Players Glad Dawson is Gone

Aug 26, 2014
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Disagree. Please name the 8 games the defense played really well. Overtime to beat EKU and barely beat ULL. Gave up 30 or more in those games.

-Florida(3 ypc)
-Made great adjustments Auburn game
-Vandy
-Charlotte(obviously)
-Louisville(you can't stop a legit running QB when your offense is having 1:30 3 and outs) our defense gave us a 21-0 head start by themselves.
-Missouri

EKU game was a joke but if you remember ULL our offense completely stopped playing and once again you can't play 1 deep for an entire half and possibly be ok.
 

Tannerdad

Heisman
Mar 30, 2002
51,736
52,936
48
The offense and defense pretty much sucked. Did anyone actually watch our games?

But you have to get one of those to improve to help the other.
 
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Nov 29, 2015
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Disagree. Please name the 8 games the defense played really well. Overtime to beat EKU and barely beat ULL. Gave up 30 or more in those games.
They played well against Florida (that offense was good with Grier in there). 7 of there 13 points came off an interception return to our own 20 by heargraves. Vandy had a woeful offense but they stepped up. They played UGA decent but they lived on the field that game and broke down because of the offense. Yes there were plenty of times the defense played horrible, a lot of times in fact. But I think once this young talent on the defensive side of the ball develops and builds depth (we had no depth in that side this year which I think is a big reason for our issues, started almost all freshman in secondary). Then it can be damn good. I don't think stoops is a good head coach yet but I know he knows defense, I can guarantee hes very hands on on that side of the ball and I trust his judgement with defense. Game management and offense though? I don't think he has a clue and is about as bad as it gets when it comes to game management. I do think a lot of our problems can be fixed though with the right offense in place. His tenure will be based on this next OC hire. Do I think he can get it done? Probably not he seems over his head. But I'll give him a punchers chance if he makes the correct hire with the new OC.
 

Cawood86_rivals

Heisman
Feb 20, 2005
36,711
64,713
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-Florida(3 ypc)
-Made great adjustments Auburn game
-Vandy
-Charlotte(obviously)
-Louisville(you can't stop a legit running QB when your offense is having 1:30 3 and outs) our defense gave us a 21-0 head start by themselves.
-Missouri

EKU game was a joke but if you remember ULL our offense completely stopped playing and once again you can't play 1 deep for an entire half and possibly be ok.

I can agree on three of those. Vandy, UF, and Mizzou. The rest, no. Cant count Charlotte, come on.
 
Nov 29, 2015
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I mean I would love to have Pelini with this defensive talent we have and are getting, But I still really don't dislike Eliot. He had his guys ready to go against Louisville, had a great 2nd half against Auburn, played phenomenally against Florida(allowed 3 ypc). Our offense hurt us in all 3 games, ready to see what happens next year, hopefully we'll have some depth.
Agree pelinin would be awesome. I just think a lot of the defensive problems can be attributed to young talent, depth, and the consistent 3 and outs on offense. Once the talent develops and builds depth then i think we can be damn good in that side of the ball.
 

CatsFanGG24

Heisman
Dec 22, 2003
22,267
27,137
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I can agree on three of those. Vandy, UF, and Mizzou. The rest, no. Cant count Charlotte, come on.

SC, UF, MIZ, VU, CHARLOTTE for sure.

AUB, UL and UGA for large portions of the game - usually wearing out after inept offense showed its ugly face (exception being AUB when defense got better, funny enough they played better when the offense stepped up)

ULL the starters were good, the backups after a 3TD were not so good...let them back in game

UT, MSU, EKU poor job
 
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Aug 26, 2014
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I can agree on three of those. Vandy, UF, and Mizzou. The rest, no. Cant count Charlotte, come on.

If I can't count Charlotte why can you count EKU and ULL? Don't tell me we didn't play amazing in the 1st half against Louisville till the offense imploded and we didn't play bad against Auburn. Oh and I forgot South Carolina.
 
Aug 26, 2014
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SC, UF, MIZ, VU, CHARLOTTE for sure.

AUB, UL and UGA for large portions of the game - usually wearing out after inept offense showed its ugly face (exception being AUB when defense got better, funny enough they played better when the offense stepped up)

ULL the starters were good, the backups after a 3TD were not so good...let them back in game

UT, MSU, EKU poor job

This is exactly what I was trying to explain. Thanks for laying it out a little better for him.
 

Mountain air

Redshirt
Apr 16, 2013
58
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Brown left because he got a D1 head coaching job, c'mon

if he were miserable believe me he could have let it be known in a very loud way with his close connections to Vaught

He got a D1 job at Troy, that's Troy. C'mon!!! He got out because he wasn't allowed to run what he wanted or to pick the starting players. He knew Stoops was going to go down in flames and got out on good terms leaving the opportunity open to come back one day as head coach.

