Our Facilities are a Big Deal Being Overlooked

[UKWinsAgainYep]

I was as pissed as anyone after the Southern Miss game, but too many of our fans express hopelessness about UK football.

Many UK fans are overlooking the fact that we now have some of the BEST facilities in the nation.

We're talking about UK football having some of the best facilities. Recruits are now saying they haven't seen any facilities as nice as our new ones.

This is a big deal. If Stoops can stabilize the ship and get to 6 wins this season, this program can take off. These facilities WILL mean that we start signing top notch recruits and progress further as a program.

If Stoops doesn't make it at UK, I predict the facilities alone will lure a very good head coach to UK.

This is the main reason UK football is about to go to another level in the next two years.

The administration finally put their money where their mouth is....We need to immediately start taking advantage of our new facilities through recruiting.

 

[SportsFanatic42]

I completely agree with you. If I had to do it all over again I would hire Stoops for the simple fact that without him we wouldn't have gotten a 120 million dollar renovation of Commonwealth Stadium and a 45 Million dollar football practice facility built onto our indoor practice field. Both are gonna attract very high level recruits that the likes of UK Football have never seen before. Also any top notch coach can now come here and not be at disadvantage in recruiting because of our sexy facilities. So even if Stoops doesn't win here which I hope he does then we are still set for the future IMO. Great post bro.

 

[ukalum1988]

A victory on Saturday would be one of the most awesome wins in school history, but I don't realistically expect that to happen.

The next three games after Saturday will pretty much dictate how the season will turn out, and quite possibly have a significant bearing on whether Stoops can get it done or not.

 

[ScrewDuke1]

I disagree. I think most of us know our facilities are top notch, possibly top 5 in the nation.

That doesn't mean anything though if the coaching doesn't improve.

 

[UKWinsAgainYep]

I disagree. I think most of us know our facilities are top notch, possibly top 5 in the nation.

That doesn't mean anything though if the coaching doesn't improve.

I disagree. Our facilities DO matter no matter what the coaching is...

Our facilities are going to ensure this program goes up another level in the next two years WITH or WITHOUT Stoops as head Coach. It's a big deal and we need to start capitalizing on this huge investment.

 

[olblue]

I was as pissed as anyone after the Southern Miss game, but too many of our fans express hopelessness about UK football.

Many UK fans are overlooking the fact that we now have some of the BEST facilities in the nation.

We're talking about UK football having some of the best facilities. Recruits are now saying they haven't seen any facilities as nice as our new ones.

This is a big deal. If Stoops can stabilize the ship and get to 6 wins this season, this program can take off. These facilities WILL mean that we start signing top notch recruits and progress further as a program.

If Stoops doesn't make it at UK, I predict the facilities alone will lure a very good head coach to UK.

This is the main reason UK football is about to go to another level in the next two years.

The administration finally put their money where their mouth is....We need to immediately start taking advantage of our new facilities through recruiting.

Facilities don't draw good players. Good coaches and programs with tradition do.

At some point most - if not all - P5 schools are going to have state-of-the-art facilities. Even Vandy is about to embark on a new stadium.

 

[tuck66]

I really hope Stoops can right the ship! He's already got the D looking better. I'm pulling for him to succeed!

 

[TTU/UK fan]

Ehhh, I kinda understand what you are saying.

But I am not going to be happy until we are good on the field. Who gives a dang what our facilities look like when it hasnt changed anything? I havent seen recruiting improve since the new facilities, nor the product on the field after FOUR YEARS. So I could give a dang less what our facilities look like.

People will find a nice looking piece of corn in a turd. Glad you all dont need much to be happy, but some of us want more than mediocracy.

I honestly dont think if we get even 6 wins recruiting will improve. It would be against fairly bad teams and recruits wouldnt be too impressed by 1 extra win in 3 years. Recruits arent as easily satisfied as some of our fans ecspecially if you are planning on getting bigtime recruits considering schools getting better records with coaches who have been there shorter amounts of time. Not much left to sell if you are Stoops, even with 6 wins.

