I am as big of a UK football fan as there is, but I will be the first to say I am not excited AT ALL about the program's future. My looming disappointment began in January of 2008 when Joker Phillips was anointed the Head Coach in waiting.
After UK's successful 2007 season led by Andre Woodson, many programs were interested in obtaining the services of Joker Phillips. The team didn't want to lose him, so they made the move they thought was necessary. That move being overreacting and crowning Phillips as the next Head Coach. The success of that team should be directed at Randy Sanders who turned this offense from a joke to a top-10 one with the same personnel.
People claim Joker to be a helluva recruiter, but I don't understand why. Over the past 3 years, we have signed only four 4-star players. Aaron Boyd, DeQuin Evans, Ryan Mossakowski, and Chris Matthews. Our 2010 class is comparable to EKU's. Our average recruit is a 2.06 star with no 4-star players. Some of the teams with a better recruiting class are Louisville, SDSU, Vandy, Duke, Temple, and Akron.....all powerhouse teams, of course.
For the past 2 years, UK's offense has been absolutely horrendous. Fans want to blame that on the play of our quarterbacks, but that is Joker's job. He is responsible for assessing his players, helping them improve on their weaknesses, and then to put them in a situation that allows them to succeed. Luckily, we have been blessed with a beast of a man-child named Randall Cobb. I don't even want to know where the team would be at this point if it wasn't for him. This year, we are ranked 90th in total yards per game after finishing ranked 106th last year. His play-calling is beyond questionable. Take tonight for example. Trailing by 7 inside the redzone late in the 4th quarter, he calls for 2 consecutive QB draws with Morgan Newton. Well, they went for negative yards and the drive later ended with an embarrassing interception. Cobb didn't touch the ball one time in the 4th quarter while the Cats were trying to rally for the W.
I just don't see how the program can succeed under Phillips. I think we would be better off trying to acquire a coach with a name, preferably from the NFL ranks. The last thing a team trying to maintain a winning trend needs is to hire a coach with a record of 0-0. I understand it helps when recruiting by letting the recruits know there won't be major changes when Brooks steps down, but by that time, a change is something we may need. The head coaching position at UK should be a very attractive one. We are in the best conference in the sport, and have been to and won 3 straight bowl games. I am sure there are at least 20 guys looking for a coaching job that are head and shoulders better than Joker Phillips.
I hope Joker proves me wrong.
Posts
