Everyone restarts

[40bill]

Just an admission that my attitude towards UK Football has been more cynical than usual. Listening to coach Gran speak reminds me that every season is new. New players, New systems, fresh chances. I don't know if he and coach Hinshaw are a big part of the answer I as a fan have been looking for, but some of the things he says certainly resonate....a good facility, a ride on scholarship at a major university, a coach that wants you to reach whatever potential you have....why not put away the clutter...phones, Ipads, hangers on....whatever...and take the opportunity to reach that potential?
Everybody on the team gets a fresh start .... maybe call it a mulligan.
I guess the only fair thing I can do is give the program the same.

I'm actually looking forward to see what this rearranged staff can get done the next couple of years.

[Catsrock]

I--like most of us--get pretty down on the program when a season goes to crap. I think we all hoped for more tangible results from the Stoops era by now. However each year there seem to be just enough changes in the offseason to renew my excitement by the next fall.

On that note--if the commitments sign on on NSD--along with a new approach on offense. More than anything these improved recruiting classes have been on campus long enough that they'll be the ones we're leaning on. So who knows...maybe we turn a corner this next season.

Problem with this is THIS past year was the one with the favorable schedule. Next year's' will be brutal! I feel with 40 bowl games (80 teams!) we've got to make a bowl game in year 4 of the regime...but that could be really tough even if we are significantly better.

I guess I'll just drink me some Gran cool-aid and hope because there ain't no jumpin ship for real fans. I like what he has to say anyway.

[Matt Dillon]

I agree 100% with both of you all. I've been a faithful supporter of the Cats since 1954 and I told my wife, after the U of L game last season, that I didn't know if I could take any more or not. I didn't know if I would watch a single minute this coming season. Now, with coaches Gran and Hinshaw on board, I'm looking forward to this coming season.

[SBCatMan]

I agree with the spirit of this thread. For the first time in my Life as a cat fan -- 18 years or so -- I was totally and utterly discouraged after last season. But the new coaches, the trio of instate studs and the JUCO signings have me pretty much re-energized. There is just one narrative that we have been telling ourselves that i would like to slow down, if not end. Was this year's schedule relatively easy? Yes. Is next year's schedule more difficult? Yes. But, I have been maintaining that it is not the juggernaut we are making it out to be. Yeah, we're probably not going to beat Alabama in Tuscaloosa. And, UT and UofL are both on the road, but we lost to them anyway. USC gets a new coach -- and not a very good one at that, and we get them at home. UGA and Mizzoo will both have new coaches. And, we get UGA in Lexington. Florida is losing a TON to early NFL entries and their QB that beat us is not coming back. We get Vandy and MSU at home, and MSU will not have Prescott. The one game that, IMO, is significantly more difficult and will hold the key to the entire season is the opener against Southern Miss. Win that and our other two cupcakes and I think we find enough wins to go bowling.

[CATHYnKY]

I have had 4 season tickets since the fall of 1969. It is expensive and I don't pay KFund. Since I retired, my income will be cut drastically this summer. I said the tix would be one of the last things I would give up if my budget got tight. My thinking is one more season of 4. If things don't look up this fall, that number will get cut to 2. Some games they don't all get used anyway.

[catfan]

I still get boiling mad, first down on Vandy one yard line and then call 4 straight duff-as plays.

[teamchemistry15]

I have been following UK football about 15 years but have never been nearly as into football as basketball. That being said, I see the talent on the team, the potential coming in, and the passion and experience our staff has. I really think we get to a bowl this year and see big improvements across the board. I intend on making this my first year of many being a season ticket holder.

[Lighthouse]

This a great and needed thread. I have been a UK Football and Basketball as long as I can remember. I can remember listening to games on the radio when I was 6 maybe 7, that would be 1948 or 49. So I can take a loss. The excitement around this team since CS got here is still there for me, so I'm excited about this upcoming season. After all, I'm the guy that cried like a baby the first time I saw a UK football game live, when the band marched down the field playing the "fight song."

[Matt Dillon]

Your story, and countless others like it, is one of the things that make college fb so great, Lighthouse.

[Catsrock]

I agree with the spirit of this thread. For the first time in my Life as a cat fan -- 18 years or so -- I was totally and utterly discouraged after last season. But the new coaches, the trio of instate studs and the JUCO signings have me pretty much re-energized. There is just one narrative that we have been telling ourselves that i would like to slow down, if not end. Was this year's schedule relatively easy? Yes. Is next year's schedule more difficult? Yes. But, I have been maintaining that it is not the juggernaut we are making it out to be. Yeah, we're probably not going to beat Alabama in Tuscaloosa. And, UT and UofL are both on the road, but we lost to them anyway. USC gets a new coach -- and not a very good one at that, and we get them at home. UGA and Mizzoo will both have new coaches. And, we get UGA in Lexington. Florida is losing a TON to early NFL entries and their QB that beat us is not coming back. We get Vandy and MSU at home, and MSU will not have Prescott. The one game that, IMO, is significantly more difficult and will hold the key to the entire season is the opener against Southern Miss. Win that and our other two cupcakes and I think we find enough wins to go bowling.

