Mark Stoops hopes UK fans will create another incredible atmosphere Saturday night against Tennessee. (Vicky Graff Photo)
Maybe Mark Stoops says he doesn’t listen to outside noise but the Kentucky coach certainly knows that Big Blue Nation is not happy with UK’s 2-4 mark and 6-12 mark in the last 1 1/2 seasons.
Kentucky is 1-11 in Southeastern Conference play the last two seasons and has not scored more than two offensive touchdowns in any SEC game the last two seasons going into Saturday night’s home game with Tennessee.
Stoops acknowledged on his weekly radio show Monday that he knows how fans feel about him — something he had never really admitted during his 13-year tenure here when fans were upset — but asked for fans to continue to support his players.
“There’s always the frustration piece in it for me. I feel for our players, first and foremost. Then I care for the whole state, our fans and the people,” Stoops said on his weekly radio show. “I said it postgame (after the overtime loss to Texas), but I’ll say it again: the atmosphere was fantastic.
“I understand how people may feel about me. That’s understandable and that’s warranted. I get it, but our players deserve that kind of atmosphere. And I appreciate it. They appreciate it, and they work very hard. So I really appreciate them.”
So what was his message to his team after another SEC loss to Texas in a game that Kentucky dominated statistically?
“It felt like we were so close. I felt for our team because I know what they’ve invested, so I understand they’re hurt right after the game and emotions were high because they invested a lot,”the UK coach said on the SEC teleconference Wednesday. “They worked extremely hard and were trying to improve in a lot of areas.
“They played, they gave it a relentless effort and as always, you never know what one, two, three, four plays in a game can change the outcome. It’s not always the most obvious (one). And like I said, we acknowledge the feelings, it hurts, but we can’t live there. We’ve got to look at and focus on the things that we did to put ourselves in that position, and we have to continue to fight because that’s the only way you’re going to get out of this, is fight your way out.
“I really appreciate our team and their mentality. And they bounced back this week so far and have had a great start to the week, so hopefully we’ll continue that.”
6 Responses
"Frustration" with him? It seems much more serious than that to me.
It's easy for a guy making almost a million dollars a game to say he understands. It's not easy for the people paying that salary to understand the lack of return for their money.
From the pictures I've seen from Saturday night, I didn't see any frustration from the fans.
UK football fans are like current day Horse Racing fans. All they want to do is dress up, socialize, and get drunk.
They wouldn't know coaching malpractice if it took their drink away from them.
The players understand they have to work hard and they also understand they are in a catch22. If they work hard and get on the field, there will be a bigger payday next year when they transfer. They also understand if they get the chance to transfer, wherever they get interest from another school, that coach will know they overcame their biggest obstacle; the UK coaching staff but still gave all they had.
If the players quit, it will be harder to increase their payday if they can even find enough interest to transfer.
Interesting & accurate reasoning why the players don’t quit working hard.
They have in North Carolina.