Kentucky Sports Radio
[Moderated by Matt Jones, Drew Franklin and Tyler Thompson]
[Moderated by Matt Jones, Drew Franklin and Tyler Thompson]
It’s a glass-is-half-full kind of day here at KSR, so we’re happy to announce that the University of Kentucky has the 13th best football facilities in the Southeastern Conference. ESPN released its rankings of SEC facilities today and UK finished one spot ahead of Vanderbilt at No. 13.
Here’s what the Worldwide Leader had to say:
13. Kentucky: Kentucky: The Nutter Training Facility has been Kentucky’s football home since 1987. New practice fields were added in 2005, and the complex is highlighted by a 9,000-square foot weight room and new locker room. The Nutter Field House includes a 100-yard practice field, and Commonwealth Stadium has a new locker room complex as well as new video boards and audio system.
Kentucky fans should be careful in saying, “at least UK isn’t last.” Vanderbilt, which currently has the SEC’s worst facilities, is adding a new indoor practice facility, a new locker room, a new field, and a new team meeting room over the next two years. That means UK is on its way to that last place spot very soon.
Fire up the debate…
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June 14th, 2012 at 12:05 pm
Lets hope we can improve upon what we have now, since it hasnt been updated since 1987!!! You realize where the ahtletic fund is spent at UK when you walk to North Campus and see the Coal Lodge and the Craft Center.
June 14th, 2012 at 12:06 pm
Yea improve those facilities and watch the recruits come in… I mean UL facility is so much better and they are getting 3-4 4* kids and even a 5* that is interested in them. Lets get a coach then worry about facilities.
June 14th, 2012 at 12:07 pm
The raquetball courts have been gone for more than a year now. Replaced by a really nice all-team meeting facility. Good to know ESPN has out-of-date information.
June 14th, 2012 at 12:07 pm
Craft Center was done mostly on private donations…just like new locker room in Rupp
June 14th, 2012 at 12:11 pm
Elle Raiser has officially protected his twitter account, coming a short time after this blog posted about him in which case I and likely many other Cat fans then attacked him with a barrage of insults. This child has an inferiority complex worse than hooiser nation.
June 14th, 2012 at 12:11 pm
When does basketball season start?
June 14th, 2012 at 12:11 pm
I believe the Craft Center and new lodge were all private donations, could be wrong but I think so. As far as football you get what you pay for.
June 14th, 2012 at 12:12 pm
Fire up the debate? FIRE THE COACH…. He’s a Joke(r).
June 14th, 2012 at 12:14 pm
$300,000 renovation was completed about 2 weeks ago to Nutter, as Matt said the courts have been gone for a while. The new renovation looks great and I have a really hard time believing we are second to last after all of this was done. Way to go ESPN..Bob Knight must’ve been the one making the list.
June 14th, 2012 at 12:14 pm
Well…. that pic of our recruiting room…. you mean other SEC teams have something better than that?
Friend of mine said, “That looks pretty Akronish”
Where should we be in the arms races for facilities in the SEC? 9th, 6th, 2nd?
June 14th, 2012 at 12:15 pm
Nothing to debate really. I’m actually surprised we weren’t already last.
June 14th, 2012 at 12:21 pm
Be patient, Joker will be fine. Remember we were ready to throw Rich Brooks to the wolves after a couple of seasons as well. However if we are serious about football, then we need to be on par with rest of the SEC powerhouses. You can have Football and Basketball too! Just ask Texas, Ohio State, Florida(That pains me to say that)and Wisconsin.
June 14th, 2012 at 12:22 pm
That photo is of the Nutter indoor practice field next to Commonwealth, not Nutter training center across the street where all of the facilities for the players are.
June 14th, 2012 at 12:23 pm
Meaning that the crappy photo provided has nothing to do with the actual facility where the players spend 95% of their time.
June 14th, 2012 at 12:25 pm
Is this some sort of breaking news? Things must really be slow at the 4 letter network this month. Maybe they can do another Tim Tebow or Tiger Woods story.
June 14th, 2012 at 12:26 pm
So add the worst coach in the SEC to next to last facilities and where does that leave UK?
June 14th, 2012 at 12:29 pm
That leaves us right where we have always been…in need of a real coach and a football A.D.
June 14th, 2012 at 12:30 pm
Does UK need to buy better facilities to lure a better coach, or buy a better coach to justify the new facilities?
June 14th, 2012 at 12:32 pm
i just believe that UK needs new facilities all together. It’s time that they get up with the competition.
June 14th, 2012 at 12:33 pm
http://www.youtube.com/embed/0icljV9FZvI?feature=player_embedded“
June 14th, 2012 at 12:35 pm
Who cares? The most important thing in life is knowing what you are and what you are not…we are plain & simple not a football school. Neither is Duke, UNC, Kansas and so on.