I see your points about the schedule and totally hope you are right. However I just can't see the SEC East ever being as weak as it was this past season again. I feel UT and Florida are trending back upward. Some uncertainty about all the new coaches. UL will still have Lamar Jackson with another yr of experience and he destroyed us last year about like Dak Prescott did. I feel its going to be pretty darn tough. And we BARELY beat EKU and UL Monroe. Is going to take a SIGNIFICANT improvement on the field, but like we agreed--we may be ready for that improvement. Don't just need improved offense--there HAS to be a way to better contain mobile QB's. I'd hate to be stuck on 5 wins again going to Papa John's stadium.

As for Lighthouse above--I remember that feeling of going to your first live game. Mine was in the early days of Jerry Claiborne's tenure. Seems like we always had a chance to win in those days due to stout run defense but usually came up just short in the end against the SEC teams. Rarely lost to the "cupcakes" though.

Hope I never forget the sound of Cawood calling the I formation while I stripped tobacco on Saturdays.

[Lighthouse]

I see your points about the schedule and totally hope you are right. However I just can't see the SEC East ever being as weak as it was this past season again. I feel UT and Florida are trending back upward. Some uncertainty about all the new coaches. UL will still have Lamar Jackson with another yr of experience and he destroyed us last year about like Dak Prescott did. I feel its going to be pretty darn tough. And we BARELY beat EKU and UL Monroe. Is going to take a SIGNIFICANT improvement on the field, but like we agreed--we may be ready for that improvement. Don't just need improved offense--there HAS to be a way to better contain mobile QB's. I'd hate to be stuck on 5 wins again going to Papa John's stadium.

As for Lighthouse above--I remember that feeling of going to your first live game. Mine was in the early days of Jerry Claiborne's tenure. Seems like we always had a chance to win in those days due to stout run defense but usually came up just short in the end against the SEC teams. Rarely lost to the "cupcakes" though.

Hope I never forget the sound of Cawood calling the I formation while I stripped tobacco on Saturdays.

Been there and done that many Saturdays. Not sure the hands were tied straight when we made a big play.

[Blue Heaven]

I can't shake the fact that we will be working with our 3rd OC in 4 years. That says PANIC to me. You got to have consistency over the long haul to see marked improvement. I feel like this season will be like the last 3 but with a little more "it's about time" to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I don't think Barker is gonna start this year because Hinshaw has the guy to run Grans offense. I say all this, but I also feel that if we could've just CAUGHT the ball with regularity that we would have went to at least 1 bowl by now.

[Matt Dillon]

One thing, more than anything else, that gives me hope is I really believe we'll see a much improved off. this coming season. Even though I'd like to see a lot of improvement out of the def. as well, there just may be enough improvement on the off. side to get us that sixth win we so badly need. I think the reason we're seeing the third OC in four years is because there seemed to be some sort of disconnect between coach Stoops and his offensive coordinators. Plus I never thought Dawson was a good hire to begin with. I honestly believe coach Stoops has the OC he wants now and that he'll be less hands on with the off. Then again, perhaps I'm just an eternal optimist.

[SBCatMan]

Lighthouse, I think you are correct -- I think it will be a LONG time before we ever see the SEC East as weak as it was in 2015. And, I do not mean to suggest in any way that the 2016 schedule will not be difficult -- it will. I just do not think it is as unmanageable as many imply.

[40bill]

I was pretty bothered by the third OC situation as well....but I keep reminding myself that Neal Brown was actually late coming to UK because he was already interviewing for a head coach slot. Coach Dawson was a head scratcher, and I don't know if we ever will find out why that didn't work. I've read the same things as everyone else about Coach Stoops messing the offense up...but I really don't know. I can say I was just as lost as anyone with play selection AND execution.....how do you get first and goal three times at Vandy and come up as we did? It seems like the law of averages would have been on our side at least one time out of nine attempts.

I was also befuddled by what SEEMED to be a fold the tents attitude....how much because of coaching???? Not really a clue.

Anyway, Brown took a promotion, Dawson just didn't click for one reason or another.
Experience is now on the sideline and in the booth. I really believe it will make a difference.