Assignment 6: Create Your Own Adventure - Jake Tucker

   Since we are allowed to discuss anything we want this week, I will take my time to explain all of my complaints with the University of Kentucky's football program. Including almost everything from decisions made by the athletic department to decisions made by the players.

   First, let's "tackle" the players, and ironically, the defense in particular. This is ironic due to their inability to tackle any player for any opposing team before they gain five yards. It is absolutely pitiful to watch young men who are going to college for free due to their ability to play football defensively fall short of what allowed them to attend college at the University of Kentucky. Even though the coaches tend to get the brunt of the blame for defensive mishaps, the same type of mistakes have been occurring since the Rich Brooks coaching era, and probably before that, but I don't remember as I was too young. The point is that different players have come through and different coaches have come through, but the same problems remain, and it makes no sense. Much like many of the coaching decisions.

   The coaching has been sub par for Kentucky from the time Rich Brooks retired about ten years ago. Joker Phillips was a joke, pun intended, and Mark Stoops, a supposed defensive genius hasn't been able to beat any relevant team in the four years he has been here, much less stop anybody from scoring. This was especially evident at last year’s opening game against Louisiana -Lafayette. In the first half the offense was clicking and the defense was able to hold the visitors to very few points, and the Wildcats actually looked somewhat decent. Then the second half came, and I was very confident that we would see a similar half to the one that had occurred only 20 minutes earlier. But no, the Ragin' Cajuns came storming back ad nearly beat us in our brand-new stadium. That night I remember thinking, "Wow, how embarrassing would it be to lose to a Conference USA team on opening night." This came back to bite me as a similar series of events led to a loss at the beginning of this year's season. However, this doesn't show a lack of ability or talent in the players, it shows a lack of coaching skill. These games, and the late season collapses made by Kentucky fall completely on the coaches, and the Athletic Department.

   The biggest group of crooks n this whole operation is the Athletic department. That happen to be the group of people that allowed for a 100 million dollar stadium renovation in 2014, for a team without a winning record since 2008. Also they permitted a 40 million dollar training facility for this same team. All of this was justified for the recruiting benefits, but after the stadium renovations we actually had a lower ranked recruiting class. So the 140 million dollar question is now "Why Not?" That must have been what they started with when trying to determine whether or not to give a coach with a losing record a contract extension with an 12 million dollar buy out after narrowly beating a bad South Carolina team. Yet, after every 5-7 finish we blame the offensive coordinator who can't keep up with the other teams’ scoring, and fire that poor guy instead. I think it is time for Mitch Barnhart to look at the only constant through the Stoops era, and he'll surely see that Mark Stoops and DJ Elliot, the defensive coordinator are the true problem. Though we can't fix said problem because we've spent all the money on new buildings and not coaches.