Mark Stoops Isn’t Going To Flinch Over Recent Losses

10 Responses

1. Stoops has $9 million reasons not to flinch!

   1. And $44 million to get fired!

2. He does, and should, get bothered by the outside noise. BBN is turning on him and the pressure will continue to tighten if he doesn’t get this team prepared to start and finish a game with enthusiasm, team buy-in, and team win. There are no more excuses. We hear the same thing from all the coaches after we snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

3. Maybe he should flinch

   1. Touche

4. Stoops making a big mistake by even showing his flinchibility. It kind of confirms he is really not wanting to be here while also acknowledging that many in BBN have turned on him. I think Marrow would do a better job finishing out the season, and at least he would feed the tight ends.

5. Bush Hamden is not a good offensive coordinator. Add that with a bad offensive line and a below average quarterback and you have failure. We need to completely change our style past the midway point in the season. This is something that should have been done after South Carolina. Why does every other coach in college football make a quarterback change when things aren’t working? Why can’t we do the same? If Stoops thinks Kentucky will be even worse with Gavin at quarterback then why did he recruit 2 bad quarterbacks and this my friends is the problem. I don’t understand why Cutter played the final 3 minutes of the game. You don’t throw a new quarterback into the ring of fire and make them lose confidence in themself. Terrible coaching. Gavin should have came in and they should have at least seen what he can do on a drive in the swamp at Florida. I don’t think stoops played Gavin because if he drove down the field and we scored a touchdown it would make him look even more dumb than he already is. You don’t get a true freshman game experience like that. You put your backup in who I think would be better suited with this offense. Stoops don’t want to show everyone that he’s been running this team the wrong way all year. With our personnel we would dominate in a 4-3 defense. We never run it. Put a running quarterback in because you have a bad line?? Hell no. Lets lose it my way. That’s Stoops btw.

6. Stoops does not follow coaching convention and that has been playing out with so many "doesn’t make sense" decisions by Stoops. Anyone watching and reading how good of a year Coen is having in the NFL or how good Shannon Dawson (best OC in college football) at Miami this year? I am not sure how much credit Stoops gets for a couple of good W’s this year, but he has deserved the credit for all the underachievement and L’s. I am off the Stoops train and think we looking at 5-7 short of miracle or two.

