The House of Blue

Well done. It is nice to see someone thinking outside the box or the Big Blue swimming pool that everyone is drowning in. You summed it up in a nutshell.

I agree that the old excuse of a poor pipeline from the state high school programs is very overcomeable. Look at Boise State's recent national success. Look at Nebraska for decades now.

The state of Nebraska has half the population of Kentucky. The Huskers have been off their usual dominance in the last ten years, but have had an abundance of it before the recent downturn. They have it headed back in the right direction. They sprinkle a few big, cornfed, instate lineman in with speed recruited on a national basis. Mike Rozier was from New Jersey, Ron Dayne from New Jersey, and Tommy Frazier from Florida to name a few. They have established their football program and their state's lacking in high school football talent is not a major issue.

The issue is that Joker just isn't well suited to "run" a program. Perhaps he's a guy who can do certain things within a program very well. Run the offense, recruit, etc... But being a coach is more like being a CEO. You have to be a very unique person to understand how to run an entire program. many times, the best coordinators and recruiters are not good head coaches. The only way to find that out is to give them a shot. Joker deserved a shot and Brooks & Barnhart were right for giving him this shot. We had a great situation on paper with Joker. The negatives were things we couldn't see coming. I'm sure some of you, in hindsight, will say "i told you so". But the move was universally applauded and was initiated by Brooks.

Now we move on. Who do we hire? What is the pedigree?

What are your thoughts on Mike Riley? Obvious connection with Barnhart. he's taken a doormat in the Pac 10/12 and made it into a very sold program. He'd have more resources here. But would obviously have more competition.

Thoughts?

Good points by all..I 100% agree! Lets spend money to make some money..either redo Commonwealth or build a new stadium..around 100k seats. Pay a great HC to come in and overhaul the football program. A coach coming in.has pleanty of tools to work with..all these freshmen and sophomores..its not like Uk is a bare cupboard. Max Smith and Pat Towles both look to be more than capable field generals. Mobley is like a plowhorse that wants more and more work. Sweat, legree,Collins, Robinson..all explosive with the ball in thier mitts. A good coach could come in and bowl next year and make a run at a SEC East crown in 2014.

My thoughts of the potential candidates, the first three off the beaten path:

DAVID CUTCLIFFE...Duke is 5-2. If you can win in football at Duke, you must have something working.

BRENT PEASE....OC at Florida. Former Kentucky OC and lots of success at Boise State. Big negative...no head coaching experience.

REX RYAN...his job security is looking a little better after this week. Father Buddy is failing in health and living in nearby Lawrenceburg, KY. Stranger things have happened. He might not win at Kentucky, but we would be entertained to maximum proportions.

BOBBY PETRINO...has to be on the list of inquiries. Has to. Mitch Barnhart hired Dennis Erickson at Oregon State, so he has made a hire in the past that might not get sterling references from previous employers.

To be continued......

Not sure why Hop even brought that up. Can we please not ruin this thread with that crap.

What you said is spot on. To get the football program up to SECstandards you have to rebuild it from top to bottom, changing the coach alone wont solve the problem although Ithink a change is needed. What may be needed is a change in the AD to start with. I really dont believe Mitch will fire Joker in the middle of the season but perhaps Joker will resign but dont count on that. Whomever makes the decision on who becomes the HC of the Cats could start looking now but until the season is over unless they hire an unemployed coach like B. Petrino which I dont think will happen you wont really have access to all the really good coaches that might consider KY. But again I think a change is needed from top to bottom before the football program can really look like it belongs in the SEC.

I have no idea who should be the coach but Joker Phillips has shown none of the characteristics that make me think he could do the job. You need to have outstanding organizational skills and make quick and mostly correct personnel and game decisions. You need to have good, if not outstanding communication skills. You must be willing and able to make demands on the administration for resources that are needed for the program. You must successfully manage a roster of players and a coaching staff. Finally, you must be either able to sell your program to the public or be so good at winning games that it sells itself. Being from Kentucky is a not necessary or even relevant in my opinion. Loyalty in coaching means being loyal to your current employer just like in business. The thought that having Kentucky roots is more important than being able to do the job is akin to the kind of thinking that led the legislature to try and pass a law when Collier was coach requiring UK to have mostly Kentucky players. Who really cares if some coach comes here and builds a winner only to leave a few years later? At least he would leave us better than when he arrived. The program is toxic right now and the entire athletic department will start to smell soon if they don't fix this.