Stoops is awful and this should prove it. Dawson told it lIke it is and we will be very lucky to attract a decent OC.
 
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screwduke

All-Conference
Mar 23, 2015
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Maybe the locker room divide was over the fact that nobody liked Dawson. Towles is the only player on Twitter I've seen stick up for Dawson, everybody else looks happy about it.
 

sluggercatfan

Heisman
Aug 17, 2004
35,953
29,631
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And I got blasted on here for saying that's why Brown left and why our O hasn't developed since Stoops has been here. He keeps his OC handcuffed. Micromanages every aspect. Brown wanted out after the first year. Dawson was pissed at the restrictions placed on him. This staff has spent the last 3-4 yrs recruiting an air raid O and stoops wants them to slow down and ground-n-pound. Stoops is the problem. Blast me if you want. But we will not get a decent OC now because word is out in the coaching ranks about how Stoops runs his program.
here is one that will not blast you because I am 100% total agreement with you... until Stoops finds a coach that believes in a run pass ratio of 75 - 25 he will not be satisfied... He is sadly mistaken if he thinks you can win at Kentucky like that... This is the problem with hiring defensive-minded coaches
 

ClockCalamity

Junior
Sep 15, 2014
536
206
0
Based on Bruce Feldman's reporting via Dawson, the now former OC is trying to get out in front of this firing to save his future reputation, he is playing up the fan perception that Stoops handcuffed him, held back his explosive high scoring offensive system
Who knows? Maybe he did. We'll certainly understand this a lot more after next season.
 

JasonS.

All-American
Oct 10, 2001
41,813
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Unfortunately I get the feeling this is going to develop into a full on dumpster fire. Hopefully I'm wrong.

 

TJS4UK

Junior
Jun 27, 2002
6,789
281
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Don't tell me we didn't play amazing in the 1st half against Louisville till the offense imploded...

I believe that the score of the UL game was 24-10, with UK leading, until just under 4 minutes left in the 3rd quarter. That's when UL gained momentum & went on it's run. So, yes, you are correct, IMHO. Especially when you stop & consider the interceptions that the D caused... Not to mention the turnovers, penalties and 3 & outs that our O struggled with during the 2nd half.
 
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CUT-NETS

Senior
May 6, 2009
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556
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Nothing to see. Stoops just making the usual move for himself. Won't change a thing. Stop over analyzing.


That's the biggest fear. Folks, we don't have a QB. Towles wasn't the guy and neither is Barker. Our next OC will be as good as our QB, and that means he will be bad.
 
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JHB4UK

Heisman
May 29, 2001
31,836
11,258
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Maybe the locker room divide was over the fact that nobody liked Dawson. Towles is the only player on Twitter I've seen stick up for Dawson, everybody else looks happy about it.
Yeah, but that is a pretty important player the returning starting quarterback? Has been defending Dawson & throwing Stoops under the bus, an amazing thing for a kid still in school and who has not yet picked a transfer spot to land at. But yet the wide receivers are thrilled.

divided locker room indeed.
 
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CatsFanGG24

Heisman
Dec 22, 2003
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Yeah, but that is a pretty important player the returning starting quarterback? Has been defending Dawson & throwing Stoops under the bus, an amazing thing for a kid still in school and who has not yet picked a transfer spot to land at. But yet the wide receivers are thrilled.

divided locker room indeed.

He is not the returning starting QB...he wasn't going to be the starter had he returned, and he isn't returning...his opinion right now is slightly more important than Jalen Whitlows opinion, which isn't much.
 

WeepNoMore

Junior
Jan 2, 2005
1,144
260
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Um. Dawson is terrible. I don't see how anyone thinks he had 'decent' success elsewhere considering he's never called plays at the D1 level. It doesn't get more predictable than Dawson. Run up the middle out of shotgun from the one 3 straight plays? You frickin kidding me?

Not kidding at all!!! :sunglasses:

In fact, Dawson was pretty successful as we started off 4-1, until we abandoned the vertical passing game for whatever reason--deplorable OL pass blocking, particularly at the tackle position, backs that couldn't or wouldn't pick up the blitz, receivers that wanted a different QB or suddenly developed hands of stone, or perhaps a head coach that meddled in the offense or all of the above. :sunglasses:
 

4UK

All-Conference
Sep 26, 2005
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This amounts to rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. It will make some people feel better, but the ship is still going down.
 