June 14th, 2012 at 12:37 pm
listen to the last 15-20 min of today’s show. Matt wanted to make sure Drew “had everything he needed” for this post. Agenda.
June 14th, 2012 at 12:50 pm
Just like everything else in life, you get out what you put in.
June 14th, 2012 at 12:50 pm
They certainly hinder the coaching staffs ability to recruit. Which in return hinders the development of a football program. But don’t worry UK football fans, I’m sure you will find every reason to blame Joker. It’s just like the President getting blamed for everything.
June 14th, 2012 at 12:51 pm
Marc Maggard
Rumors going around that Matt Jones got into it with a coworker and has been suspended from his TV show…. No idea if it’s true, but that’s the talk I heard.
LikeUnlike · · Share · 3 minutes ago near Charlottesville, VA · Vinny Danillo Zollo likes this..
Write a comment……
June 14th, 2012 at 12:55 pm
WOW this is the first time the UK football program hasn’t finished dead last in anything! Congrats Cayut fans!
June 14th, 2012 at 12:55 pm
22- Agenda? Seriously? Is everything a conspiracy? Matt’s just a control freak. I know, because I am too.
June 14th, 2012 at 12:57 pm
@STEVEN H BACK
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLQlw04pCHY
June 14th, 2012 at 1:03 pm
Wow. UK 2nd to last in SEC facilities. No big surprise there. The biggest surprise in this ESPN ranking- UNC ranked #1.
June 14th, 2012 at 1:04 pm
I took a kid up to louisville on a football recruiting trip. We where there about 10 min and he turned and looked at me and said this place sucks and we left.
June 14th, 2012 at 1:18 pm
2013 Shaping Up To Be Best SEC Recruiting Year Ever – Clay Travis
“We’re talking about absolute recruiting domination.
And a rising tide is lifting all SEC boats. Except for Kentucky. Sorry Wildcat fans, you’re 71st in both services. Good luck with that.”
http://outkickthecoverage.com/2013-shaping-up-to-be-best-sec-recruiting-year-ever.php
June 14th, 2012 at 1:27 pm
Regarding UK’s football facilities…
The fans blame Mitch Barnhart.
Barnhart blames David Williams.
Williams blames Eli Capilouto (and his predecessor Lee Todd)
The SEC dollars distributed to each school increases significantly each year and promises to grow exponentially with the advent of the new TV contracts and the SEC network.
UKAA is dissolved and the athletic department now reports to a committee of the University Trustees.
It’s like a big shell game.
I wonder who is to blame in the future…the Board of Trustees?
Maybe the Governor of the Commonwealth…he appoints the Trustees.
Any ideas on how to get out of dead last?
June 14th, 2012 at 1:37 pm
I call BS. If they are looking at practice facilities the difference between most of the SEC schools is not all that much. There are NO have-nots in the SEC. Obviously, if other schools are spending millions they will leapfrog UK but then UK leapfrogged many of the SEC schools when they spent millions and upgraded back a few years ago. Again, this goes back to other SEC schools not having the issues with their state legislatures that UK fights every day about paying for improvements.
As far as CWS, it is still the newest stadium in the SEC and is nicer than SC, Ole Miss, Vandy, Miss St to name the ones I have been too. Auburn’s has history but isn’t really that nice either. Neyland is OK but only because it is 40k bigger. Our playing field is gorgeous, parking fabulous and if they would scrape the rust off and paint it, there is nothing wrong with it. We have new sound, video etc. If they are comparing 100,000+ seats to our 70k, we will never win.
We have good facilities and don’t need to tear down anything, just some modernizing every few years would be nice.
June 14th, 2012 at 1:37 pm
#32. Yes. His name is Mike Leach, and he’s currently the coach at Washington St. UK won’t ever have the talent to line up toe-to-toe with the rest of the SEC. We have to get gimmicky.
June 14th, 2012 at 1:37 pm
UK FOOTBALL SUCKS….lets just talk about basketball all year round. I’d rather see updates about women’s basketball, you know the ranked women’s team, than waste time on this lousy program!!!
June 14th, 2012 at 1:41 pm
Were you expecting another outcome? What a sorry program.
Gonna be a long year.
June 14th, 2012 at 1:43 pm
#24 Common Sense
Care to name a few things that has showed you Joker was the man for the job? What has he done the last 2 year’s that makes your case for him to be the HC. USCjr win is the only thing I can think of… You will also probably say beating the worse UT team in 60 year’s. Besides that all I see is bad play calling, teams no being prepared, players crying over hard practices, sticking with Newton way to long, UL going from crap to beating us, Vandy putting a spanking on us. Lets keep Joker though
June 14th, 2012 at 1:47 pm
Oh this isnt basketball? I don’t care.