The administration may have made a good decisions and im proud of our facilities but it doesnt excuse the fact they gave an unproven, unimpressive coach an idiotic (firable at any other SEC school) extension. Whether he succeeds or not, that was atupid, any person who pays attention to CFB will tell you so.

Yes its a good thing but thats about the only good thing going on for UK football, so people arent going to be satisfied. You know we are in desparity when we have to use the "well the cruddy team plays and practices in a nice looking place".

It may attract a better head coach but with Barnhardt picking the new HC we may get a first year special teams coach from his old middle school.

 

[Grumpyolddawg]

I was as pissed as anyone after the Southern Miss game, but too many of our fans express hopelessness about UK football.

Many UK fans are overlooking the fact that we now have some of the BEST facilities in the nation.

We're talking about UK football having some of the best facilities. Recruits are now saying they haven't seen any facilities as nice as our new ones.

This is a big deal. If Stoops can stabilize the ship and get to 6 wins this season, this program can take off. These facilities WILL mean that we start signing top notch recruits and progress further as a program.

If Stoops doesn't make it at UK, I predict the facilities alone will lure a very good head coach to UK.

This is the main reason UK football is about to go to another level in the next two years.

The administration finally put their money where their mouth is....We need to immediately start taking advantage of our new facilities through recruiting.

I think you are overlooking the fact that everyone has nice facilities, A&M just spent half a billion bucks on theirs, Oregon doesn't take a backseat to anyone, Texas is crazy nice, Arkansas has Walmart money that comes in by truck loads, Clemson is in the process of building a 100+mil for what amounts a napping building, Governor of Louisanna was threatening to shut LSU football down for lack of funds, but that didn't stop LSU from building an entertainment complex with a whitewater river ride, Facilities is just an arms race, kids are impressed by different things, they like UGA's food, downtown Athens is a college aged kids dream,why we have so many alcohol related arrest. FSU's facilities suck, they have Florida A&M and their 75% female enrollment to make up for it and it appears to be pretty effective.

 

[prospectcat]

Winning on the field is the cake ... facilities are the icing. We need results before any facilities will be deciding factor in recruiting.

 

[UKErik]

Unfortunately, UK fell WAY behind in the facilities arms race. Kentucky's new digs are great, but they're probably no better than most other schools in the league. Hence, I don't know that the new facilities are going to result in vastly improved recruiting.

Kentucky needs to start 1) winning games against league opponents and 2) having players drafted. Those are the two most important things, and UK has struggled mightily in both areas for decades.

GBB!!!

 

[docholiday51]

I think the facilities will play a role in keeping Stoops here at least one more year just to give him a chance to take advantage of what we have now. This is not to say if it right or wrong but still a factor in the final decision on Stoops and UK

 

[RealCat41]

I completely agree with you. If I had to do it all over again I would hire Stoops for the simple fact that without him we wouldn't have gotten a 120 million dollar renovation of Commonwealth Stadium and a 45 Million dollar football practice facility built onto our indoor practice field. Both are gonna attract very high level recruits that the likes of UK Football have never seen before. Also any top notch coach can now come here and not be at disadvantage in recruiting because of our sexy facilities. So even if Stoops doesn't win here which I hope he does then we are still set for the future IMO. Great post bro.

The facilities upgrade was coming regardless of who was going to be the next coach.

 

[BlueRunner11]

The facilities upgrade was coming regardless of who was going to be the next coach.

This is true. And any P5 school that has lesser facilities, won't for long. UK has a small window of opportunity to leverage this investment and not squander it with poor coaching/leadership.

 

[kyhusker2]

Unfortunately, UK fell WAY behind in the facilities arms race. Kentucky's new digs are great, but they're probably no better than most other schools in the league. Hence, I don't know that the new facilities are going to result in vastly improved recruiting.

Kentucky needs to start 1) winning games against league opponents and 2) having players drafted. Those are the two most important things, and UK has struggled mightily in both areas for decades.

GBB!!!

