The House of Blue

The next great coach in America is out there and would love an opportunity to coach at UK. The trick is figuring out who he is

Jones very well might be that guy, or maybe he's not. That's about as exact as NCAA football coaching gets.

I hope people don't get too low and give the new coach a chance regardless as to who he is but what I really hope is that people get super excited with this hire and that it creates a buzz around the program. So I'm cool with people getting too high.

What part about Butch Jones' history at Central Michigan or Cincinnati says that he's a stellar recruiter? The class rankings I saw weren't anything extra special.

(Recruiting rankings are courtesy of Rivals.com)

Central Michigan ...... 2008 class ranked #107 ... 2009 was #97 ... 2010 was #112

Cincinnati ..... 2011 was #49 .... 2012 was #50 .... 2013 is currently #46

He's landed only 1 four star recruit ever - Jameel Poteat (Pennsylvania) Running Back in 2011.

I guess it could be argued that Butch Jones has recruited some better classes at Cincinnati in the Big East than Kentucky has in the SEC. That is true, but it's also on the heels of Brian Kelly taking Cincinnati to 3 consecutive bowl games, including back to back BCS bowls and 11-2, 11-3 & 12-1 records in the 3 seasons before Jones took over. Any coach should be able to recruit kids to a school following 3 years of success like that.

Side Note: Jones followed those 3 seasons with a 4-8 record in his first year. He did get them back to 10-3 and a bowl victory over Vanderbilt in his second season last year. He currently has them at 7-3 with losses to Toledo, Louisville and Rutgers in his 3rd season.

The problem I have is that he didn't really recruit any better than either of his predecessors at Central Michigan or Cincinnati, but his predecessor was Brian Kelly at both schools. So, it could also be said that Jones was able to recruit just as well as Brian Kelly at both schools, maybe even a slight bit better as far as the rankings are concerned. Butch Jones' recruiting classes were very similar to what Brian Kelly did at both CMU and Cincy. Brian Kelly went from that same level to putting together #20 & #10 ranked classes at Notre Dame, and is currently assembling a #3 ranked class this year. So how strong will Jones' classes be at an SEC school, even if it is Kentucky. I'm on the fence as far as him being a strong recruiter. I've seen recruiting rankings say one thing and then the opposite actually happened. I am willing to give Butch Jones a shot though, if he does indeed become our next coach. He'll have my 100% support from day one, and it will be up to him to keep it or lose it.

I see 60% calling him a "bleh" hire or bust...and the typical 25% drinking the kool aid that current coach is fine or whoever we get will be great.

But I don't see a blind fanbase on this decision.