Who else did UK consider when Stoops hired?
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With UK football coach searches, the question is not necessarily who "UK considered" as much as what candidates were willing to come here. There were a lot of names tossed around by posters on this board during that search, but I don't know how many were realistic candidates actually interested in us.
However, if you're looking for proven big names, the two I recall being tossed around were Leach and Petrino--I believe at the time both of those guys were out of work after being fired from their prior job because of scandal.
However, if you're looking for proven big names, the two I recall being tossed around were Leach and Petrino--I believe at the time both of those guys were out of work after being fired from their prior job because of scandal.
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Mike McIntyre at Colorado (was HC at San Jose St at the time) - and the Buffaloes are primed for a good season. Beat Colorado St last week 44-7.
Not a sexy name, but the guy can evidently coach football.
Leech, petrino were options. Obviously much better options than the one we have. I honestly believe all of our other options were proven HC's who have done much better jobs than stoops. I believe stoops was the worst available option of all the ones we had and that was our selection. Sad to say.
Dykes and McIntyre were two of the hot young names at the time, BUT I doubt we could've landed either of them, given the woeful state of the program at the time (remember the empty stadiums and utter awfulness of the end of Joker era?). Those two guys got offers from Cal and Colorado. Not that those are incredible jobs, but would you have chosen end of Joker era UK over Cal and Colorado?
Sad as it is to say, I think Stoops probably is about the best hire we could've done at the time. Unless, perhaps, we'd gone outlaw and hired someone with some scandalous personal baggage like Petrino/Leach (which, in retrospect, is now looking like what we should've done).
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I can specifically remember fans hating the idea of McIntyre (who isn't young, necessarily). He was a legit candidate due to his ties to the south.
Stoops was about one of the hottest Coordinator names in college football at the time. Herbstreit was surprised he came to UK, for instance.
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Leach and Petrino were fans' options but were never really in the equation.
Here is an article on Dykes, Anderson, and McIntyre as being the top candidates.
http://www.nationofblue.com/could-kentucky-football-coaching-search-be-coming-to-an-end/
And another article:
http://www.sbnation.com/college-foo...tucky-coaching-search-butch-jones-sonny-dykes
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There were s lot of names thrown around by the fan base and media but it's hard to tell who was actually considered by the admin. My favorite was Butch Jones. His ability to coach and ties to Cincy/Southern Ohio seemed logical to me.
i've always wanted a conservative style offense/good defense like other sec teams. we don't have the athletes for either but i still think its the way to TRY and do it.
i wanted a guy like tubberville, where you hope his motivation can take our lack of talent and at least make us competitive on the field, and keep teams under 30 points like other teams do by stressing defense. if it takes all you have to score 20+ fine but at least you're in the game, and a turnover or two away from even winning.
i've been a fan since '92, and being honest i was never proud of the gimmick style offenses. and most of my games came during the mumme era. all they did was crowd the line on us. my favorite feeling for the program was guy morris, and i respect brooks for keeping it real and trying to turn us around the hard way with steady (even if annoyingly gradual) momentum.
maybe we will always require to think outside the box to keep up with the recruiting of our sec brethren, but i don't think you will ever win an sec championship that way. that's just my opinion. you have to be aggressive and win a physical battle each week and just hope for several magical wins, this is what i see when i look at the georgia's and south carolina's of the world who are on a level way above us and hardly win sec championships yet remain mix.
i wanted a guy like tubberville, where you hope his motivation can take our lack of talent and at least make us competitive on the field, and keep teams under 30 points like other teams do by stressing defense. if it takes all you have to score 20+ fine but at least you're in the game, and a turnover or two away from even winning.
i've been a fan since '92, and being honest i was never proud of the gimmick style offenses. and most of my games came during the mumme era. all they did was crowd the line on us. my favorite feeling for the program was guy morris, and i respect brooks for keeping it real and trying to turn us around the hard way with steady (even if annoyingly gradual) momentum.
maybe we will always require to think outside the box to keep up with the recruiting of our sec brethren, but i don't think you will ever win an sec championship that way. that's just my opinion. you have to be aggressive and win a physical battle each week and just hope for several magical wins, this is what i see when i look at the georgia's and south carolina's of the world who are on a level way above us and hardly win sec championships yet remain mix.
The story I read somewhere is that Butch was interested and Mitch was going to choose between Butch and Stoops. He called Butch and asked him if he were offered the job today would he accept it. Allegedly, Butch told him he wanted to wait to see if UT offered and Mitch called Stoops and he accepted.
I may remeber incorrectly but I thought leach had taken his current job one year prior to stoops. So not an option. He was an option when brooks stepped and he was wanted after Joker first year. Again my memory may be wrong.
The ute coach,Kyle whittingham, is who I wanted and still do...he takes low talent and puts out a decent team, the facilities and Stafoum are far worse than we have ever had. And a "good" guy.
Dykes, Jones, MacIntyre and Anderson were the legit 4 other candidates that were looked at. Jones waited on a better gig (got the UT job), MacIntyre ended up at Colorado and has struggled big time (11-27/2-25), Gary Andersen ended up at Wisconsin and was successful, but left after 2 years for Oregon State bc Alverez is a bear to work for.
Mitch's second choice is not exactly burning it up at Colorado lol.
