Trying to figure out where it all went wrong (Monday Show Thread)
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No matter which way you try to spin it, Saturday’s 45-7 loss to Florida was very, very bad. Tune in to hear Matt, Ryan, and Drew break down the damage and predict what’s ahead for Mark Stoops, Mitch Barnhart, and the UK Football program.
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66 Comments for Trying to figure out where it all went wrong (Monday Show Thread)
Today is going to be ugly.
If you talk about what went wrong you will go overtime, if you talk about what went right it will be a short show.
Where it went wrong:
D.J. Eliot Named Defensive Coordinator
http://www.ukathletics.com/news/sports_m-footbl_spec-rel_120612aaa_html
I’m afraid that’s only one wrench in the works at this point.
Saturday I said I was done with this season, but I am already planning to watch the next game. What is wrong with me?
Glutton for punishment?
Who is going to broadcast our next game after the Florida debacle? I don’t see it on my interactive schedules….are you talking about a computer stream?
My schedule says it’s on an SEC network alternate channel. So 611-whatever on Directv.
SEC networks say “subject to change”, and also “blackout”.
I’ll start.
90% of the players on the field have zero effort when we get behind. If the opponent is up more than 1 score, they quit and never return. Those are the guys who come from losing high school teams. We MUST recruit from winning high school teams. It’s a mentality.
We are getting absolutely zero pressure in the backfield. The opposing QB & RB’s are having a field day. I’m not going to completely throw Elam under the bus. I’m not sure if he’s lacking effort or just not good enough. Effort or Talent? Anyone?
Barker is nowhere near ready to lead a top offense. I’ll leave that there. He didn’t impress me in high school and hasn’t impressed me in college. We made a very big mistake letting Towles go and even Phillips go. Both were better and more capable.
Now I’ll shut up and listen.
I feel like you should call in, or tweet Freddie or something about your recruiting theory. One of the few plausible explanations that I haven’t heard out there yet.
We were up 2 scores and half the team quit before halftime against Southern Miss, one bad play and there’s a huge chunk that just throw in the towel. No wonder the locker room was divided last season, there were quitters and everyone who was tired of their BS.
Unfortunately, a lot of the latter group seems to have left.
You have to have a will to win. It has to be something you want and need. If you’re not used to it, you don’t know how to achieve it. Seems like a lot of them are stuck in those bad habits. College coaches shouldn’t have to teach players how to want success. You have it or you don’t by that age.
Not saying you are right or wrong, but I’m curious where you come up with the theory that it’s losing HS players on this team that are causing the losses. Did you research this? Did you look at the high school W/L records of the top 85 players on the team? Did you look at all 4 years of their high school career or just their senior season?
I will agree with you about Barker. He’s lost.
KS – Honestly, it’s simply an opinion. It comes down to Stoops coming to our high school to watch a current UK freshman (who was on the opposing team). Our team won 43-0 with a running clock in the 1st half. We had a QB better than Barker, a WR better than any WR on their team (who will possibly end up at Purdue next year). Our WR burnt the UK recruit all night with ease, wasn’t close. Our line whipped their tail. Do you know how many of them got recruited by UK? Zero. Maybe I’m biased because they’re all former players of mine, but scores and 1-on-1 match-ups don’t lie.
I’m not calling for Stoops to be fired at this point (maybe he’ll turn it around like Brooks did after that huge LSU loss…unlikely, but I hope he does). However, if at the end of the year things aren’t any better, Mitch can do what happened at Auburn once.
Tommy Tuberville had a big buyout if he got fired, but he resigned. Why? AU obviously wanted him gone, and many think he and AU agreed behind the scenes that he would get a lesser sum if he would just resign and go away.
I actually emailed the local morning show down here and told them to ask Neal Brown (one of the hosts is the Troy play by play guy) if he was interested in UK. 🙂
That said, I’m hoping for the best. GO CATS!!!
Oh, and Neal was being interviewed this morning, but they only read my email after it was over. 😉
I say 50% for option 2 – team wins a couple games. The players just looked spent on the field, like they have already given up. Then go out and find a coach who has at least served as a head coach of a college team.
“It’s really easy to play quarterback when you’re back there and there’s no pass rush.” — Florida QB Luke Del Rio.
This is when you know you have a defensive problem.
With that said, shout-out to Jordan Jones. The only guy in blue you know you can count on. That kid is a stud to be doing what he is doing.
we all loved the extension???? lmao. bigboardupdate please go copy/paste my reactions to the extension!! i know u will be happy to do so
Don’t understand your confusion about the football program; games are won at the line.
