How did we get here as a program?

[Jaxcat]

In just a few very short years we've:
1. Gone from mid-SEC, hovering around .500 in the conference and a tough out for many teams to dead last with hardly a heartbeat left.
2. Owning UofL to getting our butts handed to us last year and, based on what I've seen this year, will again be manhandled later this season.
3. A physical, bruising OL and hard-hitting defense to impotent offense and a Dairy Queen softie of a defense that allows multiple completions 6-8 yards in front of them.
4. A staff that specialized in developing players to outperform their HS star rating to 'improving' our recruiting ratings yet players seem to plateau as soon as they arrive.
5. A team that was great in the 'middle 8' and one score games to giving up points just before half regularly and, many times, first drive of the 2nd half and not being able to pick up critical first downs late in the game and being forced to rely on a less-than-ideal defense.

This all happened in just the past 2-3 years. I really thought Stoops had gotten the program to the level where we weren't going to sink back into the abyss. It's trending that way now and whatever happens with him and the rest of the staff, I expect wholesale transfers and the talent level to plummet even more after this season.

[jayintoledo]

One Word...
Complacency!!!!!!

[Jaxcat]

You may be right. I also wonder if Stoops started listening to the wrong staff personnel on some critical issues and it turned out to be the wrong advice. For instance, did Morrow misjudge some players he was recruiting and they turned out to be busts while other staff members were high on other players that turned out to be really good? Did Stoops listen to fans, media, etc. and change his offensive philosophy to a pro style, which we didn't/doesn't fit our personnel and our ability to recruit?

Certainly, the transfer portal and NIL have changed the landscape dramatically. But, overall, we're probably a net positive when comparing those that transferred out vs transferred in. NIL has adversely affected our recruiting, though.

Stoops continues to preach 'gotta put in the work', 'we'll just go back to work', 'the team is working hard', etc. but the results don't reflect that there is a lot of work being done. Especially when you see the same dumb mental errors from both players and coaches time and time again.

Maybe complacency is the correct answer. He just believed he had momentum that was self-sustaining. Turns out he was wrong. Catastrophically wrong, in my estimation.

[Pete Hogwallop]

One Word...
Complacency!!!!!!

This is my answer exactly.

[Helix]

In roughly 36 months: a rapidly changing player payment landscape that may have lessened -- or so it seemed -- the need to identify and develop talent, which had been a strong suit of the staff, Stoops' off-field business interests, a swing and a miss on succession of offensive coordinators since Gran (Cohen was obviously a talent, but had his sights set on the NFL, and rightly so given said talent), and yes, a complacency that comes from a financial wealth he could have never imagined.

[Matt Dillon]

For me, the downward spiral seemed to begin with coach Schlarman's death. Also, I believe Stoops felt like, and still may feel this way, that he had accomplished all he could at UK and wanted to move on to a potential NC contender (hence the A&M thing). When that didn't pan out, he seemed to lose the fire in his belly.

[Helix]

For me, the downward spiral seemed to begin with coach Schlarman's death. Also, I believe Stoops felt like, and still may feel this way, that he had accomplished all he could at UK and wanted to move on to a potential NC contender (hence the A&M thing). When that didn't pan out, he seemed to lose the fire in his belly.

Schlarman was the heart and soul of a team that embodied grit.

[Jload]

How are we here.
1. Mitch Barnhart I'll equipped philosophically to deal with and lead us into NIL Era.
2. Barnhart idiotic Stoops contract removed all accountability by our head coach.
3. Poor coaching hires, especially the revolving door O Coordinator position.
4.For whatever reason Stoops no longer wants to be here.
5. Significant improvement in all SEC opponents
6. Lack of a decent line or QB in a league where both are essential.

[CrimsonCats]

I would point to three major issues.

1. We lost multiple impactful assistants between Sumrall and Clinkscale taking bigger jobs and Schlarman’s untimely passing, and didn’t manage to replace any of them with comparable talent.

2. Tennessee, Missouri, and South Carolina were annual games for us and were all struggling during the peak of the Stoops era. They’ve all rebounded to varying degrees since then, and the SEC added a couple of traditional football powers to mix at the same time, so fewer games where we have an advantage on the schedule.

3. Stoops’s philosophy hasn’t evolved with the game. It’s increasingly hard to win week in and week out at the major conference level on the running game and defense alone, but he still hasn’t shown any real inclination to try anything else. For that matter, despite his reliance on defense in that formula, he hasn’t even really adapted his defensive strategies to combat the greatly increased efficiency in the short-medium passing game we’ve seen over the past several years. We give up so many of those 6-8 yard catches that move the chains because we’re playing huge cushions to prevent home run plays almost all the time, even when it makes no sense situationally.

Add all that together and we’ve ended up back in the basement.

[South jones]

With the exception of a few years here and there, it's been 75 years of losing football. Poor coaching, poor talent and everything thats been mentioned in this thread.
when bear bryant left, rupp turned UK into a basketball school and was continued under cliff Hagan as AD.
compare the basketball program today with the football program. Things have not changed
Jmo

[Davidmack]

He got fat and lazy with the big pay raises and contract extensions. It went to his head.

[Jaxcat]

A lot of good and accurate answers. Complacency, poor asst hires, Barnhart's shortcomings, failure to adapt our schemes, etc. - all true.

A complete lack of identity on offense is also a growing problem. We keep searching for the OC who can get middling SEC talent to be effective and efficient running a pro style offense against superior talent. That has not worked out well at all. Just look at IU and Vanderbilt and the schemes they run with a lot of success. They do NOT run a pro scheme but a scheme that is difficult to prepare for and one that doesn't require great talent to work. Plus, their coaching staffs >>> UK's across the board.

[blueheretic]

It's probably as simple as Stoops stayed too long.

[largebluej]

For me, the downward spiral seemed to begin with coach Schlarman's death. Also, I believe Stoops felt like, and still may feel this way, that he had accomplished all he could at UK and wanted to move on to a potential NC contender (hence the A&M thing). When that didn't pan out, he seemed to lose the fire in his belly.

Agree wholeheartedly on both counts