Is It Time ...

[I. Melvin]

for CRB to hand over the reigns?

[TrueblueCATfan]

nope..he has alot of good years left:thumbup:

[ImForKy]

Absolutely NOT!

[BigBlue75]

Absolutely not. He's done a TERRIFIC job and will continue to do so.

[Cap Town Cat]

I want him to get a BCS bowl win before he rolls out into retirement...

Problem is...when he gets that bowl win I'm going to think he has three more in him.

[BowlingGreenUKGrad]

No. Why should I have more faith in Joker than Brooks?

[poodoo]

for CRB to hand over the reigns?

NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO.

That filled one line here, as I had typed it, although it will likely appear differently on the thread itself. I think everyone gets the point. ;) :icon_biggrin:

By the way, I have the fullest confidence that Coach Brooks will do just that WHEN it needs to be done, with fans' having no need to push him out (although many had attempted to do just that only a few years ago, and thanks to last year's seniors and Mitch Barnhart for NOT letting that happen). That cannot be said for all coaches, but I think it can be said for Coach Brooks.

Like others here, I have the utmost confidence in Coach Brooks' ability to head this program. I think he's proven just that to most all Kentucky fans. Also, Coach Brooks and his staff should be bringing in their best recruiting class yet. May Coach get to enjoy them. :) GO CATS! BEAT UT!

[BigBlue75]

I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I don't understand the rationale. There is NO COACH in any sport that can guarantee a victory in any game. It doesn't matter how long the coach has been with the particular school or how seasoned the team is. Yet, apparently there are some people who want absolute perfection even though they know it isn't possible, and they wait for for the first poor performance and/or loss and they start screaming that the coach need to be replaced. Never mind that the coach in question has done more to improve the program since the mid-1980's and has taken the program from being a borderline laughingstock in the SEC to a program that every other school HAS to take as a serious threat (just as LSU and Georgia, along with Clemson and Florida State), no, that's not good enough. The team either wins every game and the team performs absolutely flawlessly or he needs to be fired.

I'm sorry, but that whole line of thinking escapes me.

[Rabbit60]

for CRB to hand over the reigns?
No!!!!!!!!!!

[moody85]

for CRB to hand over the reigns?


It's spelled "reins." As in "to rein in a horse." Or to control a horse with the "reins" of a bridle.

A monarch "reigns."


:widcat:

[RV]

for CRB to hand over the reigns?

You can only hope.

[bleedblue79]

Coach has a lot of football left in him. He still has a fire in his belly, just listen to him talk after the games, win or lose, on the post game shows you can hear the passion he still has for the game. He has brought us so very far, built it on a solid foundation, but we are still growing and we still need him.

GO BIG BLUE!!!

[Matt Dillon]

Definitely not!

[Brian McCat]

The magic 8 ball knows all, sees all.

http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/baseball/8ball2.gif

[UKFBFAN]

You see? What's really going on here is expectations. We expect more than we did 10 years ago. Guess who gave us that attitude... It was Coach Brooks. We are expecting to win!

[ridgerunner]

No! CRB still has what it takes, and what this program needs. Except for Fla. we have not been beat because we don't have the talent to win. Remember when division 2 schools would come in and just had better players. Young players, inexperience is what hurts us now. The kids will learn to study film, not just watch it,but study; they will develop the proper attitude and maturity .With Brooks this happens quicker and smoother.

[BowlingGreenUKGrad]

No! CRB still has what it takes, and what this program needs. Except for Fla. we have not been beat because we don't have the talent to win. Remember when division 2 schools would come in and just had better players. Young players, inexperience is what hurts us now. The kids will learn to study film, not just watch it,but study; they will develop the proper attitude and maturity .With Brooks this happens quicker and smoother.

Since when did we have Division 2 schools on the schedule?

[gerntz]

Why would one even ask?

[Boneill1621]

Negative captain.

[Art Vandelay]

Coach Brooks has earned the right to make that call. Until Coach decides to pass the headphones to Joker, he has my full support - win, lose or draw.

[hoosierhateruklover]

"Not soo fast my friends"

.... but it will be sooner rather than later eventually.

[poodoo]

You see? What's really going on here is expectations. We expect more than we did 10 years ago. Guess who gave us that attitude... It was Coach Brooks. We are expecting to win!

Exactly, UKFBFAN! :thumbup::thumbup: and more to you AND to Coach Brooks. :icon_biggrin:

[poodoo]

Coach Brooks has earned the right to make that call. Until Coach decides to pass the headphones to Joker, he has my full support - win, lose or draw.

