Move on

[Beatle Bum]

Some folks, including the OP, need to do a comparison of how other fans handle coaching changes. Hanging onto the PTSD of former mid to terrible coaches is part of the DNA of any social organization, be it a church, team, or company. Stories will be told. Comparisons will be made.

Learn to deal with what comes with being a fan.

We won't let go of the past, and that's part of the beauty of it all.

The fact that some of you don't get that is very telling.

Don’t tell people “how to fan.” It causes some posters’ hair to catch fire.

 

[PhattyJ]

9 win seasons plus a bowl win

10 wins now is playoff bound so let’s not pretend stoops would’ve had that if only times were different.

We got embarrassed a lot under stoops. But how many /comments are there about cal- who actually won hardware and didn’t stick us with the buyout by leaving for elsewhere?

 

[bleedsblue5]

Stoops got a bit hard headed in the end, but he will always live on in my mind.
10 Win season (might have been a playoff team in the new era), broke streaks against Florida, TN and more.

He just lost his mojo in the end, divorce maybe? Either way he overstayed a bit with no energy, we needed a change.

But I loved motivated Mark Stoops.

 

[Bowfreak.]

Sorry....it comes with the territory when you get paid millions of dollars to coach a sport. I don't feel sorry for Mark Stoops. He is laughing all the way to the bank. If you get fired or leave for another job you have to deal with it. The only way that coaches get protected from the blast is when they retire and ride off into the sunset.

 

[BigBluefoot]

Start a new account to write a novel of propaganda for a former coach. I don't think we are the ones needing to "move on."

 

[Omega_X]

Everyone say hi to Mark. Shouldn’t you be preparing for your game in Knoxville Saturday?

Stoops won’t be let off the hook by most fans until the program is good again and totally recovered from his last 5 years of letting it spiral. They also shouldn’t let him off the hook until the year he stops getting paid by UK at the earliest.

He did some great things here by our standards, no doubt. But his last 5 years really took a major toll on his numbers here. THIRTY games under .500 in conference play at 38-68. Overall record of 82-80 and a bowl record of 4-4. If anyone ever suggests a statue for him they need to be slapped before they can finish the sentence. We’d be a laughing stock building a statue for a coach who went .500 overall. Like I said, those last 5 years absolutely crushed his legacy and how he will be remembered here. Much like how Cal’s last 5-7 years killed how he will be remembered here.

 

[Beatle Bum]

There is no doubt that some fans will claw and fight for their perceived right to be emotional infants.

 

[seccats04]

I think we found Rembrandt.

 

[Snarks]

I’ll stand by my thoughts he was the most overpaid coach of all time. He got paid nearly $100mil from UK to be a middle of the road SEC coach.

 

[Wayne Dougan]

In my opinion Stoops was cooking from 2018-2021...

... then Levis got hurt and 2022 started to be a bust...

... and then he expected to get better offers and didn't...

... and then mailed it in.

I think the A&M thing really hurt him. And rightfully so on both sides of it. Imagine getting an offer for a big job and the boosters basically revolting over it? And then trying to tuck your tail between your legs and go back to your old job?

 

[notFromhere]

Why so many post tearing down Stoops to build up Stein?

I think some Kentucky fans need a little reminder about where this program was when Mark Stoops took over.
It’s pretty amazing watching some of the same people who spent years begging for Kentucky football to become relevant now act like Stoops was some kind of disaster.

Apparently, we’ve reached the point where two 10-win seasons at Kentucky aren't impressive anymore. Must be nice to have such short memories.
When Stoops took over, Kentucky football wasn't exactly a sleeping giant waiting for the right coach to wake it up. It was a historically struggling program that had spent years getting beat up in the SEC and struggling to find any kind of sustained success.

Stoops took over that program and went to work.
He recruited. He developed players. He changed expectations. He made Kentucky competitive in a conference where Kentucky had routinely been an afterthought.
And he did something Kentucky fans had been waiting 31 years to see — he finally beat Florida.
That win wasn't just another game. It ended one of the most embarrassing streaks in Kentucky football history and gave an entire generation of Kentucky fans a memory they never thought they would get to experience.

