said an elephant was like a tree limb. A second touched a leg and said the elephant was like a tree trunk and so on and on it went.

Many watch games and yet don't seem to get any more from it than those sightless men. Very few who have been involved in the sport ever post or even read these sites. Their are exceptions and, not to damn them with the other segment, GrumpyoldDawg would be an example along with WildCard. There are others but way too few and they post way too little.

Lately, there are those who are clinging to, what I suppose to be superficial evaluations, who blame the staff for all the problems. Maybe Saban and his staff would have won more games but that is blind speculation. The meat of the problem is what has always cursed UK. Recruiting at UK, with the glaring exception of Fran Curci, has consistently been at the bottom of the SEC. That may well not be the only problem but posters who blame all past and present coaches don't seem to recognize what's right in their faces. Their rebuttal is player development(coaches fault) with seemingly no idea of what that entails.

I don't care if it's the present staff or not. Support the recruiting path and the coaches who are good at doing so. Give those recruits time to get the football, peach fuzz off their cheeks before you allow the fire the staff group to lead you down an intellectual blind alley.

We are all UK fans. Some just evaluate the problem from different perspectives. What do you think?

When it comes to football I may be stupid... But to say this last year was because we didn't have the talent when the players quit on the staff is very very blind.... There are issues on this staff and I am willing to give stoops a chance to correct it...now we can differ in opinion on who was the problem,but at the end of the day it fall's on stoops shoulders to correct it...think we need to give him 2 more years,but having said that if he would have kept Dawson than he would have to kick the guys off this team who quit on him...which one should he have done? I don't know but it looks like he chose his players..Now he needs to get someone who can control a situation like that and demands respect/accountability/discipline and keeps that from happening..

 

[TJS4UK]

How long do we that know so little about football have to wait for our team to not get beaten by the following:

Lining up correctly
The spread option QB
Dropping passes
A Junior High trick play
Discipline
Blocking
Tackling
Just asking?

Actually, all of those things could be coached to perfection and the players still not execute. Especially in regards to a young team.

 

[Deeeefense]

What do you think?

I think you're advocating the "just give them more time" position, and there's some merit to that, but the issues that faced the team this year are multiple and more complex than that, as others have articulated above and elsewhere on the board. Are the issues fixable? yes. Will the staff be successful in another year or two? let's hope so.

 

[KY1WING]

So when the execution isn't there is it poor coaching (not taught, not expected) or poor execution (taught but not done or unable to be done) or both?

Few coaches are going to call players out. If you have no depth you are stuck with what you have.

Unless you are at practice can you really know what it is because the on field results are the same either way?

I'm just mystified though at the problems this team had. Football is football. These kids have been playing football for probably over 8 years. Yet for whatever reason there are times when they look like they've never taken a snap before.

Can someone explain this?

 

[billoliver40]

I agree talent level is NOT the coach's fault. You recruit the best you can and hope the player is as good or a bit better than advertised. Sometimes you whiff...and I'm wondering if young Mr Elam is one of those cases...but time will tell on him.
BUT:
lining up in the right spot.
tackling.
staying in position.
snap count.
route running.
effort.
attitude.
those are things that coaches can and have to address in some fashion. If it means you sit, then you sit. I'm only going to mention in passing ridiculous penalties that stall drives.
Look....coaching is not a great santa claus type job. It's more of a drill sergeant. A team has to have focus and discipline. If it doesn't......well....we've seen that I think.

 

[CHAMPCAT11]

What do you think?[/QUOTE]

I think you are wrong. I do agree that Grumpy and WildCard make excellent posts but that has nothing to do with our coaching dilemma. You could give Stoops the Alabama roster and he'd still lose. Mark Stoops is not capable of being a head coach in the SEC. I'm not attacking him at all, just stating the obvious.

 

[shutzhund]

How long do we that know so little about football have to wait for our team to not get beaten by the following:

Lining up correctly
The spread option QB
Dropping passes
A Junior High trick play
Discipline
Blocking
Tackling
Just asking?

Thanks for replying but I don't know of an instance, you mentioned, where you might not think execution/talent wasn't a major contributing factor.

This team has talent but it's young talent An example would be Elam. At any good SEC program he would have been redshirted and last season been a redshirt freshman who probably never saw the field. As a redshirt sophomore he might still be watching and listed at the three deep level. That's at a talent rich upper tier SEC program which we are not except, as I mentioned, the brief Curci times.

