Maybe Barnhart will give Stoops another raise and contract extension

[Old School]

And Stoops would have not been high on the list why? Because 4 years later we can see that he hasn't won at a school with very little football tradition playing in the best conference in the country? That's hindsight

By the way I'm not defending Barnhart. Phillips and Gillispie were obviously bad moves. But I'm not sold on Stoops being a bad hire. Bad results yes, bad hire no.

Looking at the list you gave I can imagine maybe 25% of those ever being interested in the job in the first place. And who knows even if one of them took the job would the results be much better?

With some of the names mentioned ie- Dykes, Kelly. Do you really think if they would have been hired here they would be having the same success? You can't base everything on what has happened since. So many other factors besides just record.

Point is that there is always a gamble involved. Win some lose some. Again hindsight. The guys doing the hiring don't get to see the future before they make a hire.

But if you do see into the future would you be interested in playing the stock market with me?

I was not high or low on the guy at the time because I'm not someone who keeps track of college coaches enough to know either way. UK pays someone pretty well to do that, even though he's terrible at it.

Which 75% of the list are you convinced would not have been interested in the Kentucky job at the time?

Are there any of them you think would've been worse than Stoops (<.333 winning percentage) has been?

I'll be glad to do the stock market with you. Pay me what Barnhart makes and I'll manage your money for you.

[Old School]

Yeah, you can bash Barnhart for a lot of things, but IMO hiring Stoops isn't one of them.

At what point does that change?

Can you bash Newton for hiring Bill Curry?

These guys are paid huge amounts to make good decisions. They deserve a mountain of criticism if they don't, especially when they repeatedly fail to make good judgments and decisions.

[Old School]

You have no realism when it comes to Kentucky football.

Tell us how it is, and why criticism isn't warranted right now. Thanks in advance.

[Old School]

Agreed that he has to be judged on everything. And there have undoubtedly been plenty of missteps. I imagine Rich Brooks played a big part in the Joker fiasco. And in the case of Gillispie he was the flavor of the week. That was a case of putting way too much stock in a couple of good years at A&M. But I thought, and still do think that the Stoops hire was really solid. Hasn't worked out well of course but I still have no problem with that one. I just really have a hard time seeing any coach coming here and being a consistent winner.

There are a ton of schools that came from situations as bad or worse than Kentucky's, and came out of it doing pretty well in football.

Northwestern was the worst of the worst for a long, long time. Since, they've been to the Rose Bowl. They hit the top 10 last year, and won 10 games.

Baylor was terrible for years and years.

Vanderbilt has gone from futility to a few good seasons here and there. They had a couple of 9 win seasons recently.

Florida State, once upon a time, was no good.

Florida was a mediocre program for many years.

South Carolina had a good run after years and years without success.

Indiana was worse off than Kentucky a while back, for quite a long time. They're doing OK these days.

Hapless Kansas made a BCS bowl a while back.

Heck, even Louisville.

Kentucky doesn't because of the ineptitude of those in charge. It's that simple. No Kentucky coach or AD has to overcome more than was the case at Northwestern, Kansas, Baylor, Indiana etc. at the time.

[catfaninin]

I was not high or low on the guy at the time because I'm not someone who keeps track of college coaches enough to know either way. UK pays someone pretty well to do that, even though he's terrible at it.

Which 75% of the list are you convinced would not have been interested in the Kentucky job at the time?

Are there any of them you think would've been worse than Stoops (<.333 winning percentage) has been?

I'll be glad to do the stock market with you. Pay me what Barnhart makes and I'll manage your money for you.

I'm not going to go through a list of 30 coaches and speculate on which would have taken the job nor how they would have done at it. I suppose given the right amount of $$$$ a lot of them would have been interested. Other than that why would they consider it? The football coach at UK is not exactly a glorious job that is sought after by the masses. And likely never will be. I don't know how many would have done worse or better that Stoops. If I were to take a guess I would say most would have produced similar results. To think many of those guys is going to come here, play in the league they do and win 8 or 9 games a year is just fantasy.

