In a Stoop-or

The inevitable came on November 4th when University of Kentucky athletic director Mitch Barnhart released an open letter to fans announcing that after three seasons, Joker Phillips was going to be let go as head football coach.  I was one of the last Joker supporters left standing at that point and up until the announcement was made, I was hopeful that the passionate UK alum could get things turned around at his alma mater.  But even Ray Charles could see what was coming when less than 20,000 people rolled through the gates of Commonwealth Stadium to watch the Wildcats get completely obliterated by the Vanderbilt Commodores for the second consecutive season.  Even though I knew it was coming, I was still not thrilled with the prospects of watching my beloved Cats start a coaching search that I was not convinced would land someone that could truly excite the fan base (a fan base that at times is so misguided that they actually think UK is dream job for elite  coaches).

Well, twenty-three days after the process began, color me stunned and amazed.  The much (mostly unfairly) maligned Barnhart was able to pull off the coup.  By getting Mark Stoops to come to Kentucky, the UK AD was able to get one of the most sought after coaching commodities to commit to Big Blue Nation and the best part of the whole matter is that Stoops approached Barnhart about the job and presented a plan for why and how the Wildcats could win consistently in the brutal SEC.  Yes, the coordinator of the #2 defense in the nation wanted to come to the Bluegrass!  How amazing is that? 

As a lifelong fan of UK football, I could not be more excited about the hire.  While Stoops does not meet some of the criteria that I would have thought essential in the new coach (he has no head coaching or SEC experience),  he more than makes up for it with his resume.  Here are five reasons that I believe that Stoops has the potential to be the perfect fit for the UK football program.

1) He wants to be in Lexington.  As mentioned earlier, he approached Barnhart about the job and he did so with a PLAN.  If he holds true to his brothers' style (brother Bob is the head coach at Oklahoma and brother Mike was the former head coach at Arizona and now is Bob's D-Coordinator) he will be a defensive coach who brings in a talented offensive coordinator with an explosive offense.  The cupboard is not bare at UK like it was in 2002 when Rich Brooks came to town.  The Cats return three QBs with playing experience, a stable of four experienced running backs, and a bevy of nice young receivers.  The rumors that keep swirling is that UK alum and current OC at Texas Tech, Neal Brown, may possibly return to his roots and orchestrate Stoops's offense.

2) He is a defensive coach.  This was very high on my lists of musts (not that Mitch contacted me and asked for my opinion in the matter) but I think it is imperative for the Cats to improve their defense in order to have any kind of success in the treacherous SEC waters.  Stoops, like his brothers (and even his mother if you ask former UK signal caller, Dusty Bonner), has proven that he knows how to orchestrate a defense.  He improved a terrible defense at Arizona when he was brother Mike's DC and turned Florida State's atrocious defense from a laughing stock to the second best in the nation (on paper).  His defensive units are also known for forcing turnovers , which a team like Kentucky must have in order to compete with the elite in the conference. 

3) He has ties all over the country and may be able to tap into some new recruiting markets that have not been open to the Wildcats in the past.  Stoops was born in the football savvy city of Youngstown, Ohio and played his college ball in the Big 10 at Iowa.  He went on to have assistant coaching stints at South Florida, Wyoming, and Houston before landing on Larry Coker's staff at Miami in 2001.  In his three years at the U coaching defensive backs, Stoops was able to win a national championship in 2001 and play for another the following year.  From there, he moved on to Arizona when his brother, Mike, was hired and became a D-coordinator for the first time.  After the 2009 season, he moved on to Tallahassee where he has helped rebuild the Seminoles into a contender.  The point of all of this is that he has ties to certain hotbeds in the recruiting world.  He may be able to get players out of Florida, Ohio, Texas, and the west coast that otherwise never would have considered coming to Kentucky.  He has a reputation as a tireless recruiter which should pay dividends.

4)He has a championship ring.  As mentioned in the previous section, he was the DB coach when Miami won the National Championship in 2001.  He is used to the spotlight and having expectations.  While he has never coached a full season in the SEC, he has a winning record as a coordinator against the SEC (3-1) and his defenses have only allowed 17 points per game and 317 yards per game (two of those wins coming against Florida).  In other words, while he may not have head coaching experience like fellow candidates for the job Mike MacIntyre, Gary Andersen, or Butch Jones, he has coached at high profile universities in high profile games and that means something.

5) He's not Bobby Petrino.  Nuff said.

And for those who were dogging Mitch Barnhart for doing his job in a professional manner and not listening to the rabid fan base, he once again has proven his worth to the university.  While only time will tell if Stoops is a homerun, keep in mind that most rallies are started  not by hitting a long ball but by getting runners on base and getting them over.  So if he isn't a homerun (which can sometimes be a rally killer), maybe he will be a rally starter, which in the long run may prove to be even better.