We have to throw the inexperienced out there because our juniors and seniors, mostly Joker's recruits, are not major SEC players. Those that are have been far too few and far overworked.

You probably noted that the offensive and defensive lines were our weakest units. The ones that take the longest to develop. Sure Bama, etc. start freshmen(some times) at those positions but that all goes back to recruiting and the opportunity to develop.

So that's how I see it and I don't care who the staff might be.

 

[Blue_White_KY]

What do you think?

I think you are wrong. I do agree that Grumpy and WildCard make excellent posts but that has nothing to do with our coaching dilemma. You could give Stoops the Alabama roster and he'd still lose. Mark Stoops is not capable of being a head coach in the SEC. I'm not attacking him at all, just stating the obvious.[/QUOTE]

Your not stating the obvious. Your stating an opinion which is just like your butthole, ******.
Stoops has proven that he can coach top talent so if given the Bama roster, he would succeed. Making comments like that just make you lose credibility and look stupid.

 

[jc2010]

I'll cut those kids all of the slack that you want but I sure hate to pay that HC what he is getting will he is learning how to do his job. His game and clock management suck.

 

[AirRaidFan_rivals164446]

I think you are wrong. I do agree that Grumpy and WildCard make excellent posts but that has nothing to do with our coaching dilemma. You could give Stoops the Alabama roster and he'd still lose. Mark Stoops is not capable of being a head coach in the SEC. I'm not attacking him at all, just stating the obvious.

Your not stating the obvious. Your stating an opinion which is just like your butthole, ******.
Stoops has proven that he can coach top talent so if given the Bama roster, he would succeed. Making comments like that just make you lose credibility and look stupid.[/QUOTE]

Such eloquence.

 

[jc2010]

Your not stating the obvious. Your stating an opinion which is just like your butthole, ******.
Stoops has proven that he can coach top talent so if given the Bama roster, he would succeed. Making comments like that just make you lose credibility and look stupid.

Such eloquence.[/QUOTE]
He has proven he can coach top talent, he has not proven he is capable of being a HC. Of course, JMO but he would not have the same success as Saban because that would mean that coaching has nothing to do with the outcome of games.

 

[shutzhund]

I think you're advocating the "just give them more time" position, and there's some merit to that, but the issues that faced the team this year are multiple and more complex than that, as others have articulated above and elsewhere on the board. Are the issues fixable? yes. Will the staff be successful in another year or two? let's hope so.

Actually I didn't mean to advocate just give them, the coaches, more time although that might well be interpreted. I'm more of a mind to deny those who have said this is a talent rich program that should have won six or seven games. True, this team is more talented than many previous but they have been denied redshirting because of circumstances. The Stoop's recruits are immature physically and in football discipline. You've got to expect physical and mental mistakes when you put them on the field.

So if you want to blame the Staff then it would be because they didn't redshirt ninety per cent of each class, hold them back for development and win one or two games for a couple of years. Then like Vandy did end up with solid classes of juniors and seniors during Franklin's tenure. As someone else mentioned Elam is a great example of that in UK's situation.

As far as coaches go trade Saban's staff to UK's sideline and Stoops' to Bama's and they would still kick our butts about the same amount they will this coming season.

The winning formula is not that complex. Just the guts and patience to execute it.

 

[TJS4UK]

Few coaches are going to call players out. If you have no depth you are stuck with what you have.

I think that this is the answer. Stoops didn't forget how to coach after he left FSU. UK is both young and not very deep. That combination will usually lose you some games even at the high school level. Much less the SEC level.

 

[CHAMPCAT11]

I think you are wrong. I do agree that Grumpy and WildCard make excellent posts but that has nothing to do with our coaching dilemma. You could give Stoops the Alabama roster and he'd still lose. Mark Stoops is not capable of being a head coach in the SEC. I'm not attacking him at all, just stating the obvious.

Your not stating the obvious. Your stating an opinion which is just like your butthole, ******.
Stoops has proven that he can coach top talent so if given the Bama roster, he would succeed. Making comments like that just make you lose credibility and look stupid.[/QUOTE]

You didn't have any credibility before you made your post. Calling me stupid is just childish. You'd be a good candidate to work with Stoops. You're both clueless.

 

[How Blue Can You Get?]

the blind men who were asked to touch an elephant and give their impressions. One touched the tail and said an elephant was like a tree limb. A second touched a leg and said the elephant was like a tree trunk and so on and on it went.