There's another :thumbup::thumbup: and more response (in my opinion, of course). Coach Brooks has indeed "EARNED the right to make that call." That response is MUCH better than my line of NO's, Art. :icon_mrgreen:

[lribookend]

There's another :thumbup::thumbup: and more response (in my opinion, of course). Coach Brooks has indeed "EARNED the right to make that call." That response is MUCH better than my line of NO's, Art. :icon_mrgreen:
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:thumbup::thumbup: Actually, POODOO, you beat me to the punch with your line of NO's. But I agree, Art said it very eloquently. Actually, I am surprised that some have such short memories. It was not very many years ago when the thought of UK winning more than 3 games per year in football, upsetting the #1 team in the country, giving the traditional "SEC POWERS" all they can handle on any given night, and going to 2 (probably 3) consecutive bowl games would have meant erecting a statue or naming a street after the head coach..........why would we want arguably the most successful coach since Bear Bryant (at least, coaches who didn't get us put on Probation) to step down??? Hard to fathom!
Larry

[I. Melvin]

Believe it or not, this was not one of my shots at CRB. (I actually have a great deal of respect for the man but he drives me crazy with our missed opportunities through the years.)

In light of Muschamp, Jimbo, etc., I was curious what everyone's thoughts were on the whole "coaches-in-waiting" thing. Personally, I'd like to see Joker take over sooner rather than later, but Mitch hasn't called me to ask my opinion.

How long can you keep a coach-in-waiting waiting?

[Matt Dillon]

How long can you keep a coach-in-waiting waiting?

I don't expect coach Brooks to coach any longer than two or three more years. Considering the facts that he's a native Kentuckian, played for the Cats and wants the job badly, I'd say Joker is willing to wait that long. In fact, he probably knows how much longer coach is planning on staying.

[lribookend]

I don't expect coach Brooks to coach any longer than two or three more years. Considering the facts that he's a native Kentuckian, played for the Cats and wants the job badly, I'd say Joker is willing to wait that long. In fact, he probably knows how much longer coach is planning on staying.
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I agree, Matt. I think Brooks wants to ensure that we sustain the level of success we have established the last few years, and will stay another couple years. His health seems to be good, he has a good recruiting class coming in, and I think he just wants to set some records and right some wrongs (such as losing to Tenn for too many consecutive years) before he steps down. I don't see Joker going anywhere else during that time. He realized when they named him as Brooks' successor that he would have to wait a year or two.

[billoliver40]

I think CRB will be here as long as he wishes, or unless there is a drastic decline in discipline and academics on the team. In that case, I believe MB would step in.

As long as things remain steady, I see no problems.

A bowl eligible team that had a couple of near wins (as well as a couple near losses) is not bad at all considering the losses from last year in the personnel area.

[poodoo]

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++
Actually, POODOO, you beat me to the punch with your line of NO's. But I agree, Art said it very eloquently. Actually, I am surprised that some have such short memories. It was not very many years ago when the thought of UK winning more than 3 games per year in football, upsetting the #1 team in the country, giving the traditional "SEC POWERS" all they can handle on any given night, and going to 2 (probably 3) consecutive bowl games would have meant erecting a statue or naming a street after the head coach..........why would we want arguably the most successful coach since Bear Bryant (at least, coaches who didn't get us put on Probation) to step down??? Hard to fathom!
Larry

Well-said, Iribookend. Too, it's now 2008. ONLY TWO years ago, in the fall of 2006, many were actually still wanting Coach Brooks FIRED after the lopsided loss to LSU. :eek: The Cats had only had THREE wins going into Starkville, BUT won that one AND the next three, including an upset win over Georgia. The 2006 team then lost a heartbreaker in Knoxville in the last seconds (having had first down on the three before the "killer" delay of game penalty), but then upset Clemson in the Music City Bowl to get to EIGHT wins (having won five out of their last six games), which occurred again in 2007.

So only TWO years ago, much sentiment had been to fire Coach Brooks. A little over a MONTH later, though, a Kentucky fan base showed up at the Cat Walk in Nashville and FINALLY showed Coach Brooks LOVE. :) I'll never forget that OR my reading a day or so after the victory how Mitch Barnhart's young son was FINALLY BEAMING and LOOKING FORWARD to going to school the day after the victory (and :thumbdn::thumbdn: to any parents who had influenced their own youngsters in anti-Mitch sentiment, frankly).

You're so right, Iribookend, in regard to what happened the rest of that year AND again in 2007. Then, goodness, the Cats, as of now, are ONLY ;) bowl-eligible for a third-straight year in this 2008 season, somethingthat hasn't happened in over HALF A CENTURY in Kentucky football. Looking at the short time frame involved, "methinks" we Kentucky fans were MOST quicky "spoiled." :icon_mrgreen: Too, yes, we ALL want MORE, but becoming a powerhouse in the SEC does not easily happen (and speaking of powerhouses, what will the UT team be doing in the month of December ;)?), particularly when a team competes in the very tough SEC East.

