Mitch rushed in and gave Stoops a huge raise to keep him from .............

[Longtrip]

Doing what exactly?
And what team or teams were showing signs of stealing our coach? The one with zero head coach experience.
If any of us wasted that kind of money we would face serious consequences; but not Mitch - a "University President's Dream"

 

[ok-cats-computer]

It was a very expensive mistake. We are paying an unproven coach like an elite coach. Even worse, Barnhart didn't get the protection of a buyout for the school. Basically, UK takes all the risk of paying big money to a failing coach (which has come to fruition), but the coach is free to leave without any financial penalty for breaking the contract. Stoops's agent should be inducted into the negotiating hall of fame based on that deal.

 

[NoDef]

A football school would of fired MB after the Joker hire. I can't believe he's still here after the contract extension. That was a stupid move to make in a middle of the season.

 

[anon_013cn8yrfncx2]

Don't know the why on his one but I do remember MB making Joker CIW to hold onto what was perceived as a solid
recruiting class. MB is not a strategic planner at all.

 

[Formerly Imafan4evr_]

Nothing like rushing mid-season to secure a mediocre (at best) and still unproven coach with ~18 million bucks guaranteed, as if potential suitors would be lined up at his door with big offers to steal him away at any moment. Les Miles is less expensive to buy out. That speaks volumes to the business accumen of our AD.

 

[Ugoff]

I think Barney looks at Stoops as his "big hire", his boy, and he locked him up with this ridiculous contract. Of course he didn't count on this epic failure of a season. MB has crapped the hot tub, once again. Barring a miracle, this is disastrous hire #3. How many mulligans is he going to get?

 

[Icecoldbrewdoggy]

Stoops and Billy Gillespie should be sending Barny Christmas cards every year, that's for sure.

 

[buckkiller]

I have finnaly come to terms with MITCH is a complete Tool and dumbass! I bet the Rifle team is ranked though!!

 

[ZakkW]

And this guy was touted as a 'football AD' when hired. What a joke. The program is worse now than when he got here. A charlatan and con-man who has fooled a majority of fans into treating him as a faultless sacred cow. Unbelievable.

 

[Barry MuCockinher]

Only way Mitch is held responsible is if big money boosters threaten to take away their $ if a real fb coach isn't hired

 

[reflaine]

Kentuckys best chance to turn to a football program is to have stoops succeed. No power five team can bring in coach after coach to have them be successful and move on to the next big job. You are not going to get every hire right. When we was 5-1 last year and way ahead of schedule, showing stoops that we are serious to him, and the program was the best option to make us a sustainable respectable program.

Look at every big time program, is it ran by multiple coaches, or long tenure guys. Vandy is a good example. Fallon had two good years and catapulted to the next big thing. They then fell back to where they were. Although a risk to sign stoops to a big extension, it was he best chance for us to have a sustainable program.

Very high risk, high reward move. But to be successful we have to find out bob stoops, frank Beamer, or bobby Bowden.

 

[Shavers48]

Kentuckys best chance to turn to a football program is to have stoops succeed. No power five team can bring in coach after coach to have them be successful and move on to the next big job. You are not going to get every hire right. When we was 5-1 last year and way ahead of schedule, showing stoops that we are serious to him, and the program was the best option to make us a sustainable respectable program.

Look at every big time program, is it ran by multiple coaches, or long tenure guys. Vandy is a good example. Fallon had two good years and catapulted to the next big thing. They then fell back to where they were. Although a risk to sign stoops to a big extension, it was he best chance for us to have a sustainable program.

Very high risk, high reward move. But to be successful we have to find out bob stoops, frank Beamer, or bobby Bowden.

i find your thought process fascinating.

 

[ok-cats-computer]

I don't think many other SEC ADs would survive 5 years without a winning record, 5 years since we've beaten our in-state rival, and 5 years without a bowl. That's half a decade of incompetence under Barnhart's guidance of the football program. Vandy might tolerate that performance, but I really think any other SEC program would be forced to let the AD go after that much failure.