Agree with this. The facilities are awesome, but they allowed UK to catch up to much of the country - not surpass other programs. Most major programs have something similar, if not better. It was an awesome and much needed first step in improving UK football, though.

 

[LeonThe Camel]

Seriously. This is like Iverson talking practice.
Facilities only come into play if all other comparisons are equal. You may only win 4 SEC games in your career here, but look at the latrine.

I said it before, players want to play where they can win. You can change clothes in the crapper and be happy if you are winning.
Talking facilities is like putting lipstick on a pig.

 

[NavyCat88]

Bright and shining facilities will not counter-balance perceived bad coaching and lack of player development. Facilities are an enabler to player development/ improvement, but it takes effective "coaching" to actually make players better and attract the attention of serious NFL caliber recruits and their families.

 

[UKWinsAgainYep]

Unfortunately, UK fell WAY behind in the facilities arms race. Kentucky's new digs are great, but they're probably no better than most other schools in the league. Hence, I don't know that the new facilities are going to result in vastly improved recruiting.

Kentucky needs to start 1) winning games against league opponents and 2) having players drafted. Those are the two most important things, and UK has struggled mightily in both areas for decades.

GBB!!!

Recruits disagree with you.

Several have already said UK's facilities are the nicest they've seen. Some of those recruits said UK's were better than big football schools they've visited.

Just sayin...

 

[UKWinsAgainYep]

Agree with this. The facilities are awesome, but they allowed UK to catch up to much of the country - not surpass other programs. Most major programs have something similar, if not better. It was an awesome and much needed first step in improving UK football, though.

Recruits disagree with you.

Most of you are trying to minimize a great thing instead of trying to capitalize on it. You're demonstrating perfectly the losing mentality of UK football culture.

 

[olblue]

Recruits disagree with you.

Several have already said UK's facilities are the nicest they've seen. Some of those recruits said UK's were better than big football schools they've visited.

Just sayin...

So recruits like the new digs. It should be no time before oddsmakers begin factoring in the in-house barber shop when setting the point spreads.

UK will soon be known in the college football world as Facilities University. It will be interesting to see if they are listing in the rankings as UK or FU.

 

[kyhusker2]

Recruits disagree with you.

Most of you are trying to minimize a great thing instead of trying to capitalize on it. You're demonstrating perfectly the losing mentality of UK football culture.

Find one recruit who says UK's new facilities are better than Oregon's, or Texas A&M, or Tennessee, or Nebraska, Alabama, Clemson, etc., etc. UK's are nice, but they are just catching up to the pack.

 

[cardinals1970]

One thing other schools can use against UK is that UK reduced the stadium seating capacity. A smart coach will tell a recruit that UK's fan base is declining and that is why they had to take out seats. Now it does matter if true or not but I could see a coach using it against UK.

 

[LowCountryCat]

Heh. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. Look at our awesome facilities!

Squirrel!

 

[CB3UK]

We owe Stoops a debt of gratitude for getting Mitch and the boys to pull the trigger. The facilities are an investment in the future. I like Coach Stoops as a person from what a I've seen read and heard but have been a very vocal critic of his on here and will continue to be until he shows real progress. I want him to be the man who takes this program to new heights but there are too many question marks for me not to think I've seen this movie before.

 

[olblue]

We owe Stoops a debt of gratitude for getting Mitch and the boys to pull the trigger. The facilities are an investment in the future. I like Coach Stoops as a person from what a I've seen read and heard but have been a very vocal critic of his on here and will continue to be until he shows real progress. I want him to be the man who takes this program to new heights but there are too many question marks for me not to think I've seen this movie before.

People want to give all of the credit to Stoops and no credit where it belongs - the loyal fan base that pays the freight.

 

[3Ringer]

The upgraded facilities will definitely impress recruits coming into town. But any positive impressions can be wiped out pretty quickly when they see how poorly we can play at times. Any recruits who paid close attention to the last 31 minutes of the Southern Miss game, the entire Florida game, and the first half of the New Mexico State game will likely have serious concerns about committing to UK and Stoops.

