Cats hire Mike Stoops as football coach

[Tim_T]

He has a good pedigree and might be a good hire, but I have to wonder because he is defensive cooridiantor at Florida St. and his defense just allowed 400 yards, 37 points, 244 yards rushing against Florida? It does make me wonder that he can't stop FL with FL ST talent but he is going to stop top SEC teams with UK talent?

Guess we will see how it works out.

[Fishin is life]

My thoughts exactly Tim....Yes FSU has the second ranked D in the country but they also play in the offensively challenged (save Clemson) ACC...If he can't stop UF with homegrown Florida talent then what the heck is he gonna do with guys he's able to recruit to UK.....I've also heard Neal Brown possibly as the offensive coordinator and he has done good things wherever hes gone, be it Troy or Texas Tech....But again, he's recruiting Texas talent there....Anything will be an improvement over what we had, but at best I believe we'll once again achieve SEC mediocrity

Did UK steal a page out of UL's playbook, I think they did....A D coordinator from a FL school...Hope it works as well for us as it did for you all...Neal Brown is from Danville, and played, or attempted to play, at UK and it'll be good to see him come back home

I'd much rather watch UK get beat 52-38 as opposed to 34-7 and they might be worth watching again in a couple years

[MrSplitshot]

I think it's a solid hire, but I'm not going to be convinced that Mark Stoops poops ice cream until I've tasted the first cone.

He has a solid record of defensive improvement after arriving at Miami, Arizona, and Florida State. As said though, the ACC ain't exactly the prime time. He will see how the cow eats the cabbage every Saturday in the SEC. Next year we have Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina...plus Miss State, Tennessee, and Vandy. Of course we have Louisville, and our "cupcakes" are Western, Miami of Ohio, and Alabama State. Good luck with that, Stooperman. I expect nothing year one or year two...hope for improvement year three...and want to start seeing results year four. Recruiting against the SEC in prime real estate is no easy task for UK. I'm not sure that Jesus Christ, with the Pope and Muhammad as coordinators, could win many recruiting battles with that kind of pitch. A guy almost needs to be a master at recognizing hidden gems that others look past, ala Randall Cobb...and have a little karma/good luck on his side that they pan out to win at UK.

Welcome Coach Stoops...excited for the change of pace, gotta say.

[Catfish Bob]

Year three or four?

Have to wait and see what players decide to pack up and move to another school and which ones stay. Assuming that most of them will stay put I say this guy better win more than two games next year.

This team hung in with SC and Georgia but feel apart at the end of games. The only team to beat Kent State! lol

I aint giving this guy no honeymoon, he better at least win all the cupcake games and I'm calling the UofL game a cupcake. If he can't coach the current roster to beat UofL(who can't even beat Uconn at home) in Lexington next year then I will be highly dissapointed.

Thank goodness Minter and that Gosh awful 3-4 with hybrid crap will be gone. If this guy comes in and tries to continue the 3-4 I will jump off the 2nd street bridge.

[Tim_T]

Year three or four?

Have to wait and see what players decide to pack up and move to another school and which ones stay. Assuming that most of them will stay put I say this guy better win more than two games next year.

This team hung in with SC and Georgia but feel apart at the end of games. The only team to beat Kent State! lol

I aint giving this guy no honeymoon, he better at least win all the cupcake games and I'm calling the UofL game a cupcake. If he can't coach the current roster to beat UofL(who can't even beat Uconn at home) in Lexington next year then I will be highly dissapointed.

Thank goodness Minter and that Gosh awful 3-4 with hybrid crap will be gone. If this guy comes in and tries to continue the 3-4 I will jump off the 2nd street bridge.

Expect to be highly disappointed. This Louisville team is primarily sophomores and still have a lot of growth. I say it will be 2015 before UK has a chance to beat the cards in football.

[Catfish Bob]

Expect to be highly disappointed. This Louisville team is primarily sophomores and still have a lot of growth. I say it will be 2015 before UK has a chance to beat the cards in football.

2015? Who the heck has UofL beat to make you think that?
Have you looked over UK's football roster? They are overloaded with freshman and sophs especially at key skilled positions.
With all the experience they got from filling in due to injuries to upperclassman and with a season of SEC play under their belt. Plus the UofL game will be the third game next season instead of the first. Stoops has got to have them ready. All he has to do is go to a simple 4-3 defense and teach a couple running backs how to not fumble everytime they get a carry in the redzone. If he can do that with this roster they should be able to win some ball games.

Tim I respect UofL and you but after watching them get blown out by Syracuse then getting beat at home by Uconn, with everything they had ridding on those games, have to call it as see it, they are just not that good and I will will be expecting the Governors Cup to stay in Lexington next season.
Just want to say that I do agree that Bridgewater is one of the top QB's.

[Tim_T]

Are you serious? The entire Louisville team is comprised of sophomores who started as true freshmen. Not too mention Dominique Brown will be back next season and was the the leading rusher on the team last year. This team will have 15 juniors starting as 3 year starters.

As for UK's roster, they are not any younger than Louisville and they have proven to be less talented.

[Catfish Bob]

lol! Tim I have to disagree. UofL might be slightly more talented at some skilled positions but football games are won in the trenches (as Uconn and Syracuse proved)and I'm telling ya Uk's O and D-line are smoking the Cards line.

[mhall]

While I was at the UConn game and was mad enough to chew through a 2 by 4 I will agree and say Louisville just flat played uninspired football that day. Too much Turkey, I have no idea but they were not ready to play and I seen it from the first set of downs. Recievers were dropping balls, Teddy was off, offensive line was being lazy. Now UConn does have a good defense, check their stats.

Now Louisville caught alot of grief over that Syracuse game and they deserved some of it however lets not forget the Orangemen also run West Virginia off the field also so they are a good team. The BE got ZERO respect this year, maybe it was a little justified but I think because of the media it was overplayed alot to.

[Catfish Bob]

Speaking of RB's.
If the Stoop's staff can teach a kid how to hold onto the ball without fumbling, UK has that Freshman that was averaging over 7 a carry but problem was he couldn't hold onto the ball.

I think the hire of Stoops is great!

Tim UofL whooped UK"s butts and have bragging rights. This hire just gave me something to holler about and I will back down the chit talking, in a couple days.

[Tim_T]

lol! Tim I have to disagree. UofL might be slightly more talented at some skilled positions but football games are won in the trenches (as Uconn and Syracuse proved)and I'm telling ya Uk's O and D-line are smoking the Cards line.

I agree games are usually won or lost in the trenches, which should also sadden you. Louisville's offensive line dominated the Cats. That offensive line starts three sophomores. Just on the offensive side of the ball Louisville starts QB: Sophomore. Top 2 wr's: Sophomores (not to mention that there returning leading receiver this year, Harris, was a sophomore who missed the season due to injury). That is six sophomores just on the offense that started every game this year. Like I said Bob, maybe in 2015 Stoops gets his first win over the Cards, but I don't see it happening before then. Heck,we have more highly sought after recruits fromthe state of Florida than FSU and Miami combined.

[Catfish Bob]

Yeah Tim, that is why I'm very happy to see Minter and the 3-4 defense go.
When you only rush 3 against 5 the 5 will usally win every time.
The only team I have ever seen run a successful 3-4 was the mid to late 90's Pittsburg Steelers. I think they had 4 or 5 hall of fame guys in the box.

UK had a couple games where all the DB's that started were Freshman.

Here is the breakdown of the UK roster as of the last game in 2012.

Seniors-17
Juniors-15
Sophmores-29
Freshman-52