June 14th, 2012 at 2:01 pm
37: Correct except for the fact that Spurrier got greedy and tried to win in regulation on a pass, that granted, UK intercepted. He could have easily kicked a FG and then steamrollered us in OT.
The UT team was, like you say, the worst in 60 years and we won by 3pts. I know it was a win but UT came down to our level; it’s not like we make a big move in the SEC.
Joker: HCIW; we’re still waiting! What a bad idea that was.
It will be more of the same this year but more of the seats will be empty.
June 14th, 2012 at 2:09 pm
37
Yes beating the worst UT team is x amount of years was such a bad accomplishment for Joker, WITH A WR AT QB. That itself just proves your “teams not being prepared” theory wrong. Even if it was the worst team, we beat them with the worst offense. Even if it was the worst team, how many previous years were you convinced that we could beat them but didn’t? “Bad play calling” oh because he’s still the O-Coordinator right? “Players crying over hard practices”, honestly never heard this, besides we are playing football right? “Sticking with Newton way to long”, may have been too long, but personally I think he’s not a good pro-style QB. Additionally, he went to Smith for a change, who in reality is NOT impressive at all. “UL going from crap to beating us” yet we were incredibly close to beating them with a few minutes to go, but the players seeing thousands of fans leave with 12:00 to go gave them hope. Yes Vandy put a spanking us, and that was embarrassing, but don’t act like no other coach has had embarrassing losses. So YES lets keep Joker for AT LEAST 2 more years because that is how you develop a program. If Joker gets fired after this season, the current team will transfer out, which is a shame since I do believe they will be really fun to watch in 2 years. BUT NO ONE HAS THE PATIENCE OR VISION to watch that happen.
June 14th, 2012 at 2:11 pm
39
It will not be more of the same. This year will be more interesting with a much improved offense. We may not win as many as last year, but we will actually be competitive in games this year.
June 14th, 2012 at 2:15 pm
Joker lost the fan base the first game he coached at UofL. He had them down by 2 touchdowns early and let up. Wanted to take it easy on his buddy Coach Strong. He let them back in the game and gave the Cards hope and an opportunity to run their mouths. He should have buried them. Now they are the big dog in the state. You never take it easy on your rival. Just ask Bobby Petrino.
June 14th, 2012 at 2:46 pm
#40–”…no one has the PATIENCE…” You are full of shit. I have been a football fan for 48 years. I’ve seen it all. I remember the few good seasons we had, but I mainly remember nightmare after nightmare. Mummy caused the university to be put on probation; him and his lot couldn’t even BUY good players. Brooks came in, started with practically nothing, seemed to turn things around (for a little while), and then names Joker Phillips his coach-in-waiting. While Brooks at least made the games interesting, he also helped instill a “strive-for-mediocrity” mindset in most of the fans. Then, it was Joker’s turn. First year, his gimmick was “Operation Win.” That turned into “Operation When.” Last year, it was RISE. The fans heard ad nauseum about UK’s GREAT O-line, that was pushed all over the field by most teams. The ONLY game in the SEC that UK was competitive was the UT game, but that’s been discussed enough. I distinctly remember Steve Spurrier being quoted in the newspapers as saying, “Yep; we could have put up 80 points or more, if we’d wanted to.” Fact is, the majority of the games last year were either (a) decided LONG BEFORE the fourth quarter; (b) boring as hell to watch; or (c) embarrassing to watch. So don’t you talk to me about patience. ANY UK football fan has the patience of Job.
June 14th, 2012 at 3:40 pm
#43 Well said…. and #40 U are full of shit.
June 14th, 2012 at 3:57 pm
This just goes to show how this website is out of sync with the new things and pictures in the Nutter. Instead of going and visiting, you post an article written by someone that worked for a Tennessee paper for 10 years. Makes me puke. Get away from your internet searches on your computer and visit and see the improvements.
June 14th, 2012 at 4:02 pm
#41 Being just “competitive” will not get it done for Joker. Kentucky lost to Vandy 38-8 last year.