 

[Mojocat_rivals48469]

I hate to go all negative......but I'm not sure there's a single thing we can point to in order to entice a great coach to come here. Not facilities - as others say, they're very nice, but so are many others. Not salary - with huge TV money a lot of schools can pay a lot. Not recruiting base - hardly any to speak of. Not fan base - while we were resiliantly faithful for generations, that's no longer true. There was a window of time when we had 2 things to distinguish ourselves - we were in the SEC, and we had money that a lot of others didn't. We didn't take advantage of that window in time.

Now, you're either going to have to identify a young star to be before anyone else identifies him and somehow get him to come and somehow get him to stay. Or, to get an established good head coach, he's going to have to have some baggage making him unattractive to others.

It won't be easy.

 

[SanAntonioCat_rivals376502]

Facilities don't draw good players. Good coaches and programs with tradition do.

At some point most - if not all - P5 schools are going to have state-of-the-art facilities. Even Vandy is about to embark on a new stadium.

Great facilities are a draw for coaches, players and our downtrodden fan base. A successful head coach is more important than anything else. Florida hasn't upgraded their facilities in decades. Yet, they have won and won. The rest of the SEC have indeed upgraded facilities and stadiums. But, the bottom line is coaching, player development and recruiting.

 

[NavyCat88]

I hate to go all negative......but I'm not sure there's a single thing we can point to in order to entice a great coach to come here. Not facilities - as others say, they're very nice, but so are many others. Not salary - with huge TV money a lot of schools can pay a lot. Not recruiting base - hardly any to speak of. Not fan base - while we were resiliantly faithful for generations, that's no longer true. There was a window of time when we had 2 things to distinguish ourselves - we were in the SEC, and we had money that a lot of others didn't. We didn't take advantage of that window in time.

Now, you're either going to have to identify a young star to be before anyone else identifies him and somehow get him to come and somehow get him to stay. Or, to get an established good head coach, he's going to have to have some baggage making him unattractive to others.

It won't be easy.

That's why the AD gets paid a handsome salary....to take on tough hiring tasks, do market research, speak w/agents, maybe form a committee, determine if a proven HC is out there....if not scan the small conference FBS/FCS for young, high achievers who stand the best chance of moving us up the SEC ladder.

He doesn't get paid to:
-Make excuses about his inability to hire.
-Issue public proclamations saying he can't find anyone to take the job.
-Use the HCIW strategy to lock down an assistant with zero HC experience and zero other schools showing interest in his services.
-Wait for unsolicited coaching applicants to approach him with "a plan."
-Hire inexperienced HC's that need years of OJT to learn to hire a staff, prepare a team for upcoming games, and manage the clock, the refs, their temper, when to send in ST, etc, etc. etc.

I would be delighted if we improve and win six games this year....go bowling and so on, but I have serious doubts. If don't win this year/maybe next year and we wind up in the market for a new FB HC, I hope AD is up to the task.

GBB

 

[Mojocat_rivals48469]

That's why the AD gets paid a handsome salary....to take on tough hiring tasks, do market research, speak w/agents, maybe form a committee, determine if a proven HC is out there....if not scan the small conference FBS/FCS for young, high achievers who stand the best chance of moving us up the SEC ladder.

He doesn't get paid to:
-Make excuses about his inability to hire.
-Issue public proclamations saying he can't find anyone to take the job.
-Use the HCIW strategy to lock down an assistant with zero HC experience and zero other schools showing interest in his services.
-Wait for unsolicited coaching applicants to approach him with "a plan."
-Hire inexperienced HC's that need years of OJT to learn to hire a staff, prepare a team for upcoming games, and manage the clock, the refs, their temper, when to send in ST, etc, etc. etc.

I would be delighted if we improve and win six games this year....go bowling and so on, but I have serious doubts. If don't win this year/maybe next year and we wind up in the market for a new FB HC, I hope AD is up to the task.

