He survived being thrown to the wolves to become one of UK's most beloved coaches.....just sayin.
Weren't we all wanting to Fire Brooks after year 3??
- Thread starter Buddy Cat
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Rock bottom was actually the middle of his 4th season. I hope Stoops can turn it around like Brooks did. Doing so couldn't be any bigger of a surprise than Brook's revival.
Yeah and if he wouldn't have made changes he would've been gone too.
And he went 3-8 in his 3rd season. After 3 years of recruiting. One could argue he inherited just about as bad of a mess as Stoops, except with a few more scholarship restrictions.
I'm just hoping for that defining moment that turns the program like we got from Brooks team in year 4.
I'm just hoping for that defining moment that turns the program like we got from Brooks team in year 4.
Yes, Mark Story and the Herald Leader were leading the charge. Now people want to name the field after him.
Not me. However, I felt like I was the only one supporting Brooks. I believed then & I still do, that a coach needs 4-5 years to turn a mess around. At the time, I could see the young talent that Brooks was developing and I believe that Stoops is building something similar. Time will tell...
IIRC, Barnhart wanted him to fire Ron Hudson, the OC and he flat out refused. Confrontation was coming, either Brooks was to be fired or Brooks had to fire Hudson. Hudson manned up and resigned and Joker took over OC for the last game against UT. Of course we lost but offense looked very good and Joker was named OC for the following year. Resulted in a bowl game and a win against Clemson. But one poster was right, after LSU whipped us 49-0 halfway through year 4, it looked bleak but came back and upset Georgia @ home for a goal post victory.
Completely different...BBrooks win 8-9 games with this team this year IMO... This was a coaching disaster...
Speaking of a MASH Unit... If Lewis, Boom & Hatcher had played in every game and had stayed healthy, we likely would be going bowling and not having these discussions, IMHO.
We also wanted to fire Joker and Gillispie in similar situations. Just sayin.
It is extremely atypical for a coach to bomb out for his first 3 years and then go on to succeed. Brooks is the exception not the rule. If you have zero quality wins after 3 years then the odds are you never will.
Yes but if you look at a lot of his 1st 3 years games, you can see that a lot of teams fought. He also was stern and didn't teach sissy football. Brooks won 8 games his 4th year so quite honestly with the investments stoops has had compared to Brooks, stoops should at least win 7.
Brooks had a track record of turning around a bad team (oregon) plus NFL HC experience, so I think it he got a little more "wait & see" time than a first-timer at HC might expect. He also coached good fundamental ball, had control of the game and sidelines, developed player toughness.
The second half of '06 and first half of '07 was a great time to be a UK fan. We won 10 out of 11 games, I think.
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Anytime you are doing a complete rebuild job, like Stoops is now and Brooks and Fran Curci had to do, the third year is the most difficult. This is because your underclassmen (freshmen and sophomores) are the most talented, and your upperclassmen (juniors and seniors) are getting beat out and are resentful of the new coach favoring "his guys". Plus there is a lack of leadership because the underclassmen do not respect the upperclassmen the way they should. Hard to respect someone when you constantly whip them every day in practice. The two best teams at UK since the bear (the 76-77 team under Curci and the 04-07 Brooks teams) were 2-9 and 3-8 at the same point where Stoops is. You cannot make a realistic evaluation of this coaching staff until after next year when the Barker class are sophomores/juniors. That is usually where you see the most improvement because you now have 3 classes of depth, and even more improvement in year 5 with four classes. The jury is still out on Stoops, we will see where this goes, but this is a very important off season for Stoops, and he needs to take a hard look at his staff and his team and make adjustments (like Brooks and Curci) where needed to get UK over the top. But anyone who was shocked by this record this year just doesn't know football. This was a very possible outcome given the reality of "locker room issues" on a team in its third year of rebuilding.
It was sarcasm. I still fully support Stoops. But if you read the rest of the thread there are folks that have that exact same opinon. Its funny
Absolutely, the vast majority here wanted him gone yesterday. The low point was a home loss to Ohio, whatever year that was. I saw someone say the other day this year was a low point in UK football history, that he'd never seen such bad coaching. Mad me laugh - I've heard that same comment now about Curry, Mumme, Morriss, Brooks, Joker and now Stoops. heh.
I was on here defending him as well.
The difference between Stoops and Brooks right now is that when Brooks got here, he had a wealth of head coaching experience. Stoops had zero. Once Stoops gets more experience, learns how to better manage the game, etc., I think he'll do fine. The caveat is him actually learning., nd I believe he will.
This season - I thought - was worse than last year. I just think there was a whole lot more behind the scenes stuff going on than any of us probably know. This team didn't look on the same page and it could be because of what the above poster said about the mixture of younger, more talented players. That's a perspective I never thought of.....
That doesn't automatically mean that Stoops is going to turn things around. Did Brooks make the numerous in game gaffes that Stoops makes?
Well, I was. I have railed against Barnhart's decisions to go with Joker as CIW, significantly downsize an already not-too-big stadium and that ridiculous contract extension for Stoops. But, in all fairness, keeping Brooks that 4th year was easily his best football decision. While Brooks was a "desperation hire" it proved to be a good one and exactly what UK needed at the time. JMO.
Peace
Peace