Eddie Gran – A good guy gone too soon

[Matt Dillon]

It’s a good thing Kentucky athletics director Mitch Barnhart doesn’t subscribe to the same hiring and firing philosophy as Mark Stoops. If he did Stoops would have been fired twice already. Think about it. Stoops was hired in 2013 to turn around a Kentucky Football program that had a little success under Rich Brooks but had dropped right back down to the bottom of the SEC after Joker Phillips took over the reins.

After a few years of really bad football under Phillips and a 40-0 beatdown by Vanderbilt, Barnhart decided to pull the plug and fire Phillips. He brought in a coach in Stoops who had no head coaching experience at the time.

The first couple of seasons were rough. With the promise of a wide open offense and physical, hard hitting defense fans had high expectations. What they received was a “bill of goods.”

Stoops put together two wins that first season. One was against a Mid-America Conference team, Miami of Ohio, and the other was against an FCS school — Alabama State.

Not exactly what everyone was hoping for when one of the Stoops brothers walked in the door but Barnhart had patience. He was invested in the hire and wanted it to be successful.

In years two and three with Neal Brown finishing out as the offensive coordinator — before taking the Troy head coaching job — and trying to run what appeared to be a watered down version of the Air Raid offense and Shannon Dawson — a Hal Mumme disciple — coming in as a one year offensive coordinator with handcuffs on, the results didn’t greatly improve.

Sure UK won a few more games but nothing significant. They had done no better than 2-6 in the SEC after three years of Stoops at the helm. Stoops had been through two offensive coordinators, a defensive coordinator and as a defensive minded coach his teams were giving up to SEC teams, on average over that three year span, 32 points per game. No one except Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin wins games in the SEC giving up 32 points per game and he doesn’t win that many.

At that point, after three years of losing performances with a record of 12-24 no one would have blamed Mitch Barnhart for “relieving Mark Stoops of his duties” as was so aptly put for Eddie Gran and Darin Hinshaw. But Barnhart didn’t do it. He believed in Stoops and gave him an opportunity to dig in and make some changes. Stoops did that. He brought in Eddie Gran and turned the offense over to him. Stoops focused on improving his leaky defense. The rest they say is history.

Now five years later when Mark Stoops has the opportunity to believe in his Coordinator and give him time to fix the problems, he doesn’t. He sweeps him out like yesterday’s trash.

Eddie Gran – A good guy gone too soon | Your Sports Edge

[Matt Dillon]

I guess how one feels about this article depends on whether or not you were in favoring of coach Gran being shown the door. I feel the writer makes a lot of valid points.

[Spiritof96]

I don't think Gran HAD to be fired, but I think the article goes to far.

Had Austin McGuinness missed that kick in the Miss St game, Stoops would have been fired. "Belief" or "trust" in Stoops had very little to do with it. (A kick I didn't see in person because the Mrs. decided at halftime that she thinks she left the oven on... I digress)

A coach either does enough to justify another season or they don't. Had that kick missed, I don't think we beat UL that year either and Stoops would have been gone.

[Dwight Schrute]

I think if Stoops believes he has to revamp his offense and Eddie Gran just isn't the guy to do it, then the firing was justified.

FWIW I do think the offense needs to be revamped - I hope it really is the case that he believes Gran isn't the one to do it and he's not just listening to fan pressure.I do not know what the dynamic behind the scenes was like so I won't register an opinion on that front.

[fastkat]

Good article. I think Gran got a bum deal. With all the off field distractions this year He was behind the 8ball from the first day of practice. On the Leach report Van Hiles spoke on how the murder of Trent DiGuiro affected the 94 team. I don't think this team had good on field leadership, no one like a Kash Daniel or Jordan Jones that would make a lot of noise for the players to rally around. And how many games this year did our opponent come off a bye week, either scheduled or due to Covid? At least three maybe four and all were losses.

Everyone seems to have forgotten how wide open we were in the first half of the So. Miss. game then Drew Barker got hurt. He's taken us to FOUR bowl games For years people complained that previous coaches couldn't/wouldn't adapt to the players that we had. Gran has done that. People complained that Terry Wilson was a poor passer yet they wanted him to throw more. Remember the first series at Missouri? Three passes and a three and out. Our identity is running the ball. We've been able to run even when everyone knew we were going to run. My biggest complaint this year was that Rodriguez didn't get enough carries.

