The House of Blue

Laugh out freakin Loud.

I will approach this with hypothetical answers as Joker is not going anywhere.

We are not going to get a big name coach and if we did than:
Pete Carroll - No, Recruiting infractions under his watch
Urban Meyer - No, he could go any where, so it will not be UK
Bobby Petrino - No and NO
Mike Leach - No, would be another Billy G.

Top Coordinators that might consider us:
Gus Malzahn - No, he has do nothing of note without Cam Newton.
John Chavis - I would like this hire if he brought in Neal Brown as OC and kelpt Tee.
Manny Diaz - Again if he got a hot OC, I love how he recruits and the Ds that his team plays.

Be careful what you wish for because IF a coaching search where to happen that you might be looking at these possible candidates: Phillip Fulmer or Rich Rodriguez. I would not want either of those two.

Exactly.

For what it is worth, which is probably nothing whatsoever, I think UK needs to get a coach who knows SEC Football from real experience, and for me at a minimum that means

1. played football for a SEC Winning program that won while he was playing, and
2 coached football at a high staff position [either a head coach or one of the primary coordinators] for a SEC Winning program that won while he was coaching there.

Then, the UKAA and UK AD need to step aside, get out of the way, and let this guy build a SEC Caliber program without all of the impediments that the UKAA and AD at UK have put up to stymie football at UK for all these decades.

I do not get any warm and fuzzy feelings about any coach from the midwest, southwest, north east, ACC, or west who has never experienced SEC Football as a player and coach. I cite John Ray. He was a well respected Defensive Coordinator at Notre Dame when Notre Dame meant something in this game. He came to Lexington with his chest all puffed up proclaiming his plan to teach the south how to really play defense and football.

He may have been excellent at what he had done, but he got his butt handed to him nearly every week that he survived as UK's coach.

Just my $0.02 worth.

BTW, I like Joker; I respect his love for all things about UK football; I had hoped that he would be able to use his personal connection to the program to build some synergy and get more mileage for the program than the parts could produce in their own right. However, it is now clear to me that Joker won't get this job done to take the program up a notch or two on the SEC ladder, and he may well oversee the slippage back down to the bottom of the heap. I am saddened by that conclusion, but I think his time is over, and now it is simply a question of when his tenure will end. Now? At the end of 2011? After one more miserable season? After 9 years of this like we had with Curry?

Mitch Barnhart did not hesitate to pull the trigger on Gillispie real quick, and he must act as decisively with respect to the football situation.

It is not impossible that Barnhart would fire Joker after the season. As it stands right now Joker is highly unpopular with the fanbase, and going into 2012 Barnhart has a home schedule to sell without Louisville, Florida, and Tennessee. A serious decline in season ticket sales (and the linked K fund donations) would hurt Mitch badly - that is a lot less money for the Soccer coach, or for volleyball travel, or for gymnastic equipment. A floundering UK football program cannot fund all those nonrevenue/olympic/women's teams that Mitch is so very fond of. But even if Barnhart decides to make a change the problem we face is not having an intelligent football mind to guide him, like Pratt did his most recent basketball hire.

Malzahn does not excite me at all and I dont know where people come up
with touting this guy..He coached Newton for one year and everyone thinks
he is some kind of offensive genius...Forget him..

Now if you are serious about doing this,then the first call you make is to Urban
Meyer. He is the big name everyone wants..And he is not tied to a job. Great
coaches sometimes see downtrodden programs as a challenge and they believe
enough in their abilities to recruit and coach at that program. We have a lot to offer
and we would be foolish not to make the call. The worst he could say is no. Where
was he before he went to Fla? BGU and Utah...Not necessarily two huge football
powers..

So you people who want the big name guys cant have it both ways..Meyer is available
if his health allows and he really wants to get back in it,and the call must be made. I myself
am not going to any more games this season and I know many other season ticket holders
that arent either..If we end up 3-9 or 2-10 a change could happen this year. Dont kid yourself.
Empty seats tell a heck of a story.

I want Mike Leach if Joker does eventually get the sack, we need to stop this pro style offense rubbish and get ourselves something that puts points on the board!

I would like to get Neal Brown back here, but not sure he is ready for the head job yet. But man, Texas Tech is averaging 54.5 point and 550+ yards per game through the first two games. Might trade Randy Sanders for Neal Brown. However, Brown makes $350k at Tech so we would have to pay him.

Not that UK is looking for a HC, but whenever they're in the market, Mitch would have to pursue a coordinator from a BCS school or a HC at a FCS school. JMO.

Giving Joker a five year contract was just another blunder by Todd and Barnhart. Hell, the man would have signed the line for much less money at a much shorter term; IMO, three years should be the max we offer anyone and then stipulate the possibility of extensions and salary increases based on performance.

You would think those guys would have learned from the BCG mistake.

UKAA needs to put up the money to get the right guy here. Here's my top choices:

1. Brent Pease Boise State OC

2. Gary Patterson TCU HC

3. Mike Leach

4. Bronco Mendenhall BYU HC

Not Mike Leach. He's a head case.