Many watch games and yet don't seem to get any more from it than those sightless men. Very few who have been involved in the sport ever post or even read these sites. Their are exceptions and, not to damn them with the other segment, GrumpyoldDawg would be an example along with WildCard. There are others but way too few and they post way too little.

Lately, there are those who are clinging to, what I suppose to be superficial evaluations, who blame the staff for all the problems. Maybe Saban and his staff would have won more games but that is blind speculation. The meat of the problem is what has always cursed UK. Recruiting at UK, with the glaring exception of Fran Curci, has consistently been at the bottom of the SEC. That may well not be the only problem but posters who blame all past and present coaches don't seem to recognize what's right in their faces. Their rebuttal is player development(coaches fault) with seemingly no idea of what that entails.

I don't care if it's the present staff or not. Support the recruiting path and the coaches who are good at doing so. Give those recruits time to get the football, peach fuzz off their cheeks before you allow the fire the staff group to lead you down an intellectual blind alley.

We are all UK fans. Some just evaluate the problem from different perspectives. What do you think?

Except your point does not explain losing to UL, Vandy, or almost losing to Eastern Ky!!! Those are the reasons our fanbase is so upset with 2015. Ity's not like injuries mounted up and caused us to lose games we would have won at the end of the season...At the end of the season, we collapsed as a team under current leadership, and it wasn't against Bama and LSU! It was against UofL and VANDY!!!!! Stoops may or may not get it together here, but fans like you are making excuses and letting him off too easy for things that are unaceptable! Period!

 

[shutzhund]

Except your point does not explain losing to UL, Vandy, or almost losing to Eastern Ky!!! Those are the reasons our fanbase is so upset with 2015. Ity's not like injuries mounted up and caused us to lose games we would have won at the end of the season...At the end of the season, we collapsed as a team under current leadership, and it wasn't against Bama and LSU! It was against UofL and VANDY!!!!! Stoops may or may not get it together here, but fans like you are making excuses and letting him off too easy for things that are unaceptable! Period!

You should have read more and stayed off the "true fan" soap box. As Saban recently said 40% of the fans don't understand the game. He may have been too conservative.

Everything you complained about has already been addressed just not item by item. It went over your head or you ducked on purpose. In either event further exchanges would be unprofitable for both of us.

 

[Levibooty]

I advocate we hire a new staff every year. That way every Leach fan, Petrino fan, Spuurier fan, every Norm Chow fan etc. etc. etc. will get their time in the sun. Everybody will be happy and we will have a highly successful program.

 

[shutzhund]

I advocate we hire a new staff every year. That way every Leach fan, Petrino fan, Spuurier fan, every Norm Chow fan etc. etc. etc. will get their time in the sun. Everybody will be happy and we will have a highly successful program.

At long last a man of the people speaks out.

You have somewhat of a twisted sense of humor and it hits a chord for me. Nice work.

 

[SanAntonioCat_rivals376502]

When it comes to football I may be stupid... But to say this last year was because we didn't have the talent when the players quit on the staff is very very blind.... There are issues on this staff and I am willing to give stoops a chance to correct it...now we can differ in opinion on who was the problem,but at the end of the day it fall's on stoops shoulders to correct it...think we need to give him 2 more years,but having said that if he would have kept Dawson than he would have to kick the guys off this team who quit on him...which one should he have done? I don't know but it looks like he chose his players..Now he needs to get someone who can control a situation like that and demands respect/accountability/discipline and keeps that from happening..

For the seemingly hundredth time, UK will not progress in the SEC until you have two to three deep in 3 to 4 star players at every position. Coaches who communicate and teach in developing star players are an important part of the process. Yet, talent wins out every time and makes even average coaches look like geniuses. We don't have the depth and quality number of players to endure a 12 game season and sustain a winning season. I believe we are close, but not there yet. Still, I agree with my fellow OP who say with vigor and loudly; We had enough talent in 2015 to be at least 7-5.

 

[Chuckinden]

Everyone has to realize too that these coaches are paid millions of dollars to do everything in their power to win. No one wants to hire a new staff every three or four years, but if said staff isn't progressing enough to the most basic things in year three, then there is gonna be concern.

