Who Here Thinks Mark Stoops Will Turn Things Around?

Kai Slater

All-American
Jan 30, 2015
1,762
5,710
0
Who here thinks Stoops will end up turning the program around and be here at least another 3 years?

Who here thinks Stoops will prove the naysayers wrong in the end?

Could this be a similar Rich Brooks' moment after the LSU beatdown?

I do BELIEVE!!! Especially since receiving the news that Stoops will now take a larger role in working with the defense. I'm looking for....no, I'm expecting BIG TIME improvements.
 

Nuke99m.

All-American
Aug 30, 2002
8,628
7,711
113
3 outcomes from what I see.

1) Stoops and the team turn it around. He gets 6 wins this year and goes to a bowl. (Great !!!)
2) Stoops wins 4 or 5 and UK can't justify paying the buyout. (worst case scenario for me)
3) Stoops wins 2 or 3 and gets so much pressure that they have buyout his contract. (Great!!)
 

BigBoyBlueMMA

Senior
Jul 14, 2013
849
479
63
 

NCukcat62

All-Conference
Jul 22, 2007
8,893
3,671
0
Well, we will know a lot more after this weekend's game. We are a 21 point favorite. Now that should mean a 40 point win under normal circumstances. Let's see what happens.

Go Big Blue!
We won't know a damn thing after this weekend. NMSU is absolutely horrible. We will know something after South Carolina
 

KentuckyStout

Heisman
Sep 13, 2009
10,365
19,288
65
Well apparently y'all didn't see where StOops is going to be (1) more involved with the defense and (2) look even more closely at game film and (3) can't wait to get back out on that field and get to work.

If this three-point plan to turn this train wreck around doesn't inspire you then I don't know what to tell you.
 

NCukcat62

All-Conference
Jul 22, 2007
8,893
3,671
0
3 outcomes from what I see.

1) Stoops and the team turn it around. He gets 6 wins this year and goes to a bowl. (Great !!!)
2) Stoops wins 4 or 5 and UK can't justify paying the buyout. (worst case scenario for me)
3) Stoops wins 2 or 3 and gets so much pressure that they have buyout his contract. (Great!!)
1 or 3 is what I want as well. If we go 4-8 or 5-7 I'm going to be livid.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Anon1729262949
May 9, 2013
156
70
0
The thing that bothered me most about the Florida game is that I saw absolutely no fight in any of our players. I watched them get pushed around and bullied all game. They did not stand up for themselves and just took it. That's the culture of losing and until we can get someone to stand up for themselves and take us out of that loser's mentality then we are going to continue down this path year after year.

It's aggravating and we deserve better. I hate watching players just go through the motions and then hear the coaches feeding us with BS coach speak about how great they looked in practice and how next week will be better. Until that next week actually arrives....
 

Gaytor Hater

Senior
Dec 6, 2005
8,608
625
0
I have no idea. But I do know that the reason I didn't want coach Brooks hired was because of his age and I didn't think he would stay long enough to turn the thing around and he didn't. I said when Stoops was hired if they aren't going to give him six years then they are wasting their time and money. I still believe that! I don't like the product I am seeing, but they mess we were in can't be solved in 4 years is what I believe.

You had to give Brooks more time because we were on probation. I wasn't sold he could do it but he was able to build the program to a consistent bowl team. Problem was recruiting. He didn't believe we could get better players here with the facilities we had so i don't think he even tried. He was good at coaching up the players he could get. As bad as we were back then it didn't take him more than 4 years and he was doing it with 3 * or less players.

Stoops has better facilities now. The program is being invested in. He's had the fans' support. He's had plenty of national TV exposure. The SEC East has been down lately for him to take advantage of. He's been going after better players than Brooks ever did. Yes, Joker left the program in a mess but it wasn't probation level mess like Brooks had to deal with. Yet, he can't seem to field a team that knows how to play football.

Brooks didn't need 6 years. Petrino didn't need 6 years to make UL a pretty damn good program. Stoops has everything he needs and in year 4 we are worse off then when he started. That's because the guy is not HC material. Three OC's later and we still can't put a complete game together. The one constant is Stoops!
 