June 14th, 2012 at 4:11 pm
I say we wait it out till 2016 when Tressel gets off his bane from coaching. That we are being patient with Joker fans will be happy, and lets be honest we wouldn’t be able to pull a Urban Meyer or Nick Saban type guy to lexington without some spiders in his closet. I believe this year and the following year ends Joker’s contract. We should re-sign his till 2016 unless we can get a guy like Phil Fulmer or Gruden, but not likely
June 14th, 2012 at 4:18 pm
#12. Unlike Brooks, Joker didn’t take over a program on probation with scholarship limits. Brooks built a nice foundation for Joker to build on and in two short years Joker has destroyed it. What part of that do you Joker fans not get?? You all keep saying give him time but he’s had time. He’s been on staff as a coordinator for several years and now is the head man. He couldn’t even win a bowl game against a Big East team with no head coach. But because he’s ended the streaks with USC and UT you people want to keep him. Have we sunk so low that all that’s required is to end losing streaks? With such low expectations it’s no wonder why we’re always last. When all we win is 3 or 4 games this year are you going to want to give Joker a contract extension and a raise? Will you want to give him more time? That’s the way it is with you people and UK football. Give them more time and next thing you know they’ve hung around for years with losing records. Bunch of idiots!
June 14th, 2012 at 6:38 pm
43
I agree that our games were over long before the game ended last season. It’s easy to understand why they were the worst offense last season. They lost Randall Cobb, our savior and seemingly the only offensive weapon from Joker’s first season. So Joker had to find new playmakers. There was a lot of hype surrounding Darryl Collins but it sucked when he blew his ACL in the preseason. Josh Clemons showed spark out of the backfield but he also blew his ACL early in the season. We were shaky at QB the whole season and at WR. And of course our O-line did not live up to expectations. Now we are full strength coming off of a surprising UPSET against UT, yes I said upset. The only concerns I have going into this season is the QB and the very young secondary. Pat Washington is the new WR coach and is a veteran SEC coach and Rick Minter’s Defense will only improve. Max Smith now knows all the offense and is being coached by Randy Sanders and Andre Woodson. Young players like Josh Clemons, Darryl Collins, Demarco Robinson, Bookie Cobbins, and Bud Dupree will impress fans this season. But the fans will never know because they won’t be there. Go ahead though, blame the guy at the top, just like the President gets blamed for everything, because it is all justifiable right?
June 14th, 2012 at 6:54 pm
48
Yes Brooks got us out of probation and built this program to be pretty respectable. It took him 4 years. Maybe that’s a bad example. Well maybe you remember a old coach we had by the name of Paul “Bear” Bryant. In case you forgot he accumulated a 60-23-6 record at UK, which is way more impressive than Brooks record. Who was the next coach? Fran Curci. Well how did he fair? 5-6 and 6-5 his first 2 years, very similar to Joker. What did he do his 3rd year as coach? He went 2-8-1 and winless in the SEC. If the same were to happen to Joker (very likely) this season, the majority of the fans want him banished forever. I’m sure fans back then didn’t really appreciate Curci’s job either because Bryant had definitely built up this program better than it has ever been. But how did Curci do his 4th season? Nothing much, just went 9-3, 1st place in the SEC, and a win at the Peach Bowl. So if history repeats itself, which it does a lot of the time, Joker needs 4 years. I’m not saying we will win the SEC, but I really do think this team will be special in 4 years. However, no one wants him here anymore, so he will most likely get fired, this team will disperse and we will have this same process all over again. Everyone wanted Brooks gone after 3 seasons too, bet you wish he was too.
June 14th, 2012 at 7:16 pm
I made a mistake with my dates on my last comment. Curci was not the HC directly after Bryant, but I still think it goes to show that a coach deserves 4 years.
June 14th, 2012 at 7:34 pm
Well….if we’re 13th in the SEC that probably puts us in the top 25 overall?
June 14th, 2012 at 7:41 pm
@ 40 Common Sense
You must not have been watching UK football for the last 2 years. Please go back and add the first half margin’s in the SEC vs UK. You will see UK getting slaughtered in the first half. (that proves he can’t prepare his teams). I guess you missed the Quotes when Minter became DC when 2 players were crying about 2 day practices and being way to hard… Your just like all the Joker supporters you have an excuse for everything. Yes the fans leaving the stands really cost us the UL game. Probably is UL is out recruiting us and mark it down will beat us this year. If we keep Joker 2 more year’s the program will be dead last in the SEC mark it down. He has not showed anything coaching wise that he can win as a HC in the SEC. Just watch the last 2 year’s the mistakes, bad special teams, not showing up for winnable games is all on the HC. The experts are not picking us to finish last and have no SEC games we are the favorite for no reason. We screwed up not firing Joker this year and grabbing Mike Leach (A proven winner)
June 14th, 2012 at 7:42 pm
@ Common Sense
Care to give us reason’s why Joker should stay HC at UK for 2 more year’s. Please provide stuff you have seen on the field to back this up.
June 14th, 2012 at 9:11 pm
Life is a series of relative value choices. Get rid of joker if there is someone else available or obtainable who is vastly superior. I would like to see leach.
Let’s run to something rather than away from something.
June 15th, 2012 at 4:44 pm
Are football team sux. Alwayz has n alywaz will. Lets’ jus moov on