Stoops will get a minimum of five years and if he isn't showing that he can coach at this level, he should be let go. Stoops even said before this year that his was "year three and we will be more competitive." We were some games, but no where consistent enough feel comfortable with Stoops yet. He will get next year to improve the program, which doesn't necessarily mean more wins, but if the staff is still making these high schools mistakes, he will be given one more chance and will be on the hot seat in 2017 and it will be justified.

I believe Stoops works hard and haven't given up on him, but if nothing changes, everything remains the same.

 

[HSLex]

So when the execution isn't there is it poor coaching (not taught, not expected) or poor execution (taught but not done or unable to be done) or both?

Few coaches are going to call players out.

This coach called out the kid on special teams the year before last as the reason for the special teams issues. The player was named.

If this past season is any indication, I don't think that guy was really the problem.

 

[Blue_White_KY]

You didn't have any credibility before you made your post. Calling me stupid is just childish. You'd be a good candidate to work with Stoops. You're both clueless.

I wasn't trying to have credibility. If you re-read my post, I said your comments make you look stupid, not actually calling you stupid. Your poor reading comprehension is proof that your stupid. If I continue to argue with you on a message board, then we are both stupid.

 

[CHAMPCAT11]

I wasn't trying to have credibility. If you re-read my post, I said your comments make you look stupid, not actually calling you stupid. Your poor reading comprehension is proof that your stupid. If I continue to argue with you on a message board, then we are both stupid.

When I saw that you don't know the difference between the usage of 'your and you're' I felt a lot better about my low opinion of YOUR intelligence. Learn how to spell and get back to me.

 

[SanAntonioCat_rivals376502]

Everyone has to realize too that these coaches are paid millions of dollars to do everything in their power to win. No one wants to hire a new staff every three or four years, but if said staff isn't progressing enough to the most basic things in year three, then there is gonna be concern.

Stoops will get a minimum of five years and if he isn't showing that he can coach at this level, he should be let go. Stoops even said before this year that his was "year three and we will be more competitive." We were some games, but no where consistent enough feel comfortable with Stoops yet. He will get next year to improve the program, which doesn't necessarily mean more wins, but if the staff is still making these high schools mistakes, he will be given one more chance and will be on the hot seat in 2017 and it will be justified.

I believe Stoops works hard and haven't given up on him, but if nothing changes, everything remains the same.

When Stoops wins and Kentucky finally draws enough attention from our SEC brethren to actually draw up a game plan to play us, our posters will go ballistic over the possibility of his leaving. I hope that comes to pass.

 

[3kidsandme]

It's pretty simple for me. Name who you think are the top 25 players on the team. Then check what year they are in. Expecting freshman and sophomores to beat teams that have been molded and built over 5 10 years of top recruiting classes is very narrow minded. This team is getting better talent for sure. Dawson was a step back from what Brown had going. I'm not going to say the team did not have problems but having the entire team back with more talented players starting to be juniors with a better plan on offense next year should be more exciting.

 

[Blue_White_KY]

When I saw that you don't know the difference between the usage of 'your and you're' I felt a lot better about my low opinion of YOUR intelligence. Learn how to spell and get back to me.

When this is what you have to resort to in an argument on a message board, you should just accept your defeat and move on.

 

[RonEJones]

How long do we that know so little about football have to wait for our team to not get beaten by the following:

Lining up correctly
The spread option QB
Dropping passes
A Junior High trick play
Discipline
Blocking
Tackling
Just asking?

Shutz just got teabagged.

Some of these posters must be related to Stoops.

 

[Soupbean]

"the blind men who were asked to touch an elephant and give their impressions. One touched the tail and said an elephant was like a tree limb. A second touched a leg and said the elephant was like a tree trunk and so on and on it went".

.....a third, a UK fan, accidently slipped his hand up the elephants a** and said, "I don't know what this is but it feels like chit".

Sorry, not exactly my sentiment just thought it was funny

 

[CHAMPCAT11]

When this is what you have to resort to in an argument on a message board, you should just accept your defeat and move on.

No argument from me at all. I initially just disagreed with the OP, no big deal because he asked for our opinions. I said I think he'd fail if he coached the current Alabama team and I still believe that. You're giving me hell as if your comments are facts and they're not. They're opinions... and we happen to disagree. So I'll try it again: I don't think Stoops can succeed as a head coach in the SEC, especially at UK where we have struggled for such a long time. I actually hope you're right and if Stoops makes it as our head coach I'll gladly say you were right and I was wrong.