  • Like
Reactions: BlueTick2

bluecat78

Freshman
Jul 5, 2005
465
64
0
Who here thinks Stoops will end up turning the program around and be here at least another 3 years?

Who here thinks Stoops will prove the naysayers wrong in the end?

Could this be a similar Rich Brooks' moment after the LSU beatdown?

When pigs fly. Brooks' moment was in year (3), Stoops is in year (4), Brooks was a proven coach, not Stoops. Stick a fork in him.
 

Randy Bob

All-Conference
Jun 14, 2009
7,200
3,909
113
Stoops is not in the same league as Brooks, Stoops has more talent , Brooks once he got things going was a very good coach..
 

JW PRPcoach

All-Conference
Nov 20, 2006
1,650
1,584
98
I do not. There has been little to no player development, they lack conditioning, they appear to fail to understand basic football skills. He doesn't appear to be able to make halftime or in game adjustments. A miserable failure as a HC.

THIS
I challenge anyone to tell me a sport where coaching makes more of a difference than football. At the college level especially, where the talent levels are not drastically different in most cases, technique, scheme, and making in-game adjustments are usually the difference. I'M NOT saying we should be beating Bama with our current roster with better coaching, but there is no excuse for some of our on-field displays the last 2 seasons.
- Our defensive scheme is a poor fit for UK (Stoops)
- Our linemen struggle on both sides of the ball with basic fundamentals (Stoops and asst.'s)
- I have seen very few players grow in their football acumen from year to year (Staff)
- Even when we start out well, we flounder as the game continues, especially 2nd half (Staff)

UKGrad is dead on; besides recruiting (which is all "paper" victories anyway) - you cannot name any other positive quality about this staff.

Maybe there is some switch that can be flipped - Lord knows that would be best case - but I have seen zero to give me any inkling of confidence that it can happen
 

BluffaloSlim

Sophomore
Jan 1, 2016
259
150
0
Stoops is not in the same league as Brooks, Stoops has more talent , Brooks once he got things going was a very good coach..

Rich Brooks is probably the most revered coach in Oregons history. So much so that they named the field after him.

Brooks was an excellent coach long before he came to UK
 
  • Like
Reactions: BlueTick2
Nov 29, 2015
1,735
627
0
After the loss to freaking USM. All I heard about was Brooks loss to LSU. Now this loss, and all I'm hearing is Brooks loss to LSU. After every game we lose is it going to be compared to Brooks LSU loss? What was his record that season? What's ours looking like. Pitiful. I'm tired of people trying to compare an unproven, absolutely atrocious head coach, to a proven coach who was a proven winner. There's just no comparison. Yea we got slaughtered by UF and Brooks got slaughtered by LSU. The comparisons end there. Let's go see what Bama is about to do to us. I bet we compare that loss to Brooks LSU loss as well won't we?
 
  • Like
Reactions: oboroCATfan

buckkiller

All-Conference
Nov 6, 2003
131,233
2,466
0
4 years in you got to be better. If you cant see that then you don't know $#!+ 4 years in and this is as bad as we kooked during his 1 st season. No excuse thats coaching period! OMG THE SUNSHIME PUMPERS MAKE ME JUST WANT TO GO DESTROY SOMETHING GEEZZZZ!!!! ITS COACHING PERIOD!! BOBBY P SHOULD OF BEEN THE DAMN HIRE!!! GET OVER YOURSELVES! !!!!!!!! GO PUMP SUNSHINE UP SOME BROWNIE CLUBS @$$!
 

PushupMan

All-American
May 29, 2001
168,485
8,734
93
Quite honestly, it's still a little too early to know how bad both of those losses were. I will certainly admit that the last six quarters have looked pretty bleak.

The evidence is pointing towards Southern Miss being a really good CUSA team. They beat an FCS opponent this week 56-0, and their defense held that opponent to 48 total yards of offense, which set a new CUSA record.

