The House of Blue

This is why so many fans are down on the program. It was just 4-5 years ago that UK beat the #1 team in the nation on CBS primetime television and then HOSTED College GameDay. Think about that for a minute. Everyone associated with UK dropped the ball in failing to capitalize on that momentum.

No coincidence that the two worst recruiting years followed that season. That's where the ball was dropped. They're just now righting the ship. That's also a big reason why Joker made so many staff changes. If you're not a good recruiter, UK can't afford to have you around. Recruiting, recruiting, recruiting.

I wouldn't say he was in charge of it but he was basically the only person on the staff who could actually recruit. Heggins, Petri, Brinson, and Brown were not the type of guys who could sell our program; both Sanders and Smith were also very limited to their areas.

Joker was not in charge of them. He was their "ace" recruiter and responsible for *most* of the SEC-level talent they did actually land.

UK's staff had to sign off on kids unanimously for offers, and there were often some disagreements.

But as HCIW he didn't have any veto power? I find that a bit tough to believe, especially as staff was turning over.

In any case, losing Tee is nuclear in terms of recruiting momentum.

And the reason for the downfall! We didn't follow up those years with good recruiting classes. Heggins, petri, Ort and brown were beyond worthless on the recruiting trail.

Brooks caught lightening in a bottle with having some amazing skill guys from ky who flew under the radar. Woodson was sought after but there was debate on whether
Or not we should taken button or Tamme

And if he's gone he'll get a new job pretty quick and go on and be successful.

People forget that UK once had a coaching staff made up 6, 7 future Pro and CFB Hall of Fame Coaches...and they got fired! There's a reason why people talk guys OUT of taking a job with UK Football. It's a graveyard. Careers go to die here and in my honest opinion I don't think it'll ever change without some massive economic, competitive and demographic shifts.

FALSE!

He was not the recruiting coordinator nor was he the HC that made the final decision to offer the kids. Try again.

So, you expect one guy to basically recruit a full 25-man class of SEC-type players at UK? That doesn't even happen at the big-time schools. It takes a whole staff to recruit a full class of talented players. He's the one who kept the classes from being even worse.

This is somewhat amusing to me. It was talked about by the folks on rivals.com radio and other football recruiting media types that UK had really done a poor job capitalizing on their success in 07 with recruiting results that Feb.

It was mentioned by a few folks on these types of boards. However, 99% of the fans on this board and others stood strong with the mantra of "recruiting rankings don't matter, Rich Brooks doesn't care about offer lists"...ect..

Where did those recruiting classes rank that many are now claiming is responsible for UK's current downward path, high 40's to low 50's (depending on service). Where did this UK class (that many fans are calling the "best in modern history") rank? Almost identical.

Minter if it was all about rankings how do you explain the 8 win seasons that Andre, Burton, Tamme and all those guys had? They were part of a low ranking class yet we won 8 games and almost won a few more... I do understand your logic and it does make sense but it's still possible for us to put a good product on the field even if we are getting classes in the high 30's and 40's. I would like to see that number improve though. I don't think UK has to get top 25 classes what I do believe in my heart is we have to be able to get those guys that we must have like "Burton" the big Juco OT that went to OLE MESS. When we have a need like that Joker has to find a way to get those guys. Joker must get to were he can answer all question marks in every single class. That has to improve, however 11 and 12 are both good classes I just wish we could have landed Burton or even another big D-O lineman.

Another key for Joker and Co to do well is executing on first down. Since we don't get the best Defensive prospects we have to have good production on first down, we can't drop passes or only get one yard and go 3&out like we did so much this year. No team can be good on OFF if they are always in 2nd and 10.

We do have a SEC group of D-lineman returning along with a good 4 star NG and other good D-lineman... The reason I don't agree with star rankings and don't agree with all the services is because noone knows what kind of intangibles a kid has. I really do believe we will be fine, however i'm not sure we will ever be a 10 win team if Mitch and Co don't start throwing more money into football like every other SEC school now does every off-season to improve their status... IMO that's the key, we need to be able to say we have top flight facilities for us to be able to compete since we don't have very good tradition. Just my opinion, but I still think a team that plays smart on OFF and plays tough Defense has a chance, I think all that is possible as long as our skill positions improve along with our qb play. And on Defense I think we will be alot better off since we are returning so many SEC DT's/DE's that are big and athletic. We have a talented group at safety, and a very athletic bunch at LB. I know not many of those LB's/Cb's were rated high and some are still young but their are kids in those groups that have a chance at being very productive. We will never get the recruiting classes that GA or BAMA gets, if you are expecting top classes in the SEC then you should just give up because it's not going to happen, however if we could put together one or two more seasons like Andre and Co did in 07 I think we could get where we all want. Why we didn't back in 07 is beyond me, Joker wasn't fully in charge then either if someone spouts that out...

We all want the same thing, if any of us are going to complain about anything it should be the fact that FB isn't getting the money it's due eventhough it's the biggest source of revenue. That's something that deserves to get exposed on the largest scale, to bad we can't do anything about it...

That group of coaches was only together for one year (I think it was the year after Bryant left) and then they dispersed to other jobs. Pretty sure Bradshaw is the only one that got fired in that group.