 

[LowCountryCat]

Come on folks, everybody knows it takes 12-15 years to build an SEC team, Stoops just needs more time, besides, Mitch hired Calipari so that means he is above criticism.

 

[reflaine]

Name me one power five school who has sustained success by going through coaches every two to three years? Coaching changes can be caused by winning or losing. If you win you move up the coaches ladder. But what power five school has moved coaches through its program to bigger and better programs multiple times. To have sustained success you have to have some form of constency.

i find your thought process fascinating.

 

[LowCountryCat]

Name me one power five school who has sustained success by going through coaches every two to three years? Coaching changes can be caused by winning or losing. If you win you move up the coaches ladder. But what power five school has moved coaches through its program to bigger and better programs multiple times. To have sustained success you have to have some form of constency.

I'd like to see a flicker of success. We aren't even in the same atmosphere as sustained success.

 

[ZakkW]

Name me one power five school who has sustained success by going through coaches every two to three years? Coaching changes can be caused by winning or losing. If you win you move up the coaches ladder. But what power five school has moved coaches through its program to bigger and better programs multiple times. To have sustained success you have to have some form of constency.

We have consistently sucked for the past 6 seasons.

 

[reflaine]

When we gave the extension we was 5-1 with a 3ot loss at the swamp and the talk college football heads for the turn around going on in Lexington.

We showed stoops that we were serious with him. At that time everything was pointing to him to be what fixed our program. If Mitch doesn't show his support and stoops finished the year with even the Louisville win (should of had). Stoops bolts, every fan wants to know why we didn't do whatever it took to keep him.

 

[LowCountryCat]

When we gave the extension we was 5-1 with a 3ot loss at the swamp and the talk college football heads for the turn around going on in Lexington.

We showed stoops that we were serious with him. At that time everything was pointing to him to be what fixed our program. If Mitch doesn't show his support and stoops finished the year with even the Louisville win (should of had). Stoops bolts, every fan wants to know why we didn't do whatever it took to keep him.

We? So, you're arguing that Mitch was afraid of what the fans would do if Stoops left? The same Mitch that mocked the fans less than two years earlier?

 

[reflaine]

Yes. In the vocal fans eyes everything Mitch does is wrong. If we finished the year last year bowl eligible, stoops gets hired away and we start the process all over from scratch people would be jumping on the fire Mitch for letting stoops get away bandwagon.

 

[ok-cats-computer]

Although a risk to sign stoops to a big extension, it was he best chance for us to have a sustainable program.

Very high risk, high reward move. But to be successful we have to find out bob stoops, frank Beamer, or bobby Bowden.

One problem with your analysis is that we took all the risk without contract protection for any potential reward. There is no buyout protection for UK in the contract. If Stoops had succeded and a bigger football school tried to get him, Stoops would have been free to leave without any financial penalty. UK took the risk of massive guaranteed payments to an unproven coach without commeserate protection for any upside benefit.

 

[reflaine]

Should have had a buyout should he go else where, but that wouldn't help our situation right now. No one seen the demise coming (coaching had been lacking, but think youth and depth has a lot to do with it also. Think this is the main reason our special teams stuggle so badly. also I think losing heard unexpected to the NFL killed us. He was a true every down back and coulda played along boom

 

[Shavers48]

Name me one power five school who has sustained success by going through coaches every two to three years? Coaching changes can be caused by winning or losing. If you win you move up the coaches ladder. But what power five school has moved coaches through its program to bigger and better programs multiple times. To have sustained success you have to have some form of constency.

then quit trying to go cheap (and wrong). you don't stick with another bad hire just for consistency's sake. can you even point to a single area of improvement yet for Stoops?? the odds he's going to get you there decrease with each wretched loss.