Then he did it again.
And again.
Suddenly, Kentucky wasn't just showing up against Florida hoping to keep the score respectable. We were walking into those games believing we could actually win.
That's what changed under Stoops.
He gave us ranked wins, bowl victories, NFL players and two 10-win seasons. He took a program that had spent years near the bottom of the SEC and built it into one that could legitimately compete.

Was everything perfect? Absolutely not.
Did Stoops make mistakes? Of course.
Were there frustrating losses, disappointing seasons and decisions that drove every Kentucky fan crazy? You bet.
But apparently we're now supposed to pretend none of the good stuff happened because the ending wasn't exactly how everyone wanted it.
That's some impressive revisionist history.
You don't get to move the goalposts after the fact and then pretend the guy who moved them in the first place accomplished nothing.
For years, Kentucky fans wanted a coach who could make this program relevant. Stoops did that.
He took a historically struggling program and gave us some of the best football seasons many Kentucky fans had ever experienced.

Two 10-win seasons.

Multiple bowl wins.

Ending the Florida streak.

Making Kentucky football matter.

Those things actually happened.
You don't have to love Mark Stoops. You don't have to defend every decision he made. You don't have to believe he should have stayed forever.
But you can at least have enough perspective to acknowledge what he accomplished.
Because watching Kentucky fans now talk about him like he was some complete failure is honestly pretty damn funny when you remember what this program looked like before he got here.

He wasn't perfect.
But he sure as hell wasn't awful.
And before we rewrite history because we're unhappy with how things ended, maybe take a minute to remember how things started.
Thanks, Coach Stoops.
Some of us haven't forgotten.

And now, it's time to move on.
If you’re ready for a new chapter, that's completely fair. Support the new staff, support the players, and look forward to what's next. But constantly making posts just to trash Stoops doesn't change what he accomplished, and it certainly doesn't make Kentucky football better.
The man is gone. The next chapter has started.
Let him go, enjoy the memories, and move forward.
You don't have to tear down the guy who helped build it just because you're ready for someone else to take it from here.

Go Big Blue.

Wait til you see how many count the 70s SEC regular season title even though it doesn't count, when referencing the 2nd 10 win season that happened and was earned. They HATE Stoops THAT much. He will live forever in their head due to jealousy, and they choke on those 10 win seasons because he didn't look the part.

They will continue to see the UKFB coach how it best suits their miserable lives, and trying to reason with their emotional short-comings is a waste of time. A friend once compared them to the time of Israel that loved King Saul because he looked the part. No other reason.

Brooks was too old and they wanted him fired the first year he was here. Stoops was too fat and they wanted him gone the first year he was here. There's already a group of malcontents that dont like Stein. Ssdd

 

[notFromhere]

Stoops and Cal could have walked away five years ago and been ambassadors for both Programs. That would have been great if they just kind of stuck around. I'm not one of those people to say never come around again.

Both Stayed a little longer than they should've.

Funny. Stoops tried to walk away and people btchd about it- endlessly- and still do- endlessly. It's too bad it fell through for him, but worked out well for us and the timing with getting Will Stein.

Stoops didnt do too bad for his first HC job. 2 years where we finished in the top 3-5 in the best conference in football. Came close to beating Georgia during one of their best runs ever. Beating top 10(?) Ole Miss at home even when we were struggling. Did all of that even without top 10 SEC recruiting classes.

Only a drunk would call that average or poor.

 

[NineIsOnTheWay]

Also wasn't the ten win seasons

Funny. Stoops tried to walk away and people btchd about it- endlessly- and still do- endlessly. It's too bad it fell through for him, but worked out well for us and the timing with getting Will Stein.

Stoops didnt do too bad for his first HC job. 2 years where we finished in the top 3-5 in the best conference in football. Came close to beating Georgia during one of their best runs ever. Beating top 10(?) Ole Miss at home even when we were struggling. Did all of that even without top 10 SEC recruiting classes.

Only a drunk would call that average or poor.

I can't tell if you agree or was laughing at what I said lol

 

[Mad Max]

Loved Stoops, but by last year, it was time for a change.

Too many ineffective coaches/buddy hires, the Vince thing had gotten old, and the A&M debacle really wore on fans.

over time that will recede and the success will rise back up, but new generation.

Go Stein and Go Big Blue!!