Florida also might be very good. They didn't look very good during week 1, but most likely they did as little preparation for UMass as humanly possible, and instead focused on winning their SEC opener against Kentucky. That strategy was pretty successful, as they are now 2-0.

I'm a lot more patient than the average fan, so having been in this situation a few times in the past (with Steve Kragthorpe and Ron Cooper), I always make it a point to show up and be supportive. I'd suggest everybody who loves UK football continue to do the same, at least until there is no longer a possibility of winning six games. If you love UK football but cannot be supportive, my suggestion is to express your frustration by staying away and finding something more fun to do.

So with all of that, to finally give the OP an answer: I don't know, but I do think that Coach Stoops has recruited well enough and has won enough games in years 2 and 3 to deserve the benefit of the doubt. I also want to point out that it appears that the two teams UK faced in weeks 1 and 2 are very good football teams, which might mean that this UK team is not nearly as bad as most UK fans are thinking right now.
 
Last edited:

MEMEBLUE

Senior
Mar 4, 2009
1,378
408
0
No, I don't think he will turn it around. But if he does, it will be from recruiting some defensive linemen this year. If these coaches are out hitting the junior college ranks looking for linemen, they need to be fired. It starts and stops on the line, Stoops job will be decided by the defensive line.
 

Kingebeneezer

Sophomore
Sep 9, 2016
174
119
0
Quite honestly, it's still a little too early to know how bad both of those losses were. I will certainly admit that the last six quarters have looked pretty bleak.

The evidence is pointing towards Southern Miss being a really good CUSA team. They beat an FCS opponent this week 56-0, and their defense held that opponent to 48 total yards of offense, which set a new CUSA record.

Florida also might be very good. They didn't look very good during week 1, but most likely they did as little preparation for UMass as humanly possible, and instead focused on winning their SEC opener against Kentucky. That strategy was pretty successful, as they are now 2-0.

I'm a lot more patient than the average fan, so having been in this situation a few times in the past (with Steve Kragthorpe and Ron Cooper), I always make it a point to show up and be supportive. I'd suggest everybody who loves UK football continue to do the same, at least until there is no longer a possibility of winning six games. If you love UK football but cannot be supportive, my suggestion is to express your frustration by staying away and finding something more fun to do.

So with all of that, to finally give the OP an answer: I don't know, but I do think that Coach Stoops has recruited well enough and has won enough games in years 2 and 3 to deserve the benefit of the doubt. I also want to point out that it appears that the two teams UK faced in weeks 1 and 2 are very good football teams, which might mean that this UK team is not nearly as bad as most UK fans are thinking right now.
FL struggled with UMass football. FL is down this year. There's no positive spin for the FL loss.
 

PushupMan

All-American
May 29, 2001
168,485
8,734
93
FL struggled with UMass football. FL is down this year. There's no positive spin for the FL loss.

My point is that you really do not know that yet, and I also gave a plausible reason as to why they struggled with UMass - they did zero preparation for that game and essentially spent two weeks preparing for UK. At this point, Florida is 2-0 and looks to have as good of a shot at winning the east as anybody.
 

BigBlueTuckian

Sophomore
Jan 9, 2016
309
198
0
At this point Stoops has to give proof that he can manage a game correctly, coach talent, and develop players from a raw to a finished product. He has yet to demonstrate all those things.

Even though Rich Brooks got blown out 49-0 by LSU in year 4, he had proven before he could coach a full game, coach players, and develop them into finished products at Oregon. He had taken the Ducks to the Rose Bowl.

Right now anyone who answers yes to this question bases it on hopes and dreams and not concrete evidence.
 

ukgrad83

All-Conference
Sep 26, 2009
931
1,403
0
THIS
I challenge anyone to tell me a sport where coaching makes more of a difference than football. At the college level especially, where the talent levels are not drastically different in most cases, technique, scheme, and making in-game adjustments are usually the difference. I'M NOT saying we should be beating Bama with our current roster with better coaching, but there is no excuse for some of our on-field displays the last 2 seasons.
- Our defensive scheme is a poor fit for UK (Stoops)
- Our linemen struggle on both sides of the ball with basic fundamentals (Stoops and asst.'s)
- I have seen very few players grow in their football acumen from year to year (Staff)
- Even when we start out well, we flounder as the game continues, especially 2nd half (Staff)

UKGrad is dead on; besides recruiting (which is all "paper" victories anyway) - you cannot name any other positive quality about this staff.