7. AMEN guys—i think you are spot-on about the QB deal, and I agree 100% about Boley being put in the game down there. And the "we are going to lose it MY WAY" mentality–who does that sound like? The one who appointed himself KING! KING KAL!!! its the exact same mentality, and this week now the fan base and even the media have turned a new direction on Stoops that I hadn’t seen yet–and it’s very revealing as to how bad things really are. Its such a damn shame but we are watching the football program crumbling under Stoops’ train–his train is starting to wobble and come apart, and is in the process of de-railing. Its very possible that the man who came here to rebuild another de-railed train, and DID REBUILD IT, will end up leaving with a train of his own that derailed, for then yet another coach who has to come in and rebuild it again. Unfortunately, this seems to be the same pattern over the long haul of time for KY FB. I had actually thought this week myself Abt the possibility of Vince being promoted to head coach if Stoops were to step down. I never hear Vince’s name mentioned from anybody as a possibility future coach. IDK that I would be totally against it, because he at least knows the culture of the program, and is familiar with the fan base, and is very well liked and respected–and he has always seemed to love UK. But then on the other hand, are there better options out there than him? I believe so. Course when u have the one who is in charge of this decision u better be prepared for anything. Up until this year, I was never crazy about Jon Sumrall being mentioned as a possibility, but just these last couple of weeks, I am about now on the football program where I was with bball: I am so ready for a change and a new start, and then the fact that Jon is a former player here—maybe we just need to add that legacy for our football program as well as our bball. Nobody loves Mark Pope more than I do, and have loved him ever since i was 16 yrs old and met him and hung out with him on the street for two hours outside of Wildcat Lodge and Memorial the night of the 1996 championship celebration in Lexington. And ever since the COVID season, I wanted John Calipari gone from KY and began having the dream of one of the former players to be able to be the head coach of KY BBALL. That’s one dream I can say that I’ve had in my life that actually came true! If u are anybody who is not a UK fan, I’ll be honest, u can easily make the case that Mark Pope was a bomb hire, purely based on the non-objective point of view of just comparing all the resumes out there and thru the view of someone who is not a UK fan themselves. I hate to admit it, but the "biggest names" in college bball don’t seem to want to come to KY anymore. I lived in a time where KY was the most sought-after job in all of college sports and maybe even a "dream job" for a few of them. Eddie Sutton once said he would crawl to LEX to take the bball job if they offered it to him. IDK how many coaches today out there feel these ways about the UK job anymore. But therein lies the beauty of having Mark Pope, because he DOES feel those ways about KY BBALL, and he is one of our own, he is a part of the BLUE-BLOODS FAMILY—so it really doesn’t get any better than that! From Barnhart’s perspective, lets be real: he was stuck. He always has the knack for revealing to ALL what a buffoon and a**h*le he is. Pope wasn’t his first choice. Why not? Because of what I just laid out. He went after the big names first, and as it turned out, this revealed what a lot of people feel about working for him and what they feel about KY BBALL. It was swing-and-a-miss for him on all those big names. He went to our guy in desperation mode. Keep in mind: Pope could have given him the middle finger on that. Like "oh, so u want me NOW, huh?" Mark Pope saved our face because I’m gonna tell u Mitch’s national reputation is freakin’ LOUSY!! and it ain’t much better in our state either!!! My hope is that some of it had to with just the thought of working for HIM, and that it was less about UK. But I do think the feeling on UK has definitely changed from what it used to be. And that’s why every day we should thank Pope for coming, because he actually reached us, and I don’t think alot of people have realized that. I was convinced that Scott Drew would take the job if ever in the situation that it was open and he was offered–ESPECIALLY because he and Mitch are supposedly close. When he said no, that was a real red flag and a wake-up call to me. That was when I realized, after we got Pope, that we are damn lucky that he accepted and damn lucky to have him! Remember, guys: he took the job first and foremost for the same reason that drives all of us fans every day: HE LOVES UK!!!!! We all need to stop and realize how important that is at this particular moment in time with the way college sports is changing. Again, the national view and feeling on this job is not what it used to be. So to have someone who DOES love us and embraces us, we need to be thankful for that every day. To have one of our own running our bball program right now is a priceless thing for us at this moment in time. We are STILL a Blueblood program in spite of all the changes in college athletics and in the world the last 8-10 yrs. So there’s nothing better right now than to have one of our own in charge–because we know everything he will do will be out of love for our program. We all are able to know FOR SURE that he will want the same things that we want as fans just as badly! And I know that he hasn’t coached a game yet, but that is right around the corner, so we are going to find out soon. But even still, I think the connection that Pope has to UK is exactly what this program needed and exactly what this fanbase needed after the last stretch of the KING KAL empire. This fan base has felt unloved and undesired for a very long time, and it goes back to before COVID too. CAL was never the same after the WIS loss in 2015–that game effectively ended everything CAL had been about at KY up to that point and everything he had accomplished. Something died in CAL after that game, and he was never the same after that, and then the same thing wth COVID–he was never the same guy or same coach starting with the 2020-21 season as he was up to that last game of the season in 2020, at FLA, before COVID shut the world down. And the antics he pulled in the first season were back were inexcusable and indefensible, at least to me, and he lost me right there. He already had started to for those prior few years before that, but 2020-21 was the clincher, and it was all u really needed to know. If he was capable of a 9-16 season at that point, then ANYTHING was possible—and St Peters, Kansas St, and Oakland were the confirmations of all that. Those losses all said to me just one thing: "this is the new CAL, post-COVID, and this is the way it’s gonna be, and if u don’t like it, tough, deal with it, the primary concern is these kids and helping them find their futures, if that means KY suffers their worst tournament losses in history and doesn’t get out of the first weekend in 5 years, and doesn’t win any SEC tournament games for 5 yrs, and is no longer a Blueblood program anymore, then that’s how it will have to be, nothing is going to get in my way of making these kids’ dreams come true!!!!" I know a lot of u will feel I am being harsh, but I can guarantee all of you that that is EXACTLY how that man felt–and for the last 4 years i have sat here and suffered while i watched him make a mockery of this program–and it was along the ride of these 4 yrs, and coming off all his antics during the COVID year, that i began to feel the dream of having a former player come in and try to save us—just because of nothing more than their love for the program and wanting in their own heart to see KY be a success again. And that’s a pretty amazing dream to have come true, because I never for one second believed that would EVER happen at KY—especially not while Barney was still here! So that first week