[Westtncat]

I say we raise a Billion dollars and go after Saban.

[catfaninin]

There are a ton of schools that came from situations as bad or worse than Kentucky's, and came out of it doing pretty well in football.

Northwestern was the worst of the worst for a long, long time. Since, they've been to the Rose Bowl. They hit the top 10 last year, and won 10 games.

Baylor was terrible for years and years.

Vanderbilt has gone from futility to a few good seasons here and there. They had a couple of 9 win seasons recently.

Florida State, once upon a time, was no good.

Florida was a mediocre program for many years.

South Carolina had a good run after years and years without success.

Indiana was worse off than Kentucky a while back, for quite a long time. They're doing OK these days.

Hapless Kansas made a BCS bowl a while back.

Heck, even Louisville.

Kentucky doesn't because of the ineptitude of those in charge. It's that simple. No Kentucky coach or AD has to overcome more than was the case at Northwestern, Kansas, Baylor, Indiana etc. at the time.

There are 128 D-1 football schools I believe. Of course there are going to be some that turn things around. There are also those that go the other direction. I don't see Steve Spurrier or Bobby Bowden coming here so that knocks a few off your list. Baylor has sold there soul to win games. Kansas was as much of a fluke as has ever been. Unless you can convince Bama, Ga, LSU and the rest of the SEC to take pity on UK I just don't see the future for a football coach here being very bright.

[teamchemistry15]

I say we raise a Billion dollars and go after Saban.

I'm not quite sure that would do it.

[Blue Heaven]

What about Houston's Tom Hermann?

[teamchemistry15]

What about Houston's Tom Hermann?

That's a tough one to say. I think an opportunity with a somewhat talented roster in the SEC might be attractive, but he's got a top ten team and they are fairly young if I'm not mistaken. Might be a tough situation to walk away from.

[teamchemistry15]

I wish, if Stoops in fact gets fired, Barnhart would send a letter to every head coach in the country that has a winning program/history/track record/whatever you want to call it. In the letter he simply asks "How much would it take for you to come coach UK?" Everyone has a price. At that point, sort out the letters and conduct interviews.

[Westtncat]

I wish, if Stoops in fact gets fired, Barnhart would send a letter to every head coach in the country that has a winning program/history/track record/whatever you want to call it. In the letter he simply asks "How much would it take for you to come coach UK?" Everyone has a price. At that point, sort out the letters and conduct interviews.

I actually like that idea

[surveyor]

That's a tough one to say. I think an opportunity with a somewhat talented roster in the SEC might be attractive, but he's got a top ten team and they are fairly young if I'm not mistaken. Might be a tough situation to walk away from.

If Houston performs well enough to make the playoffs, but is left out Hermann will bolt for a power 5 conference unless the Big 12 invites them into the fold.

I don't believe he would take a chance on Kentucky. Someone mentioned elsewhere hereon that Cincinnati was able to achieve a level of success despite having gone through a lot of coaches.

The difference is, those coaches left for better jobs. At UK, they've either resigned or got fired. UK has the stigma of being a career killer. Besides Bryant, how many coaches left UK and improved their position?

[teamchemistry15]

If Houston performs well enough to make the playoffs, but is left out Hermann will bolt for a power 5 conference unless the Big 12 invites them into the fold.

I don't believe he would take a chance on Kentucky. Someone mentioned elsewhere hereon that Cincinnati was able to achieve a level of success despite having gone through a lot of coaches.

The difference is, those coaches left for better jobs. At UK, they've either resigned or got fired. UK has the stigma of being a career killer. Besides Bryant, how many coaches left UK and improved their position?

Brooks retired.

[surveyor]

Brooks retired.

Retired-resigned. Semantics. Left on his own accord. No coach has left for another job and succeeded.