The House of Blue

From observing the comprehensive UK fan through an outsider's prism, they would notice a ridiculous dichotomy.

Like Richard Attenborough or Marlin Perkins from afar in a tree stand in the veldt, they would see a spectacle of human nature...

First, that the fanbase has to treat the football program with kid gloves and patience, almost maternal instincts for a disfigured child with a clef pallate ...

THEN while in November they magically transform from the banal pupa to a vicious, blood-thirsty, win-hungry, results-only, burn down the village (literally) clan of snakes.

I have said it before and I'll say it again, the day UKs fanbase expects greatness for the institution as it does basketball - FOR FOOTBALL, then and only then, will we see a real transformation to compete in the SEC.

Expectations:

Tubby Smith was a very successful coach. Great man... Because the program was on a downward trajectory, the fanbase, big money boosters and administration forced Tubby to make changes in his staff...Which got the desired effect in him resigning.

This cultural expectation of winning for basketball does NOT exist for football... Not one iota.

Fans openly blast players performance, style of exciting play, coaching decisions and benchings, recruiting rankings in basketball -

BUT - in regards to football it shall not be done. Then it's the negative fans fault for poor performance, dropped passes and pitiful coaches preparation...

I was a Tubby guy. I thought we were OK... In retrospect, albeit the CBCG experiment was a doomed failure - the pressure and expectation to succeed forced the administrations' hand to produce a winner AND for this Im glad they made a difficult decision to force Tubby out.

For football, I never will protest or boycott games... Those players, regardless of talent level ARE MY GUYS...US. But at some point, the administration should have the fear of God run through them and committ to producing a winner. Expect to win the SEC.

I don't think this cultural shift has started. Brooks did well on the field, but couldn't steer the ocean liner of culture away from the rocks.

USCs culture has changed and now Franklin is talking about doing so at VANDY. If UK were ever to do it, it will be when Florida and Tennessee are less strong. Additionally, I think it all begins and ends with coaching in football. If some dude brings the juice, the money will follow.

Am I calling for Joker's head? Nope.

Maybe if we only get 3 wins this year, but I think we may be better than expected.

So based on this logic, Jokers star has dimmed as well? Joker has to get to .500 in SEC play or ----------? He has an extra year on Franklin in the SEC.

Jokers star dimmed before he even took over the head coaching job. LOL.

I keep reading the records for joker and Franklin was the same but didn't joker step into a lot better situation? Joker was taking over a winner with talent. Franklin took over a team coming off a losing season. Franklin is recruiting better with much harder restrictions.

...........COUNT IT!!

+1!!!

Just to toss this out there...simply because I have no idea why everyone thinks Franklin is the next big coach (maybe he is, but a little early to say). Franklin is doing some great things, marketing Vandy well and making waves in recruiting...but is he worthy of this hype yet?

If UK doesn't go to Nashville last year and drop a deuce on the 50, would Franklin still be getting this glory? Yes, Vandy played ARKY and UGA close. Guess what, we played UGA close too! They also beat UCONN by just 3 points! Not to mention, they lost to UT....ya know, the team we beat with a receiver at QB.

Point being, Vandy did some good things last year. But they didn't exactly set the world on fire. Yet for us, Vandy is on their way to being top dog because they beat us last year, badly of course. But was that really a product of Vandy and Franklin making a great rise in the SEC...or simply because last year we sucked?

Minter: why is it that when referring to Joker @ UK, you say that winning is all that matters and excuses need to stop, then turn around and defend Charlie and now Franklin with the same excuses that your telling UK fans to stop using???

How can it be put up or shut up time for Joker (who has been coaching ONE year longer than Franklin and the same amount of time as Charlie) and then you offer up excuse after excuse for someone who went 5-7 with an experienced team and another who has a similar record to Joker while being in one of the worst conferences in America??? Forgive the run-on sentences, but I would live to see you own your words. You talk about accountability, well, try having some for your own words (both in this thread and many more in the past). Your not
Fooling anyone. We all see that everything you put out there is slanted in one direction.

Brooks didn't recruit well his last few years for sure...but UK finished ahead of Vandy every single year in recruiting from 2011 thru 2007...all of those kids were on the field for a 30 point thrashing and all played well above what UK's kids in SEC play last year. To argue Franklin had more talent last year is absurd....he coached his kids while our 4* QB was throwing passes in the dirt, OL could not pick up a blitz to save their life, DE could not shed a block if they have grease on their jersies, KO/punt return game was grade school level exeuction and WR could not catch/make plays all year long.

Last year was a miserable failure on just about every part save Minter's unit at times.