Hopefully Gran will recover from the bus that ran over him.

[SBCatMan]

There are two different issues here, and the author confuses them badly for the sake of his argument.

First, the Eddie Gran question. Maybe he did not have to be fired. Maybe he did. I think Gran did a LOT of good here, but he had no concept of a passing game. I have advocated elsewhere that they could have kept Gran and replaced Hinshaw with a passing game coordinator. I guess time will tell.

The second point is that Stoops got a free pass and Gran did not. Hogwash! No one expected CMS to win in those first two years. The cupboard was truly bare. And, while Stoops was not YET producing wins, he and Vince M were restocking that cupboard like never before. It was only a matter of time, and Mitch could see that. Gran, OTOH, like him or not, had 5 YEARS.

[Spiritof96]

I think if Stoops believes he has to revamp his offense and Eddie Gran just isn't the guy to do it, then the firing was justified.

FWIW I do think the offense needs to be revamped - I hope it really is the case that he believes Gran isn't the one to do it and he's not just listening to fan pressure.I do not know what the dynamic behind the scenes was like so I won't register an opinion on that front.

This is basically my view.

[teamchemistry15]

Gran wouldn't still have been here had it not been for Snell, IMO. Hinshaw should've been gone a few years ago, as well.

Gran bought time with Snell turning into what he was and riding that defense and then bought an extra year with Bowden being the winner he was. He wasn't calling plays or running an offense people couldn't stop. He was using chess pieces of an offensive line and competitor in Bowden we haven't seen since Cobb. When you hear us talk about Snell and Bowden what do we all say? Everyone in the stadium knows where the ball is going and it can't be stopped. That's no because of the OC.

[Lighthouse]

I don't know whether Gran should have been fired or not. I thought he did a lot of good things but often questioned his play calling. I went into this season thinking we had a decent receiving group, but it sure didn't play out that way. Several of us complained about the lack of use of our TE's and when they did go to them, we were right. I put that blame directly on CS, because I believe Gran would have used them more.

I just hope we get a strong OC who is given the reins to run the offense his way.

[teamchemistry15]

I don't know whether Gran should have been fired or not. I thought he did a lot of good things but often questioned his play calling. I went into this season thinking we had a decent receiving group, but it sure didn't play out that way. Several of us complained about the lack of use of our TE's and when they did go to them, we were right. I put that blame directly on CS, because I believe Gran would have used them more.

I just hope we get a strong OC who is given the reins to run the offense his way.

The thing that did it for me is the consistent play calling that put up short of the sticks on third downs. Third and seven? He would call a six yard curl and the receiver would have to come back a yard or two to the ball. I understand Stoops is the head coach and can make certain calls to change things during the week, but he's not calling the plays in game. In order to get first downs you have to call plays on third down that get the receivers past the sticks. He consistently put them in a position of having to break two tackles to get there.

[40bill]

Whether letting Gran go was the right decision depends on what we see in offense next season. If a quick shot at open it up then go back to ground and pound we will pretty well say Gran got a bums rush. A little success, some more exciting ball, and we will be a bit happier.

Unless we lose.

[KCKUKFan]

Whether or not you believe Gran got a bum rap depends on how much control you believe he had on the playcalling.

I dont believe he had a whole lot, so I would argue that he was a scapegoat for our head coach's own shortcomings.

[teamchemistry15]

Whether or not you believe Gran got a bum rap depends on how much control you believe he had on the playcalling.

I dont believe he had a whole lot, so I would argue that he was a scapegoat for our head coach's own shortcomings.

Play calling or scheme? I would agree Stoops wanted a certain scheme or style from him but I don't think he had much, if all, input on the calls during a game.

[Jload]

One of the worst passing offenses in D1 in an era when successful programs have robust passing games did not bode well for future. The fact is he never had an effective passing game while at UK. Stoops survival here is contingent on making progress in the future. IMO he had little choice but make a change. There has been much debate that our vanilla unimaginative play calling was not Grans fault but that of our head coach, I can’t speak to that but the future should answer that question if he hires a competent replacement.

[KCKUKFan]

Play calling or scheme? I would agree Stoops wanted a certain scheme or style from him but I don't think he had much, if all, input on the calls during a game.

Scheme. Thanks for correcting my brainfart.