The House of Blue

I'm starting to warm up to it, after reading his bio. Hope he can recruit his butt off.

To that point shouldn't that coach be able to recruit those jimmies and joes? Hard to coach em up if you can't bring em in.

Cassity is a solid position coach. He's a Kentuckian, a former player, and wants the program to succeed. He's also been among the better recruiters everywhere he's been. I'm not sure about what Matt is saying, which is not a good thing if it's true. But, the page has been turned, for better or worse, in regard to Brooks. The man put UK's football program on better footing and now Joker is putting his stamp on things. If Cassity is seen as a part of getting the program to respectability in the SEC, then I am all for it.

Sorry, not a fan of this hire. Joker is surrounding himself with yes men - this isn't 1984. Needed a young, aggressive recruiter with this hire. In the grand scheme, though, it really doesn't matter. A DB's coach isn't going to make or break this staff.

That wasn't Cassity - that was Nord.

Cassity was the lead recruiter for Lumpkin at UL. Maybe Nord was also on the visit. Brooks has openly talked about it to people for years.

Really? Lets lay out some facts here:

1) The game of football is about the Jimmy's and the Joes, which is why Steve Brown was fired.
2) College football recruiting is not for the mother mary sisters of the poor. It is tough. And you have to do what you need to do to get kids on campus.....however, let it be known that Joker has built a culture of trying to do the right thing, rather than anything, to get kids on campus.
3) Sometimes a coach and their styles mimic that of their leader. Petrino is a lying piece of crap, and thus the coaches beneath him become lying pieces of crap.
4) Until Kentucky starts getting players on the field that can play some damn football, it doesn't matter what the coaches are doing. Kentucky is in the SEC. There is not a gimmick in the world that is going to work consistent in the SEC without the talent needed to complete it. Why is it that so many of these "great" coaches don't come to the SEC and immediately have incredible success and competing for championships the second they step on campus? Look at Dan Mullen. He's been average. Why? Because he didn't have the same talent as he did at Florida.
5) Joker Phillips understands what it takes to win at an SEC program. PLAYERS. SPEED. TACKLING. ELITE LEVEL ATTITUDE. Remember, if a kid plays at Kentucky and he doesn't believe he was good enough to play for FLorida, then Kentucky has not shot when playing Florida. You gotta have cocky, attitude, and elite athleticism. Almost every team in the SEC lost playing time with their QB this year due to injury. Only one did in the Mountain West. Why? Because the SEC will beat you down like a red headed stepchild. That's why you need depth at every position. No single player is immune from getting beat to crap in the SEC.

Personally, I don't give a rat crap what anyone did before their tenure at Kentucky. It becomes irrelevant. What is relevant is if they can go out there and close on kids that are going to make a difference to this program.

Recruit. Recruit. Recruit. Get 'em on campus. Coach them up. And watch the W's start to come. I care about four things when it comes to Kentucky football.

1) Getting the best players we can, and ones that will be eligible.
2) Coaching them up.
3) Getting them to class.
4) Keeping them out of trouble.

You do those 4 things, and Kentucky will start to win. Like Joker, I'm done with Kentucky football being a joke, and I want him to do whatever is in the realm of possibility with the restrictions the UK program will always have and build a GD winner.

So, if Cassity did something I hated to pull a kid from Kentucky, I hope he does the same thing to Florida, Georgia, LSU. Go, get, them.

Rack!!!

Really like this hire. Mike is tough as nails and a great recruiter.

Might as well get all of these old guys with ties to the program on the staff at one time then we can either prove that they could turn the program around or we can move on with a cleaner slate. Frankly, I am tired of all the Cassity whining that goes on every few years when there is an opening. What does Cassity do presently? I have a feeling that Barnhart approves. It is a real shame about Brooks. He did much more for UKFB than this whole staff combined. Isn't he the 3rd UL retread we have on staff now?

Yeah. 40th nationally is good for 11th or 12th in the SEC.

No surprise whatsoever, this is who I predicted would be hired weeks ago. Just like Nord, Summers, Turner, Minter, he is someone Joker either coached with before or was on the UK coaching staff when he played in the early 80's. Only Tee Martin was a hire outside of Joker's comfort zone. Guess it is just a coincidence he is regarded as the best recruiter on the staff.

Not a sexy pick but ought to be more competent coaching secondary than we saw this past season, or at least not a distraction/insabortination situation. Not sure why anyone would think he would be a recruiting dynamo. The last time he was involved with highly regarded recruits was with UL in 2007, 4 years ago. And isnt it amazing how we now have 3 guys from the UL Petrino coaching staff of 2003-2006 here now in Cassity, Nord, Summers?

BTW I believe it was 2005 when Cassity or those close to him were doing some bigtime talking him up to UK boosters/alums on the assumption Brooks would be fired after that season.

Guess we'll just have to see re recruiting. Just looked up Marshall's commitment list... FWIW, Cassidy was not listed as the lead recruiter on any of their commits. Gerard Parker is the lead recruiter on several, and another assistant appears to be their main guy in Florida. Hope he can sell UK to recruits.