Doesn’t matter at the skill positions; our QB has no protection, the RB’s have no holes.
The DL gets no pressure on their QB; Florida’s QB basically said it was like tossing the ball around in the backyard.
runningunnin.454 you are absolutely right. Was Offensive Line Coach here under Joker. Both lines have been bad since Stoops arrival.
If you “can’t” fire stoops you have to fire mitch. Don’t forget that we had problems with Gillespie and his contract as well. Mitch has failed in his fiduciary responsibility.
Only in Kentucky do we drug test welfare recipients and pay 12 million to a football coach that can’t win
I’m no welfare expert but I don’t think we drug test welfare recipients in KY. I think the Gov wants to and they tried to pass legislation but I don’t think it did. If I’m wrong, I’d like to see it because I can’t find that info…didn’t look too hard though.
We do not test welfare recipients.
Can’t follow that logic, anyway.
My big gripe with Barnhart is the damned contract extension. That sounds like something our government would do.
After he is finally canned at UK, Mitch should run for office.
I don’t have any problem with him except that Stoops extension. People that get mad about some of the coach choices he made basically want him to be psychic. He had committees helping him pick Stoops and Gillispie, and at the time, the decisions were heavily supported. Even making Joker HCIW seemed to make sense once (very briefly). As for the Stoops extension, that seems to have been a knee jerk reaction, not at all thought out.
Let’s not get out of control here with the Stoops and Gillispie comparison. Stoops has done some good things in his time here. Not even close to Gillispie. He did nothing here.
Oh definitely, The only comparison is that both have fans screaming that Mitch is evil for making the decision to hire them. I still respect and hope for the best with Stoops.
My point is that people calling for Mitch’s head aren’t necessarily reasonable.
BCG recruited P Pat, Liggins, and Jorts. Let’s give him credit for a handful of recruits if nothing else.
Tubby recruited ppat, billy just kept him from leaving. liggins and jorts were good but nothing worth drooling over. neither reached their full potential until cal got here.
Realme So it appears that Mitch’s 3 of last 4 major hires (G, Joker & Stoops) have failed. He made a terrible choice on Stoops contract. We’re heading now into our 7th straight disappointing football season, I REPEAT 7!!! And during those 7 yrs we’ve endured endless price increases. You’re right he’s doing just fine… You clearly aren’t a football fan and that’s ok, but to those who care a lot about the football program, Mitch hasn’t given us much to cheer about.
Send lawyers, nipples and money… Dad, get me out of this!
Mitch Barnhart is the only dude I know that goes to a flexible market and ends up paying double
Barnhart isn’t going anywhere. Let’s put that fire out now. All other sports are doing too well. Football is not king here, no matter how bad we all want it to be elite.
THIS !!!
The people that toss out gillespie and football coaches want barnhart to be fired immediately. But they really have no idea what they are talking about. The man just won AD of the year a couple years ago because aside from football his entire athletic department is KILLING it as of lately.
We ARE KENTUCKY. our football program has NEVER had success. So what do you want him to do? spend millions and millions of $$ to hire a coach that MIGHT bring us mild success? great, then tuition goes up and everyone has something else to gripe about. UK has a lot of money but not an endless supply of it. And just because those kids are out there playing games doesn’t mean it’s not a business. We can’t just throw money at a problem until it gets fixed.
I thought the “peter principle” had something to do with Anthony Weiner.
Someone mentioned Art Briles, and to be honest, it’s starting to sound tempting. I did not want Petrino, because he is a scumbag, but at this point, I can’t see UK facing more ridicule for hiring Briles than UofL had for hiring Petrino. After all, Bobby had already jilted UofL in the past, and there is that picture in the neck brace that will never go away.
Maybe LSU will be crazy and fire Les Miles. Then we could maybe snag him.
If what Matt says is true (that he systematically covered up rapes), I am sickened that anyone would want him. Someone on my twitter timeline was outraged that Matt even put that on Briles, but I doubt the lawyer in Matt would let him say things so definitively if there weren’t strong evidence.
and Matt also said he could never support Cal because he was such a cheater!! amazing how winning can change ones principles.
I’m not saying Briles did or didn’t cover anything up. If he did, he’s a dirtbag that should never coach again. With that said, with all the perks of a Head Coach, they’re also the fall guy for other people’s bad choices.
cats paw, the thing that makes Petrino different is that he was the only one responsible for what happened – it was all the direct result of his actions. He is a serial liar, and has sh!t on not just UofL, but probably 3 other teams as well. Things seem to be a bit murkier with Stiles – he was not directly accused of the rapes. If he did indeed cover them up, then that is indefensible.