JHB4UK

Heisman
May 29, 2001
31,836
11,258
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He is not the returning starting QB...he wasn't going to be the starter had he returned, and he isn't returning...his opinion right now is slightly more important than Jalen Whitlows opinion, which isn't much.
Think his high opinion of Dawson is new as of Dec 17th? And all the wide receivers just started hating him this afternoon? C'mon, want to know why the team was a mess this season it is playing out right in front of everyones eyes if you just chose to open them up & look.
 

The_Godfather_rivals

All-Conference
May 22, 2002
25,432
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I don't think I have any way to make a determination on Dawson and his ability to run an offense after this season.

If Stoops was in fact sucking the life out of his desires to actually run the offense as it's designed, can you really fault him for the results? It's like handicapping an team as it plays during a hurricane. To many unusual circumstances working against it.

However, if Stoops gave him a ton of rope only to feel the need to step in late in the season in order to help straighten out the disaster that was the offense, than Dawson was rightfully "micro-managed".

Either way, I feel very discouraged about Stoops and his ability to make intelligent decisions considering the fact that he has hired 2 OCs to run an offense and we've yet to see it resemble that offense even in design and play-calling. If the man doesn't like the Air Raid, than he should have been smart enough to NOT hire a staff under initial instructions to run it.
 

screwduke

All-Conference
Mar 23, 2015
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Yeah, but that is a pretty important player the returning starting quarterback? Has been defending Dawson & throwing Stoops under the bus, an amazing thing for a kid still in school and who has not yet picked a transfer spot to land at. But yet the wide receivers are thrilled.

divided locker room indeed.

Blake Bone certainly looks thrilled about it. Maybe Dawson was the reason Blake was hardly able to see the field. The WRs look happy about this for sure. Maybe the divide wasn't necessarily over QBs, but over the OC that players apparently didn't trust or didn't like. Something with Dawson went on behind the scenes, I think that's pretty obvious now.
 

CatsFanGG24

Heisman
Dec 22, 2003
22,267
27,137
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Think his high opinion of Dawson is new as of Dec 17th? And all the wide receivers just started hating him this afternoon? C'mon, want to know why the team was a mess this season it is playing out right in front of everyones eyes if you just chose to open them up & look.

No I get that - I think Towles was a huge part of the team divide...and a coach that keeps the same personnel and play calling after multiple failures will also be a good way to cause locker room turmoil.

My point is that Dawson is gone. Towles is gone....that is a great start to cleaning things up.

WRs need a new leader as well, sorry to Mainord...but they do.
 
Apr 13, 2002
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So we let a qb with NFL caliber potential walk, then fire the OC after one year. Stoops better have a great hire lined up, else this is just an illustration of his program mismanagement.
 

theoledog

All-Conference
Nov 21, 2008
4,306
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Whatever slant on this firing anyone wants to take all fans would probably admit that having 3 OC's in four seasons isn't a good thing...

I also do not think that the firing/retention of coaches will be much a factor in season ticket sales... As can be seen by this thread the positives and negatives of the Dawson firing aren't unanimously agreed upon....

I think the fans are savvy enough to realize 2015 wasn't a one coach or player problem. If the worry of ticket sales has become a driving factor in firing coaches then far as I'm concerned UK has more serious issues. Time will tell. It worked for Brooks.
 

irishcat1965

Heisman
Apr 22, 2012
19,329
38,953
113
It was my opinion that it appeared Stoops was meddling in play calling. Don't get me wrong though, I have no love lost for Dawson. We will see next year under the new OC how it goes. One thing is for sure- whoever the new OC needs to be able to call his offense and Stoops needs to concern himself with defense. In fact he ought to just fire Elliott and call the signals himself.
 

NoDef

All-American
Sep 1, 2001
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No I get that - I think Towles was a huge part of the team divide...and a coach that keeps the same personnel and play calling after multiple failures will also be a good way to cause locker room turmoil.

My point is that Dawson is gone. Towles is gone....that is a great start to cleaning things up.

WRs need a new leader as well, sorry to Mainord...but they do.

We had the same problem the year before that Dawson showed up. This staff has more problems than OC. I'm not too sure that Neal Brown was happy here. I still think it was micro managed on that side of the ball. Totally different offense than typical air raid stuff.
 

CatsFanGG24

Heisman
Dec 22, 2003
22,267
27,137
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We had the same problem the year before that Dawson showed up. This staff has more problems than OC. I'm not too sure that Neal Brown was happy here. I still think it was micro managed on that side of the ball. Totally different offense than typical air raid stuff.

I don't buy the stuff about micromanaging the offense...the truth is that we haven't had the QB to run the air raid or any variation of it. IMO we passed the ball way too much considering the lack of talent at QB, and when we did pass we dropped back deep way too much considering our OL issues.