when Pope came in and did his press conference and we were all taking it in and listening to all the talk and the media coverage about it, I really basked in my own euphoria from having had that dream come true as I took everything in that week. Pope was NEVER the one I expected or actually gave much thought to when thinking about my own prospective players taking the job. But I honestly don’t think we could do any better as far as former players who love UK taking this job. I truly believe he has a love for this place that is unmatched by anyone else. And u know, I saw that in 1996 too during the tournament run and the Final 4 and the championship, and then the celebration in LEX while hanging out with him on the street for two hours. This guy absolutely loves KY—and u can bet he will live, breathe, and sleep this program the exact same way we do. IDK, I may love this hire more than anyone else, part of it because of my dream, but the majority of it because of living thru these last 4-5 yrs with CAL and watching what he became, what the program became, and what the fans became over that time period. Its like a gift from GOD: the longtime suffering is rewarded with one of our own true KY BLUE-BLOODS rescuing us. Again, I know there hasn’t been a game played yet—but Pope has done a lot of things already just from April to the beginning of practice to win over the fans and to do little things having to do with honoring the tradition and history of KY and acknowledging what this place is really about that mean so much to the fans, and that were thrown overboard over time by the previous coach in favor of serving his own personal agenda, which had nothing at all to do with KY, and letting it be known that he was KING, and that if u were gonna be on board, u were gonna have to worship him. I do give him credit for one thing: when a good opportunity for him to be able to get out on his own came along, he took it. And that just shows u he knew. He knew everything. The man who "doesn’t pay attention to any of the noise or the haters online" and "doesn’t know what is being said"—–YEA. YEA. These last 4 years, going back to the COVID season, and then the subsequent 3 yrs and the way that they all played out, i have said if this is the way KY BBALL is going to be now, then i would rather have a former player running our show and go 1-29 with him, rather than 21-12 at best with the KING, and a first Rd SEC and NCAA tourney loss every year, and finishing .500 in the SEC standings, and 4-5 losses in Rupp Arena every year. Remember, 1-29 isn’t much different than 9-16—-when u suck, u suck!! LOL and personally, if we have to suck, I would rather suck with Pope than with the KING, because in the end, I know that all of Pope’s work is out of effort FOR THE INTENT OF SUCCESS AND GOOD OF KENTUCKY–NOT NBA DRAFT PICKS–AND OUT OF LOVE AND GRATITUDE FOR AND TO THE BALL PROGRAM AND TO THE UNIVERSITY for making Pope who he has been in the past, as far as a bball career, and who he has been after that, in terms of being a Rhodes Scholar, could have been a doctor, and now a successful coaching career that Rick Pitino had a major hand in developing, and now it has led him back to HIS OLD KY HOME!!! His is honestly a great story—this guy deserves all the success in the world that he can get, and no one will be rooting harder for him at KY than myself, and I just so hope that he really can be successful here. Its going to be alot–sure–but again, who would you rather have right now if u had your choice between the two? And who would u rather have between a former player who GETS what KY BBALL IS–or some other random coach from somewhere, like a Billy Clyde, that ends up in disaster? I honestly believed Gillespie, when he was first hired, was going to be a success because they said he just lived and breathed the sport, that that was all he did, it consumed his life. That’s another thing with Pope–I wouldn’t expect us to have to worry about any scandals or off-the-court problems–this guy is one of the strongest, most secure, most devout, and most committed people that i have seen or known of in a very long time. His energy, positivity, and outlook on life is contagious and, as Pitino said, there’s not going to be anybody who will work harder. Pope’s best qualities I don’t believe will be BAD for this bball program. He will just need some time to adjust, and I hope we can all give it to him. I hope we will all remember that he is one of our own, and that we don’t throw him overboard over a bad loss or something. Guarantee u ain’t gonna hear any excuses, like a couple of other coaches I know. Sorry I brought up bball on a football story—but I only did because today I saw a story that came from the Twitter account of Wesley Woodyard–he sent a post that said he hasn’t forgotten about UK football or BBN, and that his dream is to someday come back home and be the head football coach at UK. It was very unexpected and out of the blue—but it reminded me alot of this Pope situation, and it just made me smile and gave me a great feeling! Wesley Woodyard–this is another example of an ex-Wildcat athlete who is beloved by the fan base, one of the favorites from football over the last 30 yrs I would say, and who, in turn, loves UK and loves BBN, and who, when he played here, just wanted to win for BIG BLUE!!! My Dad had season tickets to football during the Rich Brooks era, so I saw many of those games in person during Woodyard’s career, and we got to meet him several times, and he was one of the nicest, and most humble and gracious to the fans that i have ever seen. I remember him even apologizing to the fans a couple of times after a loss telling us they didn’t play well at all and were going to pick it up going fwd—thats a very rare thing. Course this was 15-20 yrs ago—but even back then, it was pretty rare. Much like Pope, Wes is just a genuine, authentic person, and that’s the type character traits that I’m very thankful we have at the head of our bball program now, and they are also the type character traits that have been lost in todays society. That was just such a breath of fresh air, and such a change from what we have been used to for so many years now, with CAL, and now I’m telling u, the fan vibe on Stoops has pivoted quickly, more so than even I really expected it to. The worst part of it is that it really is CAL PART II on Stoops’ situation—as much as I hate to say it. But this all just got me to thinking about what refreshing breaths of air and just what a change in PEOPLE PERIOD, when u think about ppl like Wesley Woodyard and Mark Pope in comparison to ppl like CAL and Stoops. The CAL train finally wore and grinded people down, and now the Stoops train is doing the same. Fans are just worn down from 12-15 years of the same ol coachspeak, the same excuses, the same worn-out lines, the lies, the fabrications, the phoniness and fakeness—in the long run, the personalities of these two just have not worked or done it for BBN, and u know, Mitch has this same kinda personality when u think abt it. All 3 of them can ramble on forever with all those fancy-sounding words and phrases, and in the end, they say a whole lot of absolutely NOTHING!! People are just tired of that. I think Pope is going to be a refreshing change and is going to win over so many people in the aspect of personality alone–i mean, I think he already has. But more of that will come out and develop once the season gets going. And I also think Kenny Brooks is going to be a huge breath of fresh air in this same aspect as well, and probably already has been. Both bball programs were In need of complete makeovers, and they both got em! As far as football, that story about Woodyard made me start dreaming about having former players guiding both bball and football, and at the same time!!! Come on and send Wesley on over NOW!!! I want people who BLEED BLUE—and ARE BLUE TO THE CORE—like me.😄

8. Stoops grades a fat F when it comes recruiting and Developing quarterbacks !

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