Colorado Buffaloes (Pac-12 Conference) (2013–present)
2013 Colorado 4–8 1–8 6th (South)
2014 Colorado 2–10 0–9 6th (South)
2015 Colorado 4–9 1–8 6th (South)
2016 Colorado 1–0 0–0 (South)
Colorado: 11–27 2–25
Total: 27–48
Colorado Buffaloes (Pac-12 Conference) (2013–present)
2013 Colorado 4–8 1–8 6th (South)
2014 Colorado 2–10 0–9 6th (South)
2015 Colorado 4–9 1–8 6th (South)
2016 Colorado 1–0 0–0 (South)
Colorado: 11–27 2–25
Total: 27–48
We were option B for Jones and Dykes. Petrino was never considered but Petrino himself made overtures indicating serious interest in the UK job at the time.
Besides those mentioned, seems I recall former Ariz St coach Dirk Kotter's name thrown around. Think he was a NFL OC or play caller at the time. MB kept his cards close to the vest, what was heard was basically agenda driven or guess work.
That is pretty much how I remember it. Jones was probably the first to "decline". There was fan chatter about others but I think MB was only considering these 4.
Peace
Seems like the current Tennessee coach was approached, but not interested.
This is not the most glamorous slot in football. Fan base overall has expectations in excess due to basketball. Also a real tough recruiting gig.....by and large football players from Kentucky schools are about a year behind in fundamentals ( so said Jerry Claibourne anyway) compared to players from Florida, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia.
Throw in the Football program brings in two thirds of the revenue and gets about a tenth of the money.
UK has turned itself into a stepping stone or stepping out job. A shame, really. Right now, I truly believe the slot at WKU would be more attractive to a young up and comer or a Petrino style rehab job.
This is not the most glamorous slot in football. Fan base overall has expectations in excess due to basketball. Also a real tough recruiting gig.....by and large football players from Kentucky schools are about a year behind in fundamentals ( so said Jerry Claibourne anyway) compared to players from Florida, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia.
Throw in the Football program brings in two thirds of the revenue and gets about a tenth of the money.
UK has turned itself into a stepping stone or stepping out job. A shame, really. Right now, I truly believe the slot at WKU would be more attractive to a young up and comer or a Petrino style rehab job.
People forget that the SEC office sent each school looking for a HC an edict about NOT hiring one Bobby Petrino.
Very uncharismatic guy, but proven winner, who was having trouble up to now like Stoops. Be interesting to see if he does get over the hump this season.
Quite frankly, if MB had hired David Cutcliffe in 2003 (and he was interested), I think he would still be here.
Petrino embarrassed the University of Arkansas and left it open to millions of lawsuit dollars for improper hiring. I would say there was a definite gentlemen's agreement on this.
Guys, the dude was radioactive at the time. That's why he ended up at WKU when all was done and not a major gig.
I'm not debating the merits here, just saying he was a candidate - which was the subject of the OP.
That said, he took over a dumpster at Colorado - who has literally been terrible for 10-15 years now. He's also certainly off to a good start this year.
While we are at it, look what he did at San Jose St.
Won 10 games in his last year as HC there and they were a top 25 team.
I know all the negatives, but getting a chance to hire Petrino was a once in a lifetime chance for UK. It would have permanently changed the trajectory of our program. He would have owed us for taking a chance on him and Mitch could have made him sign whatever he wanted to make sure he behaved and didn't go snooping after other jobs. Every one of us fans who was in the hire him boat will regret that as much as old school fans regretted Bear Bryant being run off. At this point the best we can hope for imo is a guy who can take us to 6 or 7 bowl games ever decade and beat one of either Florida, UT, UGA, or Louisville in a season every other year. That's literally our ceiling and now that U of L is in a big conference they will steadily sail off further and further in front of us.
How much do you want to win?
To this day, the AP and Coaches Poll don't give a rat's *** about Petrino's side piece.
We'd all be high-fiving, forgiving (second-chances are a Christian thing to do ya know), and enjoying a quality brand of nationally ranked football instead of UKeystone Cops every Saturday.
The better question might be "What other schools were considering Mark Stoops?"
Petrino coming to kentucky really warped some people's minds.
At first, most of his lovers on this board said we had to hire him or someone else in the sec would. They all took football seriously, and if we didn't hire him, it showed how little we cared. Just you watch.
Then Auburn passed over him to hire Malzahn.
And Tennessee passed over him to hire Butch Jones.
Suddenly, it wasn't just that Petrino was a good coach, but a decent man done wrong. Wouldn't hiring the lying adulterer and giving him a second chance be the Christian thing to do. Obviously the SEC was black balling him and people were asking if he could sue.
Some of these Petrino lovers are easier than that Arkansas volleyball player.
Once again......He was passed over by every power five school in the country. He was a toxic hire at the time. The people that cared about his side piece were the attorneys from UA that were having to answer why Petrino hired a person with no experience for a state job while passing over at least one female with administrative experience (who happened to be close to Bobby Ps age). Add that to the fact he left one of the m o st respected NFL owners in the lurch as well as his dalliance with AUBURN while at UL....
Yeah...you're right. He would've been a safe hire. Despite rubbing the nose of the president of Arkansas in the dirt.
Last try at this......there was question as to whether the man was legally liable in falsifying a hire at a state school for a side fluff.
If you want morality, go cheer for Penn State. After all, they were winners too, weren't they??? No matter what little kids were having to endure so they could keep getting those wins