 

[BBBLazing]

Doing what exactly?
And what team or teams were showing signs of stealing our coach? The one with zero head coach experience.
If any of us wasted that kind of money we would face serious consequences; but not Mitch - a "University President's Dream"

He did it to keep the recruiting train rolling. Everyone cried when they heard that Vince Marrow might leave and begged UK to pay him to keep him. Hard to ***** now.

 

[BBBLazing]

Come on folks, everybody knows it takes 12-15 years to build an SEC team, Stoops just needs more time, besides, Mitch hired Calipari so that means he is above criticism.

I get your sarcasm, but we have sucked for 60 years, so waiting a little longer shouldn't hurt I guess.

 

[bthaunert]

We have consistently sucked for the past 6 seasons.

You missed a 0 in your number. That would be the past 60 years.

 

[ok-cats-computer]

He did it to keep the recruiting train rolling. Everyone cried when they heard that Vince Marrow might leave and begged UK to pay him to keep him. Hard to ***** now.

If that was the reason, it was unnecessary. He was already well-paid for an unproven coach before Barnhart dumped a mountain of money on Stoops. There was no risk of Stoops leaving in the middle of the season when Barnhart gave him the big raise and extension. Further, the recruiting train abruptly stopped. We missed on Harris. Check out the link below and note that Louisville's recruiting class last year ranked higher than ours.

http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/recruiting/teamrank/2015/all/all

 

[chuckster.sixpack]

When we gave the extension we was 5-1 with a 3ot loss at the swamp and the talk college football heads for the turn around going on in Lexington.

We showed stoops that we were serious with him. At that time everything was pointing to him to be what fixed our program. If Mitch doesn't show his support and stoops finished the year with even the Louisville win (should of had). Stoops bolts, every fan wants to know why we didn't do whatever it took to keep him.

Where was he bolting to?

 

[UK90]

You missed a 0 in your number. That would be the past 60 years.

Yep. And that's putting it mildly. Really, you could even say a 100 years, since even the Bryant years were essentially just an anomaly in our overall history. We sucked before the bear, we've sucked since the bear, he just gave us a temporary respite for a few years before moving on.

These fans that act like this is something new amaze me. 6 years? Yikes, learn your team's history people. God, if only it was just 6 years. .

 

[reflaine]

If he got that sixth win last year( two good
Chances against Florida and Louisville) his name would have been on a lot of openings. Going from a two win team to bowl eligible in year two at Kentucky? Might not of moved last
Year, but he was being mentioned for openings this year even after the debacle to end the season last year.

Think the extension should of included university protection for him to leave to another job, but I'm sure Mitch thought if we pay him enough, we knock out the middle level power five schools from luring him away. No matter
The buyout of Osu wants someone they can get them.

 

[ok-cats-computer]

Yep. And that's putting it mildly. Really, you could even say a 100 years, since even the Bryant years were essentially just an anomaly in our overall history. We sucked before the bear, we've sucked since the bear, he just gave us a temporary respite for a few years before moving on.

These fans that act like this is something new amaze me. 6 years? Yikes, learn your team's history people. God, if only it was just 6 years. .

I get what you're saying and know our history. However, our history is better than losing to Louisville 5 straight years. We don't have a great tradition, but our history is better than taking losses to WKU. Our history is better than having a close battle with EKU for the position of third best team in the state. We have hit a new low, and we're paying a premium price to dig even deeper.

 

[rjr]

Yes. In the vocal fans eyes everything Mitch does is wrong. If we finished the year last year bowl eligible, stoops gets hired away and we start the process all over from scratch people would be jumping on the fire Mitch for letting stoops get away bandwagon.

Ha! We could have only hoped. We have a coach, an OC, and a DC all coaching the position for the first time in their lives. This is a mess and it won't work. Its just a matter of time before Mitch is looking to hire someone again. I only hope he forms a committee, similar to what he did (unofficially) with Calipari. Put Rich Brooks on that committee and lets get a tried and true head coach- even if he is from Division II.

