Well lets see, why the teams you mentioned above are not Juggernauts per se they are definitely better than Eastern KY by a longshot. JSU finished 12-1 (only loss to Auburn), Toledo finished 9-2, the Freaking Temple team finished 10-3 and the vaunted Northern Illinois whatevertheyares finished 8-5. Bad games do happen yes to even the best of them but bad games happened to us all year long with the exception of 1st half South Carolina and Florida game. So while I Lament over a close win to EKU and blamed for being unfair you point out one good football game (over 12 games) we played as reason for optimism.
And as been stated many times in many different threads, lack of depth has nothing to do with absent minded coaching which we saw a ton of this season. Stoops can fill our roster full of Alabama type recruits but if he doesn't learn how to coach it wont matter.
You are being unfair. Also, no one has excused poor coaching and I'd go so far as to say we did not see "a ton" of that. We saw some bad decisions and some confusion due to lack of coordination, both fixable problems and both problems that will surface under any and all coaching staffs. I understand this is your witch hunt, though, so I'll entertain your unfounded hyperbole under the guise of just being generally abhorrent and angry at the world. However, what some of us have pointed out is that 1) a first-time HC should be allowed to make some mistakes, learn to correct them and find his footing given the extenuating circumstances surrounding UK football. Especially when he is dealing with relying upon a Sr. class that has seen only 2 more wins than the Jr class and only 4 more than the sophomores he recruited. Even coaches with a roster full of Bama level recruits had to learn somewhere and hone their acumen at the helm of some program. I guess I could list the names of former great HC's that had losing seasons and/or growing pains in their first few seasons, alas, that type of logic seems to be lost on you. And 2) as pointed out above, if Stoops had receivers that could (or wanted to) catch, a QB that could read defenses and make check down progressions under pressure, a line that could pass protect, a kick returner worth his salt that had some semblance of presence and field position and more than a handful of D-line players that could generate some sort of pass rush, the coaching issues you've blown way out of proportion in your haste to lay blame wouldn't be as glaring as you want them to seem.
So, I'll ask again, so read slowly. If UK were to fire Stoops after 3 years like you're obviously hoping, just like they fired Joker after 3 years, I want you to tell me which coaches worth their salt would be falling over themselves to come and lose in an impossible situation just to try to please you, the unappeasable, at a school known for losing, poor internal FB support and as a coach's graveyard? Because I am of the opinion that UK has a solid candidate for a long-term HC if allowed the chance to grow and improve. He has already improved the roster to levels most of us haven't seen since the 70's (albeit only a partial roster). He's generated fan and player interest. He's got a couple of good wins. He has the full support of the admin and AD. And what is the alternative? Hire a new guy, hemorrhage buyout money, hit the reset button, start from scratch again for the 3rd time in 7 years, watch recruits and current players bail on the program and STILL have to wait 3 more years JUST to hear the likes of you ***** about it again? Yeah, no thanks, I've already had my fill. I truly want to know, what is the virtue in that "we'll win the coaching lottery this time fellas!" scenario as opposed to allowing Stoops to right a sunken ship he had to raise from the depths of what has already been tried here before?