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No one has to explain to Kentucky coach Mark Stoops that fans were frustrated by UK’s 38-21 loss to Missouri.
“They have every opportunity to be frustrated,” Stoops said.
Most UK fans had left Kroger Field when Saturday night’s game that started with UK leading 14-0 after one quarter was over.
“With the fans, I mean, what do you want me to say? It is frustrating and I understand that. And, listen, I’ve been here 11 years and I’ve taken the good with the bad,” Stoops said.
“Either way I will hold my head up high, try to coach the team, work my butt off to get them right. And like I told the team, the next opportunity we have in this stadium, after a bye week, is a big game (against Tennessee).”
Stoops knows his players are frustrated also and should be. He talked to some of them briefly in small groups after the loss that followed a 51-13 butt-kicking at Georgia a week earlier.
“At first, right now, they have got to cool down, go back home and come in tomorrow and watch the film. And we will get together Monday as a unit, and it starts with looking at your individual performance and what area you can do better,” Stoops said.
“And I also told the team, when I show them the standings when we take the field against that team in two weeks, there’s going to be, what, three, four, five teams in our league with a better record. I mean, it’s tough.
“This is a tough league. And we beat each other up and right now we are a little bit battered and we have got a bye week and we have to become a better football team and we have to get some guys healthy.”
Actually there will be more teams than that with better records than Kentucky and if the Cats don’t play better the wins could be few and far between the next five games.
8 Responses
I’d love for UK to be battling for first place every year. That’s not reality in football. It’s just not. But what I don’t get is the lack of discipline. First Stoops says he needs more n.i.l. money for talent. Well if your the coach and realize and acknowledge the talent gap you should also acknowledge you need to play a clean smart brand of football because you don’t have superior talent to overcome discipline issues .. Which is on Stoops.
I have generally found that the amount of trash talking, etc after a play is inversely proportional to total team discipline.
Frustrated? Coach, I am not only frustrated, I am unhappy. My frustration and unhappiness, Coach Stoops, is not due to the reason you may think.
I have supported your work from the beginning, and it should be clear to all fans how far this program has improved under your leadership. I am so pleased that our program has reached a point of development when fans really do care what happens in football games and fully expect our team to show up, play with confidence and poise, and WIN. We now expect all of these things, we do!!!
What frustrates and makes me unhappy is all the hype-filled smoke that swirled around this team throughout the off-season, and with that kind of talk, I expected these players would walk the talk, and through 6 games, this team has simply not measured up to its own talk.
Or your talk, for that matter, Coach Stoops. Before the Georgia game, I heard a former player proclaim on the officially sanctioned pre-game radio programming that "This is Coach Stoops’ best team, AND HE KNOWS IT." I promise, he proclaimed this in a manner that conveyed a special knowledge.
So, rather than focusing on NIL, debating your record of achievement with anyone, or engaging in conversation about other non-issues, please explain at your next presser: How can there be such a disparity between the players’ and coaches’ pre-season expectations (THE TALK) and this team’s performance through 6 games (THE WALK)?
In my opinion, the repair of the damage being done now to your record of program building lies in finding the answer to this question, first and foremost.
The word "expectation" and UK football is ambiguous. The hype seems to be their but substance doesn’t. I see a coach who wants it his way. Yes we know the sec is tough coach. Your paycheck says you are in the sec.
For a coach who has never won the division, much less won a conference championship, Stoops is without a doubt the most overpaid coach in college football. Most pro coaches don’t get his kind of pay. This is just another glaring example of Barnhart throwing money at a situation and still not solving the problem. How much longer must we suffer with Barnhart?
Where can I send my $1? Frustrated? Stoops talks lack of discipline, oh wait, he said that every year in his 11 very well paid years. So, has his 9 mill figured it out yet. Geez! I hope he can find someone to blame.
Here they come Stoops. First Cal now you.
I see a national championship coach many times over being scrutinized. Nick Saban. Has Stoops set the bar so much higher than Saban that he shouldn’t be criticized?