 

[bthaunert]

I get what you're saying and know our history. However, our history is better than losing to Louisville 5 straight years. We don't have a great tradition, but our history is better than taking losses to WKU. Our history is better than having a close battle with EKU for the position of third best team in the state. We have hit a new low, and we're paying a premium price to dig even deeper.

Over the past 60 years, it's not better, that's the thing. We lost 7 out of 8 against Louisville between 1999-2006. We've lost to Ohio University and Louisiana Monroe. We are FAR from hitting a new low. That is how bad our history is.

 

[ok-cats-computer]

Over the past 60 years, it's not better, that's the thing. We lost 7 out of 8 against Louisville between 1999-2006. We've lost to Ohio University and Louisiana Monroe. We are FAR from hitting a new low. That is how bad our history is.

You and I tend to disagree on this board, but I appreciate that you're generally a respectful poster, and sometimes you change my mind. I think this is a circumstance where we just have to agree to disagree, if you really think we are FAR from hitting a new low. We've never lost to Louisville 5 years straight. Heck, even Bill Curry beat Louisville. I also think getting passed by WKU in football and fighting to stay even with EKU puts us at least close to a historical low. I hate to admit our history is dismal, and perhaps I overemphasize the good years in my memory, but it feels to me that we need big changes to keep from being left behind Louisville in football.

 

[TBCat]

When we gave the extension we was 5-1 with a 3ot loss at the swamp and the talk college football heads for the turn around going on in Lexington.

We showed stoops that we were serious with him. At that time everything was pointing to him to be what fixed our program. If Mitch doesn't show his support and stoops finished the year with even the Louisville win (should of had). Stoops bolts, every fan wants to know why we didn't do whatever it took to keep him.

I get that but the problem is what did the resigning do for us? You resign coaches to lock them in here. We didn't do that. Stoops can take any job he wants any time he wants. The only thing that contract did was to financially decapitate the university if we have to remove him. If the goal was just to show we are behind him and pay him more then fine do that. But don't put the university in a situation where it can't protect itself. Mitch needed to first and foremost protect the school that he is in charge of. He didn't do that. Had he extended teh contract but put financial penalties in the contract if Stoops leaves and kept a realistic penalty for us if we need to make a change then I would agree it was a good call. But that's not what we ended up with.

Keep in mind that Mitch has made a ton of bad decisions with the athletic program and only a few successes. And most the successes should have an astric next to them. Yes hiring Cal was a good move but hell any idiot could have done that. I could have hired Cal if I were AD. It didn't take some special insight to hire coach Cal. Also keep in mind that he could have hire Cal 2 years earlier but in his wisdom thought Gillispie would be a better hire. Quite frankly any AD that has a choice between Cal and Gillispie and chooses Gillspie should be fired on the spot.

 

[Ecthelion of the Fountain]

Guys, Mitch just won AD of the year. All is well. Remain calm...

 

[macd79]

Come on folks, everybody knows it takes 12-15 years to build an SEC team, Stoops just needs more time, besides, Mitch hired Calipari so that means he is above criticism.

Mitch was forced to hire Calipari. It took some reputable basketball alumni to get that done. The only thing Mitch did was introduced him as head coach

 

[John Henry]

As Donald Trump would say, it was a very bad deal.

 

[Cat06]

Quite frankly any AD that has a choice between Cal and Gillispie and chooses Gillspie should be fired on the spot.

I have said this until I am blue in the face.

 

[jc2010]

Yes. In the vocal fans eyes everything Mitch does is wrong. If we finished the year last year bowl eligible, stoops gets hired away and we start the process all over from scratch people would be jumping on the fire Mitch for letting stoops get away bandwagon.

Stoops took care of that problem himself by losing the next six, he would have duplicated the feat this year if they hadn't stuck that Charlotte game where they did. We don't have to worry about him getting hired away now.