 

[Wayne Dougan]

I also think you have a shelf life for coaching and it varies by the man. For example, I thought Tubby was really good for a few years but fell off really fast. Stoops mailed it in the last few years because he lost the passion.

 

[Cleatortoises]

9 win seasons plus a bowl win

10 wins now is playoff bound so let’s not pretend stoops would’ve had that if only times were different.

We got embarrassed a lot under stoops. But how many /comments are there about cal- who actually won hardware and didn’t stick us with the buyout by leaving for elsewhere?

got caught violating the terms of his contract. There were no favors done. He would have happily stuck us.

 

[Artlaibesghost]

Stoops sucked for most of his tenure. Only had one decent quarterback his entire career here. Teams were undisciplined penalty prone. His special teams usually stunk. His clock management was horrible and never got better. His play not to lose philosophy lost us at least a game or two every year amd his SEC record was pitiful. Why he is revered by some is mystifying to me. I have moved on but the continued effort by some to romanticize his time here is tiresome.

 

[Get_over_it]

Stoops sucked for most of his tenure. Only had one decent quarterback his entire career here. Teams were undisciplined penalty prone. His special teams usually stunk. His clock management was horrible and never got better. His play not to lose philosophy lost us at least a game or two every year amd his SEC record was pitiful. Why he is revered by some is mystifying to me. I have moved on but the continued effort by some to romanticize his time here is tiresome.

I never said I romanticize about his time here, he did a lot of good things, but by the end it was time to move on. I can only assume that people like you and the people that constantly say he was awful are just kids that never had to sit through 1 or 2 win season, losing 73 to 7 to Florida, being so beat down that your only prayer was someday UK football could just at least be mediocre. I am 52, and I never believed that I would see a 10 win season at UK, hell I thought I would never see the Florida streak end.

For some of us seeing UK winning 7 to 10 games a year was a miracle. Now that Stoops laid the groundwork, I want more and I hope Stein is the guy to get is there, but I can't talk crap about a man that gave me the best UK football season in my lifetime. So I apologize for not realizing kids like you don't know the struggles of the past for some UK fans.

 

[Get_over_it]

No

Nobody read all that. Quit telling other people how to fan and maybe worry about yourself?

Soooo, aren't you telling me how to fan? Maybe you need to worry about yourself?

 

[Get_over_it]

Man you beat me to it. Why anyone thinks they can tell others what to do on a message board is beyond me. It takes all kinds I guess.

The guy you are agreeing with is telling me what to do a message board, so it seems you are ok with it? It takes all kinds I guess.

 

[Artlaibesghost]

I never said I romanticize about his time here, he did a lot of good things, but by the end it was time to move on. I can only assume that people like you and the people that constantly say he was awful are just kids that never had to sit through 1 or 2 win season, losing 73 to 7 to Florida, being so beat down that your only prayer was someday UK football could just at least be mediocre. I am 52, and I never believed that I would see a 10 win season at UK, hell I thought I would never see the Florida streak end.

For some of us seeing UK winning 7 to 10 games a year was a miracle. Now that Stoops laid the groundwork, I want more and I hope Stein is the guy to get is there, but I can't talk crap about a man that gave me the best UK football season in my lifetime. So I apologize for not realizing kids like you don't know the struggles of the past for some UK fans.

Actually I'm an old guy seen every coach since Bradshaw. Stoops was not the worst coach I've seen but he was never better than average AT HIS BEST.

 

[Get_over_it]

Actually I'm an old guy seen every coach since Bradshaw. Stoops was not the worst coach I've seen but he was never better than average AT HIS BEST.

Stoops was better than every coach UK has had besides Bryant. No Stoops was not great, but considering the shat show he took over and the uphill battle he had, I would say he was a little better than average.

 

[bbnkat02]

Stoops was better than every coach UK has had besides Bryant. No Stoops was not great, but considering the shat show he took over and the uphill battle he had, I would say he was a little better than average.

His record in the SEC says otherwise.
Look Stoops did some good things but then his attitude become awful. He was a T5 paid coach in the country and getting subpar results.

 

[Get_over_it]

His record in the SEC says otherwise.
Look Stoops did some good things but then his attitude become awful. He was a T5 paid coach in the country and getting subpar results.