The fact that you say Mitch’s job is safe speaks to UK’s commitment to 🈠Wouldn’t last at other SEC school -Vandy
The AD has got to make a move. If this was any other sport, in the system, he would have already made a move, providing, of course he is committed to improving the program. We will see what happens.
I can’t even begin to tell you how disappointed i am in this football team. Sad
Just supposing that Matt is fired due to talking about nipples, Chester is #1 on my short list to replace him.
I have to say that this past Saturday I have never been more glad that my kid had a volleyball tournament at the same time as a UK football game. The tourney was in Lexington, and they had a TV on the wall tuned to the game. There would be an occasional UK fan watching it for a few minutes, and they would walk away shaking their heads. If we had a winning program, there would probably be 20 parents standing there watching – like for a basketball game. Nothing illustrates the growing fan apathy for the football program better than this, and Brainfart has only himself to blame for it.
Yeah, I was out of town on vacation last week. I watched the collapse against So. Miss. Then basically took the week off. I didn’t listen to the show, or visit the site at all. We were driving back during the Florida game; I checked the score a few times and was glad I wasn’t watching it.
I’m going to get slammed for this….but hiring Scumbag BobbyP sure seems like it would have been a better idea for the football team.
He wouldn’t have been able to get the facilities that Stoops now has in place, but we’d have a much better product on the field. This will be the worst beating from UL in the series history.
not to “slam you” but really just depends on what’s more important. winning football games or having a high standard of moral.
Louisville fans USED to pretend morality mattered more before they hired petrino and then hooker gate took off. Now they are pretty much settled with the fact that winning is better.
I would rather get beat by Petrino 100-0, 10 times than claim him as a part of the family
Not saying I really like the guy…but he’s proven to win everywhere other than Atlanta. While winning isn’t everything…paying for multimillion dollar facilities and other programs with a team that does what this team is doing isn’t possible. So that hire doesn’t seem as bad to me. Saban and Miles haven’t done the acts BobbyP has, but they’re not exactly “great guys”….more known as complete a-holes but they can coach and win.
I really think this goes back to football isn’t a nice guy sport. It’s ugly, violent, and not for the faint of heart…and it takes a complete prick to run a program to that level. We can’t have a Cal for a football coach, they just don’t succeed when they’re that polished and that nice.
Who is in the top 10 this week and who is still whining because we are losers? I am sick of this holier than thou attitude from UK and its fans….if you want morality go to church, I want a winning football team.
WC4L – I think there’s a difference between being immoral and being an asshole. but yeah
KK – That’s fine if that’s your opinion. then you have to deal withall the drama that brings. that neckbrace follows bobby everywhere he goes. Louisville fans can never say they win and do it the right way after hooker-gate. Hell it seems like half their university is either fired or under investigation for embezzlement. If you don’t mind things like that, so be it. But Louisville fans can’t say with a straight fave that they are “doing it the right way.” but to me, at the end of the day, it’s JUST football.
It’s only a matter of time before Petrino gets caught with his dick hanging out in public again. Question – for all of you “UK fans” who want Petrino, please tell me you didn’t laugh your ass off when he spurned UofL, or laugh harder when he was on every national publication with that neck brace and road rash. Tell me that is what you want for UK. It’s fools gold, and it will eventually come back to haunt them. Yes, they are winning now, but it will all come crashing down.
Success and integrity need not be mutually exclusive.
I have no problems having a coach who most describe as an A-hole. I do have problems with a coach who is an A-hole in addition to being a liar, philanderer, douchenozzle and generally, a piece of sht human being.
Cal could, just through his ability to run an organization, probably improve this program in a month.
Our current coaches may know football but have, to date shown minimal ability to translate that knowledge into player motivation, which is integral to winning on the field.
CATandMONKEY, you may have just hit the nail on the head…but if the coaches are such “great football coaches that lack motivational skills” how do you explain the fact they cannot make any adjustments during a game?
GreenDay wrote a song…”Nice guys finish last”…and in football it’s so true.
And, jerks finish first. Did you see Saban screaming at Kiffin in the last minute of the WKU game?
Last minute of a blowout and on national TV…..wow.
Barnhart has to go he simply isn’t capable of hiring coaches history shows us that.
I don’t like Cal either.
I found myself getting pretty mad about the UK Football situation after reading a few articles last night, but then when I started watching the History Channel special about 9/11, my anger towards UK Football seemed pretty small and insignificant.