Yes, our Cats BEAT the 2007 national champions. Too, thanks for pointing out how we've been competing in the SEC, Iribookend, even in this "REBUILDING" year, one which most all the pundits had thought would be a really "down" year for the program. While we fans are naturally frustrated with the narrow losses and some of the circumstances involved, the actual FACTS show that we have ONLY lost by more than a touchdown to an SEC team ONCE this season. That team, of course, was Florida, who has been similarly destroying EVERY team of late, including a top-ten Georgia team and is predicted by many to be THIS season's national champions. Oh, yes, this season our Cats also lost by ONLY THREE points to the current #1 team in the nation in THEIR stadium.

It surely seems to me that Coach Brooks is surely doing SOMETHING right, a reason we might not want even to be considering pushing him out the door. Personally, I think the case has been made. What think you, I. Melvin? ;)

[I. Melvin]

Well, Miss Poodoo, I guess that deserves a well-thought-out response. Instead, I'll try this:

It doesn't say so, but I always got the feeling that Joshua looked at Moses a few times and thought, "Dude, we've been going over this same ground for years now. Can we just get on with it?"

That's klnda my feeling about Coach Brooks. I really have immense respect for him as a man and as a leader of young men and it's very valuable to never have to worry about the overall integrity of your favorite program. When he chooses to hand over the reins (r-e-i-n-s - and to think I worked at the Blood-Horse, oy) he should and will be revered by every true fan of Kentucky Football.

However, if we go into a game overconfident again, I think I will lose my mind. If our special teams keep making critical mistakes at critical times, I may not survive. At Kentucky, Special Teams needs to be STELLAR and a key part of what makes us win, not what breaks our hearts and/or spirits.

If our defense refuses to blitz out of sheer stubborness (or fear) while we're getting picked apart and everybody on our sidelines seems ok with this, well, is it any wonder I go nuts sometimes?

Do you realize how close we are to a 4-8 season right now? I still can't believe the football gods allowed McAtee to tackle that MTSU guy at the SIX-INCH LINE. And if Mississippi State didn't strive for the Curry Cup (awarded annually to the most suicidal football team in the SEC) even moreso than we, we'd be winless in the SEC.

And why oh why must we stubbornly stick with personnel and procedures that are clearly not working when other options exist? It's madness. Mule-headed madness.

CRB has left too many wins on the table due, in my opinion, to his apparent love of wandering in the wilderness. An Outback or Peach Bowl bid was in our hands this year. Now we'll be lucky to end up freezing our fannies off in Memphis. Last year, we had UT beat (and a New Year's Day Bowl sewn up) if we could just KICK A FLIPPIN' FIELD GOAL.

And don't get me started about Hudson.

Still, I really respect Coach Brooks. Part of me will be quite sad to see him go. It just drives me crazy when he's not as successful as I know he and we can be.

Hope that makes sense.

[poodoo]

I. Melvin, I do hear what you are saying. Too, yes, it is frustrating, and we could indeed be sitting at only four wins, although a play -- or two --could also have us sitting at TEN wins, which is just unreal when considering both the NFL talent we lost and then the key players we lost THIS year. By the way, I had noticed -- and Darrell Bird shared last evening -- that our leading receivers after eleven games are as follows, in order: Dicky Lyons, Randall Cobb, and Derrick Locke. of course, Dicky only played FIVE games (and close to one half of a sixth game). Derrick then went down with an injury. Randall Cobb has been playing quarterback the past three games. That's an UNREAL stat and shows what adversity this team has faced.

To me, it's kind of like what I had said when Randall Cobb had blamed himself for the Georgia loss. Without Randall we wouldnever had been in the position to win. similarly, Coach Brooks has gotten us to the point of competing within a touchdown against every SEC team except Florida. Do I think of penalizing him, then, for our not quite pulling off some of those upsets? No way. Instead, I'm thanking him for getting us to that point, just as I thanked Randall Cobb (and I'm remembering well some serious EXECUTION mistakes that kept us from doing just that).

In regard to the players' being overconfident going into the vandy game, none of us KNOW that was the case. As I shared on another thread, some WEIRD things happened that game, especially early (and the mobile quarterback had only had a high of 93 passing yards for an entire game and then began the first quarter with 150, two of them touchdown passes to a player who had never made a catch -- definitely surprise for our defense AND credit to Bobby Johnson, by the way).

Too, based on what Coach shared before and after the game, he had mightily tried to get them ready for the energy Vandy would bring. Although he kept blaming himself, again, there's no way a coach or teacher can MAKE the players or students absorb the material or attitude or whatever.

The Cats' Pause's Darrell Bird said last evening that he thinks Coach Brooks has probably done a lot better coaching THIS season than the two past ones. That's because of the comparative personel he's had available this season. Again, Coach Brooks GOT US to the point for us to experience all those frustrations in such CLOSE games in the toughest conference in America. :) We must simply agree to disagree. :)

By the way, I myself had made a point NOT to correct that spelling, FWIW. :icon_mrgreen: GO CATS! BEAT UT!