Big Blue Links for Tuesday:
- In his notes column, the H-L’s Mark Story says Landon Slone should be allowed to play right away.
- Bruce Simpson, a Lexington attorney, writes an open letter to Mark.
- Cory McCartney of SportsIllustrated.com writes on how Rich Brooks ended the basketball monopoly at Kentucky. (Hat tip to Tom Leach.)
- Tom Leach writes that decision time looms for Jodie Meeks.
- Rick Bozich of the Courier-Journal reports that ex-UK assistant Ralph Willard is still mulling Rick Pitino’s offer at Louisville.
- Fox Sports’ Jeff Goodman writes that Memphis’ Doneal Mack also had his test score thrown out by Florida.
- Alan Cutler writes on John Calipari as a kid.
- At A Sea of Blue, Dicky Lyons, Jr. gives a workout update.
- Inner Circle writes that the clock is ticking for Jodie Meeks.
- Hoopsworld thinks that Meeks and Tyler Smith will both pull their names out of the draft.
- We Bleed Blue in Kentucky says UK owns SEC basketball.
Coach Brooks should be knighted for what he’s accomplished at U.K. He came into a moribund program and through patience and hard work has put U.K. in a position to win. It may still be a pipe dream to think that we can legitimately challenge for the S.E.C. East, but we’re not a guaranteed win on anybody’s schedule, just ask L.S.U. With the groundwork laid down, there’s no reason not to think that the sky’s the limit for U.K. in the coming years. I’m looking forward to another bowl win this year! On, on U. of K.!
When did Rich Brooks turn around the football program? Didn’t they finish 2-6 in the SEC last year? Good thing we play teams like Norfolk St., WKU, etc. We are headed in a better direction but in no way shape or form has Rich Brooks turned around the program…..not yet. Let’s talk turn around when we can beat Florida or Tennessee.
I agree that I very much so want to see UK beat Tennessee/Florida on a regular basis but how regularly going to post-season play not a turnaround. This past year’s senior class had a WINNING record (26-24) during their careers’ at UK. While I’m not saying that those were all wins over juggernauts or a clear sign that UK has arrived how is it anything but a turnaround. Not since at least the late 70′s has a senior class had as good a record. UK now beating the teams that it should for the most part (a change in and of itself) and starting to pick off a few wins against teams it shouldn’t (ie. LSU, UGA, Clemson). Just keep on keepin’ on with slow and steady progress – last year was a rebuilding year and all the pundits said we’d win 3-4 games, so I thought 6 wins and a Liberty bowl win looked mighty nice. Time to build on it from there.
Go ‘Cats!!!
AMEN CatFan69!!
The fact that UK wants its fans to idolize and glorify a team that went 6-6 (including a staggering 0-5 record in the SEC East) shows the Wildcats are still a MEDIOCRE program at best. The ONLY reason Kentucky went to a bowl game last year is that the SEC has contracts with nine different games AND got two teams in the BCS. If Alabama had not gotten in the big games as well, UK would definitely have been sitting at home. 6-6 at either of the top SEC schools (Florida & LSU) would get a coach fired before the horn sounded in the final game of the season. Here it gets you a raise and a contract extension.
24 straight losses to Tennessee and 22 straight to Florida is EMBARASSING. Every other school in the conference has beaten them at least once. Hell, Vandy even beat them in The Swamp one year. With Navy upsettting Notre Dame a few seasons ago, Kentucky now owns the two longest consecutive LOSING streaks to the same team and both of them are in our conference. There is certainly something to be proud of…..
What turn around? Are you kidding with that headline. How can you be at the bottom of the division for years and call this a turn around. Beat some of the SEC team year in and year out and maybe someone can claim a turn around….until then just seems like the same old&^%%$%
To say Coach Brooks hasn’t turned the program around is asinine. What team have you been watching the last 40 years?
I will concede, as will Coach Brooks, that we are nowhere near where we want to be. There is more improvement that needs to be made. Winning consistently against everyone in the SEC is the next step that needs to be made, but Coach Brooks made a prudent decision when he decided he needed to change the attitude of the players and the perception of the program by getting some consecutive winning seasons.
A turnaround has clearly been made, short-term goals have been achieved and now it is time for the next step, which is breaking .500 in the SEC and getting 7-8 wins with an upgraded out-of-conference schedule. If we’re still winning 6 or 7 games AND playing 100+ RPI non-conference teams in 2-3 years, then you have a valid argument, but to deny Brooks’ turnaround of this program is to deny the obvious truth.
I’ve had season tickets to football for the last 8 years, and I’ll give rich brooks this much: I at least think they have a chance to win every game…And I remember what the programs been like my whole life. That being said, there is a LOOOOOOOOOOONGGGGGGGG way to go before I think the program even resembles what it could, and should. Last year was a step backwards from 2007, but you have to realize, we lost some big time players at key positions, and did not have an SEC calibre QB (no offense Mike Hartline…you just weren’t ready.) The true test of Brooks will be what happens in the next three years. If we can continue to improve each year, things might look pretty damn good in the near future. As for tyhe upcoming year, this seasons success in my mind depends upon whether or not one of the freshman QB’s can take over the starting position, because I’m pretty sure Hartline still doesn’t have a long-ball. Anyway…Go Cats!
Last year we were two plays from a 4-8 season. We lost to Tennessee for the 24th time in a row. When we beat Florida, Georgia and Tennessee in one season, then we will have turned the football program around. A record of 6-6 would get you fired anywhere else. How do we have such a double standard for our football program than our basketball ? Winning .500 of our basketball games would get you run out of town on a rail. In football they name a street after you. This is part of our football culture that needs work….raising expectations above .500.
Go to a high school football game in Lexington and you would be lucky to find a marching band. They are usually off at a competition somewhere out of the state. That dog would not hunt in all of the SEC states. They have won national championships and do not treat football as a second tier sport.
Giving Brooks the credit for a 6-6 season, and a shaky win over East Carolina School for the Blind is not the kind of sports writing that raises expectations to where they need to be.
Yes, there is a different level of expectation for football compared to basketball at UK (ask a basketball coach at Florida, Alabama or Auburn if the opposite isn’t true there – even if they are occassionally successful).
So? Brooks has done a great job. We have a BETTER program. We were winning 0-3 games/year on a regular basis. Now we have winning records. Yes, we lose a lot to the toughest conference of football teams in the country, but we are better. We have a chance to beat those teams – before we just played the game expecting to lose.
Brooks makes us exciting again. And we should continue to demand more. We aren’t Florida or LSU or Alabama yet. Or even Georgia or Tennessee yet. But we beat 2 of those teams recently, and have a chance to do so again. Applaud Brooks. He deserves it.
And yes, I would have fired him after the 49-0 loss to LSU. I would have been wrong.