We passed the ball 44% on 1st down, most in SEC...we were a 52-48 pass/run team...and that is way too much passing for what we had at QB.

Brown took the offense from 20ppg in year one to about 30 in year two...I doubt he was handcuffed...Dawson (with better talent) had that number drop back to 25.
 
Nov 29, 2015
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Not kidding at all!!! :sunglasses:

In fact, Dawson was pretty successful as we started off 4-1, until we abandoned the vertical passing game for whatever reason--deplorable OL pass blocking, particularly at the tackle position, backs that couldn't or wouldn't pick up the blitz, receivers that wanted a different QB or suddenly developed hands of stone, or perhaps a head coach that meddled in the offense or all of the above. :sunglasses:
As previously stated. Had we not ran up the middle out of shotgun from the one yard line 3 straight plays. We would be preparing for a bowl game right now. That's all on Dawson. I really don't understand these people that claim stoops meddles with the offense when I just haven't seen any reports to suggest that. You can assume all you want you can't just say this is it, this is what happened, stoops did this and that with no reports to suggest said case and say that's a fact. Just no.
 
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OHIO COLONEL

Heisman
Feb 11, 2009
14,803
59,401
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Maybe the locker room divide was over the fact that nobody liked Dawson. Towles is the only player on Twitter I've seen stick up for Dawson, everybody else looks happy about it.
Not taking sides here...but who would expect underclassmen to take up for Dawson on Twitter? Even if they loved the guy, you don't want to piss off the head coach.
 

The_Godfather_rivals

All-Conference
May 22, 2002
25,432
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We had the same problem the year before that Dawson showed up. This staff has more problems than OC. I'm not too sure that Neal Brown was happy here. I still think it was micro managed on that side of the ball. Totally different offense than typical air raid stuff.
Agreed.
 

Levibooty

All-American
Jun 29, 2005
26,547
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We had the same problem the year before that Dawson showed up. This staff has more problems than OC. I'm not too sure that Neal Brown was happy here. I still think it was micro managed on that side of the ball. Totally different offense than typical air raid stuff.
The problem is that with Towles having a full years experience the offense being older and a new hot shot OC we actually regressed even though it was an easier schedule.
 

dorkmeister

Junior
Oct 25, 2006
6,668
396
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Maybe the locker room divide was over the fact that nobody liked Dawson. Towles is the only player on Twitter I've seen stick up for Dawson, everybody else looks happy about it.

Towles might be the only one saying anything because he is not going to be here next year and doesn't have to worry about "payback" form Stoops. Can you imagine if others came out saying it is BS Dawson is gone and then have to look at Stoops and his new OC the next year???

Anyone know what the buyout is?????
 
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Poetax

Heisman
Apr 4, 2002
29,410
20,887
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Stoops knows he had to make changes to keep the fans interested. If he loses the fans he ultimately will lose his job. Whether it was his fault or Dawson's fault it doesn't matter now. He just better hope he hits a homerun on this hire. Unfortunately he probably will bring in a buddy from a previous job like Coley (not that he couldn't do a good job). We don't need another good old boy's club at Kentucky again. I hope we go after someone from Baylor.

I still don't get how we get the elite teams's assistants to come to Kentucky for a lateral move.
 
Nov 29, 2015
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Towles might be the only one saying anything because he is not going to be here next year and doesn't have to worry about "payback" form Stoops. Can you imagine if others came out saying it is BS Dawson is gone and then have to look at Stoops and his new OC the next year???

Anyone know what the buyout is?????
Lol. I don't understand why they would lie about seeming happy that Dawson left to please stoops? I'd guess if they were unhappy about it they would either say something short about it or nothing at all, but they definitely wouldn't lie about being happy he's gone to please stoops. Doesn't make sense man good try though.
 
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Soupbean

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Jan 19, 2007
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Had lots of hopes for him in the beginning but not hurt he's gone now. And although play calling or lack of it gets all the attention, put that aside and just view the offense from a style and execution point of view. I was frustrated as everyone else in the strange play calling at times, but I was more bothered by the lack of tempo, lack of execution, lack of crispness, lack of detail to fundamentals, lack of organization, and overall lack of confidence in how we played. Those are things an OC can effect on their own that comes from the practice field. I kept waiting to see his stamp on just how we did things but never instead saw a timidity, slowness, and sloppiness.

He may have changed that in time because it was his first year under tough circumstances, and I think he will bounce back somewhere, but he didn't have a good year regardless of any other factors. And in the end I think his cockiness might have cost him.
 
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