Vote: Will Rich Brooks coach UK in 2010?
NASHVILLE — The big question went unasked at Saturday’s final press conference before tonight’s Music City Bowl. Not that it would have done much good to pose the inquiry. After all, the last time the subject was broached Rich Brooks grew a little hot under the collar.
So will he stay or will he go?
Are we preparing to witness Brooks’ final game as Kentucky football coach.
No one seems to know for sure if this is it.
Some think not even Brooks has made up his mind, that he will take some time off after the Cats play Clemson at 8:30 tonight to decide whether he wants to return to Lexington for his eighth season, or whether he’s ready to turn the reigns over to his designated successor, Joker Phillips.
Personally, I think Brooks wants to return. While he has done a tremendous job putting the program on a solid foundation, earning four consecutive bowl trips, clinching a fourth consecutive winning season, he talks like a coach disappointed he hasn’t done more.
“I don’t feel like we’ve accomplished as much as I would like to, as far as winning more football games,” said Brooks on Saturday as he shared a podium at LP Field with Clemson coach Dabo Swinney.
Brooks wants his program to be more of a factor in the SEC divisional race. He wants a winning conference season. He wants to be the Kentucky coach who finally snaps that losing streak to Tennessee. He wants to be the coach who pushes the program to higher ground.
But there are other factors in play. Behind-the-scenes factors. Brooks wants more money for his staff. He wants some upgrades for the program, including a multi-purpose recruiting room, something that athletics director Mitch Barnhart has talked about for several years, but the idea that has never really progressed beyond that of an idea.
And, make no mistake, Brooks is still upset over what happened with that whole “blackout” fiasco the week of the UK-Mississippi State game, when he said he was not told that the school was urging fans to wear black for that Saturday night game, and came off (to some) as stubborn and old-fashioned for not having team wear black uniforms to match.
Word is Brooks and Barnhart have had some post-season talks, but the word is that Brooks hasn’t heard enough of what he wanted, or hoped to hear. At the very least, those discussions haven’t produced anything concrete enough for the coach to announce his plans for next season, one way or the other.
One thing I do know, Brooks is not the kind of coach who would announce before the bowl that he was retiring. He wouldn’t want the distractions. And he doesn’t want the spotlight on himself. He wants it on his team.
On the other hand, you get the feeling that if he was coming back, Brooks would have already made that news public. And he hasn’t.
And I doubt seriously there will be any big announcement after tonight’s game, win or lose, one way or the other. The guess here is that Rich will want to take a day or two away from the preparations and the game, to think things through, to make his final choice.
If Brooks does call it quits, I hope it’s not with regret. I hope it’s not that, even though his heart wants to stay, his gut tells him to go. I hope it’s because he feels good about what he’s accomplished and confident in where the program is headed. Win or lose, That’s how he should go out.
Re: Blackout. That was on my season tickets that I received well before the season started. There was obviously a breakdown in communication somewhere, but the idea of it being a Blackout was decided well before the week before the game.
Personally, I am still upset over the UT fiasco. If UK loses the bowl game, I doubt Brooks leaves. If his final two games are the UT coaching meltdown and a bowl loss, then I think his memory/legacy is not what he would want it to be.
The facts are, he has done a lot for UK, but not nearly as much as some suggest. The streaks to UT, UF, and USC are still alive. An above .500 record in the SEC remains elusive. UK has gone from being poor to being average. Make no mistake, average is well above where we were before, but it is still average.
I too am a season ticket holder and have been for 20 years, yet see things differently that the gentleman above me does.
Sure Coach has not defeated Tenn, Fla and USC, but my expectations of UK football and most of the Commonwealths as well are totally different than before he arrived.
UK just completed a 4 year stretch that has NEVER been accomplished before at UK. At the Bowl game I heard some people complaining we were not in a better bowl. Again, that is serious change, not small change. UK has been to more bowl games in the last 4 years than Auburn, Michigan, Michigan State, Louisville and Georgia in the last 4 years. Have we any memory of UK football?
I would like to thank Coach Rich Brooks for changing the attitude at Kentucky. He has surely set up some big shoes to fill for Joker Phillips. And Joker has been around UK football a long time and he knows what shoes he has to fill.
Thanks Coach Brooks and God Bless you always..,….Go Cats!
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