I agree he was way overpaid, but that was stupid azz Mitch Barnhart's fault. You can't blame Stoops for taking money offered to him. I am a mediocre systems engineer at my job, but if my boss offered me another 100k a year, I would not turn it down.

 

[bbnkat02]

I agree he was way overpaid, but that was stupid azz Mitch Barnhart's fault. You can't blame Stoops for taking money offered to him. I am a mediocre systems engineer at my job, but if my boss offered me another 100k a year, I would not turn it down.

Biggest difference is would you talk down to your coworkers and friends in the process? That’s exalte what Stoops did in the last few years.

imagine you deliver a product to another department and it sucks and then tell them “Well. Pony up.”

 

[Artlaibesghost]

Stoops was better than every coach UK has had besides Bryant. No Stoops was not great, but considering the shat show he took over and the uphill battle he had, I would say he was a little better than average.

No he was not.

 

[Anon1685457815]

I think we found Rembrandt.

he wasn t rembrandt today

 

[Starrcade]

Why so many post tearing down Stoops to build up Stein?

I think some Kentucky fans need a little reminder about where this program was when Mark Stoops took over.
It’s pretty amazing watching some of the same people who spent years begging for Kentucky football to become relevant now act like Stoops was some kind of disaster.

Apparently, we’ve reached the point where two 10-win seasons at Kentucky aren't impressive anymore. Must be nice to have such short memories.
When Stoops took over, Kentucky football wasn't exactly a sleeping giant waiting for the right coach to wake it up. It was a historically struggling program that had spent years getting beat up in the SEC and struggling to find any kind of sustained success.

Stoops took over that program and went to work.
He recruited. He developed players. He changed expectations. He made Kentucky competitive in a conference where Kentucky had routinely been an afterthought.
And he did something Kentucky fans had been waiting 31 years to see — he finally beat Florida.
That win wasn't just another game. It ended one of the most embarrassing streaks in Kentucky football history and gave an entire generation of Kentucky fans a memory they never thought they would get to experience.

Then he did it again.
And again.
Suddenly, Kentucky wasn't just showing up against Florida hoping to keep the score respectable. We were walking into those games believing we could actually win.
That's what changed under Stoops.
He gave us ranked wins, bowl victories, NFL players and two 10-win seasons. He took a program that had spent years near the bottom of the SEC and built it into one that could legitimately compete.

Was everything perfect? Absolutely not.
Did Stoops make mistakes? Of course.
Were there frustrating losses, disappointing seasons and decisions that drove every Kentucky fan crazy? You bet.
But apparently we're now supposed to pretend none of the good stuff happened because the ending wasn't exactly how everyone wanted it.
That's some impressive revisionist history.
You don't get to move the goalposts after the fact and then pretend the guy who moved them in the first place accomplished nothing.
For years, Kentucky fans wanted a coach who could make this program relevant. Stoops did that.
He took a historically struggling program and gave us some of the best football seasons many Kentucky fans had ever experienced.

Two 10-win seasons.

Multiple bowl wins.

Ending the Florida streak.

Making Kentucky football matter.

Those things actually happened.
You don't have to love Mark Stoops. You don't have to defend every decision he made. You don't have to believe he should have stayed forever.
But you can at least have enough perspective to acknowledge what he accomplished.
Because watching Kentucky fans now talk about him like he was some complete failure is honestly pretty damn funny when you remember what this program looked like before he got here.

He wasn't perfect.
But he sure as hell wasn't awful.
And before we rewrite history because we're unhappy with how things ended, maybe take a minute to remember how things started.
Thanks, Coach Stoops.
Some of us haven't forgotten.

And now, it's time to move on.
If you’re ready for a new chapter, that's completely fair. Support the new staff, support the players, and look forward to what's next. But constantly making posts just to trash Stoops doesn't change what he accomplished, and it certainly doesn't make Kentucky football better.
The man is gone. The next chapter has started.
Let him go, enjoy the memories, and move forward.
You don't have to tear down the guy who helped build it just because you're ready for someone else to take it from here.

Go Big Blue.

We haved moved on, but you haven't.

 

[Beatle Bum]

Anyone want to discuss Mitch Barnhart?