Maybe there is some switch that can be flipped - Lord knows that would be best case - but I have seen zero to give me any inkling of confidence that it can happen

Two thumbs up. I'm sick of them trying to run a 3-4 scheme when it's painfully obvious that we don't have the necessary athletes. You need quick, strong linemen who create mismatches and can get around the O-line. We don't have that, ergo, change the scheme to a 4-2 or 4-3 and stop giving up 1-3 yards on the initial push.
 

oboroCATfan

All-Conference
Sep 17, 2003
4,229
1,768
0
Quite honestly, it's still a little too early to know how bad both of those losses were. I will certainly admit that the last six quarters have looked pretty bleak.

The evidence is pointing towards Southern Miss being a really good CUSA team. They beat an FCS opponent this week 56-0, and their defense held that opponent to 48 total yards of offense, which set a new CUSA record.

Florida also might be very good. They didn't look very good during week 1, but most likely they did as little preparation for UMass as humanly possible, and instead focused on winning their SEC opener against Kentucky. That strategy was pretty successful, as they are now 2-0.

I'm a lot more patient than the average fan, so having been in this situation a few times in the past (with Steve Kragthorpe and Ron Cooper), I always make it a point to show up and be supportive. I'd suggest everybody who loves UK football continue to do the same, at least until there is no longer a possibility of winning six games. If you love UK football but cannot be supportive, my suggestion is to express your frustration by staying away and finding something more fun to do.

So with all of that, to finally give the OP an answer: I don't know, but I do think that Coach Stoops has recruited well enough and has won enough games in years 2 and 3 to deserve the benefit of the doubt. I also want to point out that it appears that the two teams UK faced in weeks 1 and 2 are very good football teams, which might mean that this UK team is not nearly as bad as most UK fans are thinking right now.

When your biggest rival is trying to convince you to keep your coach than you have hit rock bottom.
 
  • Like
Reactions: UKNothinButNet

PushupMan

All-American
May 29, 2001
168,485
8,734
93
When your biggest rival is trying to convince you to keep your coach than you have hit rock bottom.

You misunderstand me. It is true that I am preaching patience, but not unlimited patience. If Stoops needs to be fired, the seventh loss this year will happen soon enough. It's at that point that the calls to have him fired immediately are appropriate - not before.
 
Nov 29, 2015
1,735
627
0
My point is that you really do not know that yet, and I also gave a plausible reason as to why they struggled with UMass - they did zero preparation for that game and essentially spent two weeks preparing for UK. At this point, Florida is 2-0 and looks to have as good of a shot at winning the east as anybody.
They overlooked UMass and prepared for UK because we're that much of a juggernaut. Idc who the first opponent was. No coach does that. Ever. No coach overlooks an opponent for an opponent the following week. And if they do so. It'll be the effing day when a program like Florida over looks a team to have 2 weeks to prepare for UK. Your hypotheticals just prove what kind of fan you are. Unrealistically hopeful. This has to be the most outlandish dumbest post ever written on these boards. Your hypothesis, let me get this straight, is that UF overlooked UMass to prepare for UK for 2 weeks? REALLY?? If that's the case they have some real bad coaches down in Florida. Which makes our situation even look more sad. I don't even think stoops, of all freaking coaches/clowns, is dumb enough to overlook a team in preparation for the next team on the schedule. And we're talking about stoops let alone the head coach of UF!!!!! If any coach is dumb enough to do that its stoops and I don't even think he would do that. I don't think there's a single coach at the D-1 level and up that lives by your hypotheticals. Just absolutely unbelievable the post I just read. I got dumber reading it. This guy's 'plausible reasoning' for UF having a bad game is because they overlooked UMass to prepare 2 weeks against a downright pathetic UK team? Puhhlllleeeeaaaasssseeeee. Out program is better without fans this freaking out of whack.
 

