Steve Clinkscale more than offset the loss of Derrick Ansley a few years ago. (UK Athletics Photo)
In 1869, during the great movement of Americans to the Western U.S., a group of settlers in Yuma County, Arizona was attacked by Apache Indians. The Indians escaped with one of the settlers’ daughters and were pursued by U.S. cavalry members. When the Apaches split up into smaller groups three soldiers that followed one of the groups became lost in the desert. Their horses had died from fatigue and lack of water and they found themselves near death on the floor of a canyon in Northern Yuma County.
They were fortunate enough to find a small stream running out of a cave in the rocks. As they were filling their canteens they noticed that the basin where the creek flowed through from the cave was covered in small gold nuggets and gold-laced quartz. They scooped up as much gold as they could carry and tried to find their way back to their company.
Eventually, a search party found them, dehydrated and delirious but very rich, and the story of the Lost Soldier Gold Mine was created. Had they not become lost in the desert, lost their horses and nearly lost their lives, they would have never been in a position to find the Arizona gold.
That’s kind of where Kentucky Football fans currently find themselves. That loud “whooshing” sound you heard Tuesday afternoon sounded like all the air being lost out of the balloon. That balloon just happened to be the UK Football program.
At least that’s what I thought it sounded like. It actually sounded like one big, collective sigh from every Kentucky football fan all across the Commonwealth. It happened just about the time word began to spread that UK passing game coordinator/defensive backs coach Steve Clinkscale was leaving Kentucky to take a similar position at Michigan.
You know Steve Clinkscale, UK’s secondary coach that has helped recruit almost every great player Kentucky has signed from Michigan over the past few years and a few that hailed from other states as well. The guy that has helped mold UK’s defense into the best passing defense in the SEC the past two years. The coach that has helped put UK on the map as a defensive backs school. That one. Unfortunately, a great coach and recruiter has been lost to the Wolverines.
When I heard the news I thought, “Oh no, all is lost. There goes the defense for next season. UK finally gets the offense cranking and the defense takes a huge hit. It’s a sure bet that the pass defense next season won’t be the best in the conference. And there goes our recruiting in the state of Michigan. Lost for sure.”
Then it hit me. Those are the exact same thoughts I had back in February of 2016 when I heard that co-defensive coordinator and secondary coach Derrick Ansley was leaving Kentucky (where he started with the original staff in 2013) for a similar position at Alabama. Ansley had helped resurrect the Wildcat secondary, and although they weren’t nearly the lockdown defenders then as they are now, it had been a huge step up for Kentucky football.
And, like the bad news today, when Ansley left UK lost one of its best-recruiting coaches not named Vince Marrow. My thoughts were then, as they were on Tuesday, that Kentucky recruiting was going to take a huge hit because of the loss.
But it didn’t happen that way. In fact, in 2016 right after Derrick Ansley walked out the door, Steve Clinkscale walked in. And the rest, they say, is history.
So I’m choosing to look at this loss in a more philosophical manner, just like the U.S. Cavalry members that found the Lost Soldier Mine, Ansley leaving UK in 2016 helped UK strike gold by opening up a spot for another great coach in Steve Clinkscale to step into the program.
The same thing happened when defensive coordinator Matt House left for the NFL and Brad White became the new defensive coordinator. That opened up a spot for current linebackers coach Jon Sumrall.
Each time a move was made, a great coach received a new opportunity to prove how good he really was. Hopefully the same is happening with this move
Mark Stoops has been just as good at evaluating defensive coaching talent as he has been at evaluating defensive players. He seems to have a knack for picking great talent that is just starting to blossom.
Hopefully, he already has in mind who his next defensive backs/secondary coach will be and hopefully, that individual will help Kentucky to stay on track towards a top recruiting class for 2022 and another year as the top passing defense in the SEC in 2021.
Sometimes what looks like a great loss, stuck in the desert with no horses, no water, no map to help find a way out, turns into a golden opportunity. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that this move by coach “Clink” to Michigan also proves to be another golden opportunity, disguised as a great loss.
— Keith Peel, Contributing Writer