GBB

Agreed. I don't think Barnhart is the guy to find the guy. Just pointing out, as I have elsewhere, he's not failing at an easy thing....

 

[Shavers48]

We owe Stoops a debt of gratitude for getting Mitch and the boys to pull the trigger. The facilities are an investment in the future. I like Coach Stoops as a person from what a I've seen read and heard but have been a very vocal critic of his on here and will continue to be until he shows real progress. I want him to be the man who takes this program to new heights but there are too many question marks for me not to think I've seen this movie before.

what makes you think it wasn't the facilities that got stoops to come? I've heard nothing that suggests it was his plan. thought it was the revolting fan base forcing the admins hand.

at any rate, if there are question marks on your staff, your facilities aren't going to overcome it. facilities can swing a recruit when faced with multiple good options but no one in their right mind would choose facilities when there's a change the staff won't be there long or worse still doesn't have a clue what they're doing.

 

[CB3UK]

what makes you think it wasn't the facilities that got stoops to come? I've heard nothing that suggests it was his plan. thought it was the revolting fan base forcing the admins hand.

at any rate, if there are question marks on your staff, your facilities aren't going to overcome it. facilities can swing a recruit when faced with multiple good options but no one in their right mind would choose facilities when there's a change the staff won't be there long or worse still doesn't have a clue what they're doing.

Oh don't get me wrong, I'm in your camp man. Recall I'm the guy who posted the thread saying we should have tossed the $170 million at the next Nick Saban/Tom Landry/insert legend of preference here. What I'm saying is the facilities will pay dividends on attracting a future quality coach, not players. Boosters will no doubt have to be involved, as well as continued rancor from the fans towards Barnhart that we will not accept another hat in hand hire.

No, fans wanted the facilities when Brooks publicly called out Mitch on them, and when Joker did likewise as well. I think the combination of the fan vitriol a the end of the Joker era combined with Stoops selling his vision got the ball rolling. Both deserve credit.

Facilities mean squat to players. Nice facilities are nice but look at what Cal did at Memphis v BCG here. Look at Derek Dooley at Tennessee v David Cutcliffe at Duke. It is ONE HUNDRED PERCENT about coaching. If Stoops could manage some surprise W's this season he could get the recruiting momentum back and be "our guy." So far it's hard to ignore the WKU, UofL, EKU, Southern Miss, Vanderbilt.....etc. He's had some close calls too where we almost got over the hump. I hope they do what he says they'll do and grind away, ignore the criticism, and gut out Ws. The fact he played a hell of a lot more 4-3 last week gives me a glimmer of hope that he's starting to learn from his mistakes. That 3-4 crap will not work here until he's able to out recruit Nick Saban for linemen.

 

[DCFseattle]

People want to give all of the credit to Stoops and no credit where it belongs - the loyal fan base that pays the freight.

Yeah. Thanks, the SEC.

 

[dgtatu01]

Our facilities are nice, but they aren't world class. We basically spent a ton of money making them adequate. We got them up to the standard of South Carolina, Mississippi State, Arkansas, and Missouri, but we are basically keeping up with the Joneses, not setting the standard when it comes to football facilities.

 

[dallasg23]

Well when the squat rack scores a touchdown. Let me know

 

[UKWinsAgainYep]

Way to downplay a good thing and criticize the biggest investment in UK football history.

We pour millions into facilities and the fans complain about it.

Unbelievable how miserable some UK football fans are...I'm convinced some of you would cry and whine if Coach Stoops started winning 8 games per season "instead of 9".

80% of the posts on this thread are actually criticizing and downplaying our new facilities.

 

[Shavers48]

Way to downplay a good thing and criticize the biggest investment in UK football history.

We pour millions into facilities and the fans complain about it.

Unbelievable how miserable some UK football fans are...I'm convinced some of you would cry and whine if Coach Stoops started winning 8 games per season "instead of 9".

80% of the posts on this thread are actually criticizing and downplaying our new facilities.

didn't see a single post criticizing the facilities. must have some kind of filter on