Mikey Likes It

All-Conference
Sep 9, 2007
11,247
3,776
0
With the players quitting in game 2 I don't have much faith he can turn it around but I hope I'm wrong.
 

PushupMan

All-American
May 29, 2001
168,485
8,734
93
They overlooked UMass and prepared for UK because we're that much of a juggernaut. Idc who the first opponent was. No coach does that. Ever. No coach overlooks an opponent for an opponent the following week. And if they do so. It'll be the effing day when a program like Florida over looks a team to have 2 weeks to prepare for UK. Your hypotheticals just prove what kind of fan you are. Unrealistically hopeful. This has to be the most outlandish dumbest post ever written on these boards. Your hypothesis, let me get this straight, is that UF overlooked UMass to prepare for UK for 2 weeks? REALLY?? If that's the case they have some real bad coaches down in Florida. Which makes our situation even look more sad. I don't even think stoops, of all freaking coaches/clowns, is dumb enough to overlook a team in preparation for the next team on the schedule. And we're talking about stoops let alone the head coach of UF!!!!! If any coach is dumb enough to do that its stoops and I don't even think he would do that. I don't think there's a single coach at the D-1 level and up that lives by your hypotheticals. Just absolutely unbelievable the post I just read. I got dumber reading it. This guy's 'plausible reasoning' for UF having a bad game is because they overlooked UMass to prepare 2 weeks against a downright pathetic UK team? Puhhlllleeeeaaaasssseeeee. Out program is better without fans this freaking out of whack.

It happens all the time. Bobby Petrino said specifically that his coaches did very little preparation for Charlotte but instead focused on Syracuse. It was a good choice in that case, because both schools try to run the hurry-up spread offense. Syracuse just does it a lot better.

That's the difference between the importance of a non-conference opponent and a conference division game. Good coaches know how to prioritize.
 
Jan 14, 2003
1,521
155
0
Will he? Can't say that at this point in time. Can he? Yes. I certainly hope he does. With his buyout, and the youth of this team, it's likely he gets at least next year, so as a fan, at this point I think all I can do is cheer for them and hope he gets it done.
 
Jan 14, 2003
1,521
155
0
FL struggled with UMass football. FL is down this year. There's no positive spin for the FL loss.

Don't understand this dogging of Florida. They didn't play well offensively against UMass, but it was the first game and that happens sometimes. Florida looks pretty good to me. Defense is legit. Might be a top 10 defense nationally potentially. Their O line isn't great, but if Del Rio can play like he did against us they should be better than last year and contend for the East.
 

prospectcat

Redshirt
Aug 27, 2012
237
46
0
Keeping Stoops after this year is just rearranging the furniture on the deck of the titanic .... it's still going down! Brooks was just getting the talent in year 4 to compete while coming off probation. Brooks motivated and molded talent, put his best talent on the field where they could excel. I see none of that in Stoops. Watching Stoops body language in interviews tells me he doesn't even believe what he's saying.

It's time for Barhart to answer for this. He has paid Gillispie and Joker to leave and now he has put the university in a situation where they are stuck due to a Stoops buyout. In my opinion poor leadership in the AD office making poor coaching hires created this situation.
 

UKWinsAgainYep

All-Conference
Nov 11, 2014
2,971
2,484
0
Don't understand this dogging of Florida. They didn't play well offensively against UMass, but it was the first game and that happens sometimes. Florida looks pretty good to me. Defense is legit. Might be a top 10 defense nationally potentially. Their O line isn't great, but if Del Rio can play like he did against us they should be better than last year and contend for the East.

Agreed. Florida is way better than most of our fans are saying right now. I predict they win the East.
 

BurpinTurpin_rivals209459

All-Conference
Mar 20, 2009
4,084
1,091
0
It's not as if these past two games are the only reason fans are upset. And it's not just about wins and losses either. This crap has been going on for a while, and a lot of it doesn't appear to be anything that can reasonably be changed, short of firing the coach. If the team has truly given up on Stoops, he's done.