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Author
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Topic: Stoops impressed with Shannon Dawson
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catmandoo
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Member # 1284
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posted 04-25-2015 02:24 PM
Good to hear
Mark Stoops admitted he was "very impressed" with new offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson during Kentucky's spring practice.
"I was very happy with what Coach (Neal) Brown, what Neal was doing and where we were going. I knew we would be better this year, for sure, just with the personnel – and we should be heading into Year 3," said Stoops about his former offensive coordinator who left UK to become head coach at Troy.
"So I was very pleased with what we were doing. I really like what we’re doing right now. I just think it was exactly what I was looking for and I just feel like we made a lot of strides and I like what we’re doing schematically.
"I think our players are really enjoying it, like I said, and in some ways maybe eliminated a little bit of thinking, a little bit of pressure off certain guys. So overall, I’ve been very pleased.”
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Posts: 186362 | From: st. augustine florida 32092 | Registered: Mar 2001
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Bama Cat
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Member # 153
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posted 04-26-2015 12:51 PM
I'm impressed with all the changes at UK but Shannon is not a miracle worker. If we can win more than 4 games this year I will have to admit he is as close to a miracle worker as we'll find.
Posts: 14191 | From: berea, ky, usa | Registered: Sep 1999
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catmandoo
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Member # 1284
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posted 04-26-2015 01:40 PM
Right on, the state of the program is such that it can't be fixed over night but good to hear we realize it and are making some changes to help the situation.
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Posts: 186362 | From: st. augustine florida 32092 | Registered: Mar 2001
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Old Norm
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Member # 1482
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posted 04-26-2015 04:05 PM
I've been reading that "Can't be fixed overnight" for 37 years. Just how long IS overnight?
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Pray For Our Country!
Posts: 36274 | From: Western KY | Registered: Aug 2001
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catmandoo
Player
Member # 1284
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posted 04-26-2015 04:12 PM
Norm, if either one of us see's the change for the better in our life times it will be a shock! That said we just got to keep the faith and always think it's going to happen in the coming season. ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
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Posts: 186362 | From: st. augustine florida 32092 | Registered: Mar 2001
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Old Norm
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Member # 1482
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posted 04-26-2015 07:03 PM
Color me pessimistic.
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Pray For Our Country!
Posts: 36274 | From: Western KY | Registered: Aug 2001
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boomdaddy
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Member # 2644
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posted 04-28-2015 08:38 AM
Any long suffering Kentucky football has every right to be pessimistic and skeptical.
Who was the last great coach at Kentucky? Fran Curci.
The UK AD thought he struck gold in hiring Bill Curry. He hired Curry and his whole staff stayed at Bama. Curry went out and hired the worst OC of all time, Elliot Uzelac.
Hal Mumme was the air raid. He let the deuce loose and it was fun time in the Commonwealth. What was the big issue with him? Hell fire, his system should have been called the D raid and common sense raid. He stole from the defensive side of the ball and he had three times the number of receivers on his team than any other team in the college game. The hell with the other positions. I almost forgot to mention that he hired one of his close friends who happened to be the most incompetent Defensive coordinators in the sport.
Guy Morris....remember him? This guy got lucky to have a running back who was an absolute beast, who could get hit at the line of scrimmage and still gain 5 yards. What did he do or not do? For one, he failed to recruit any lineman. What? A fomer NFL lineman didn't recruit any lineman? What? The only smart thing that the AD did, was not give him a long term deal and let him leave and go to Baylor.
Who would have liked Kentucky to have done what South Carolina has done under Spurier? He wanted the job and it was given to Rich Brooks.
Rich Brooks eventually brought a small measure of respectability to the Kentucky program and the team went to a string of lower tier bowls.
The down side of the Brooks era was that the Kentucky administration and the fans had settled for mediocrity. At least it was better than losing all the time. Oh, and the big stone around Kentucky's neck, that helped sink the program back to the bottom again, was letting Brooks pick his successor.
Joker is the new coach. Had Joker kept Brooks' staff intact, he could have maintained a certain level of mediocrity. Instead, he brought in new guys and started downward slide that was easily noticed in the loss column and recruiting.
Now, to the present day of the Stoops era. He hasn't accomplished anything yet. The jury is still out and we are going to find out just how good he is in season three.
The positives are:
1 He won three more games than he did the season before
2 He has raised the level of recruits that he has coming in
3 He red shirted many players who may or may not be ready to make an impact on this season
4 He has kept his staff mostly intact, and the ones he lost were understandable, the OC to be a HC, the Special teams guy to go back home, and the other special teams guy left that was not working out.
5 The high performance program. Not sure how many fans know that this is a big deal. Why is it a big deal? Apparantly, FSU paid a big chunk of money for a guy to come in and keep it going, when Stoops took Korem with him. The pros come to Kentucky all the time to see what they are doing. And, UK has Bud Dupree, who is heavily regarded as a lofty 1st round pick, who stayed in Lexington to prepare himself for the draft combines.
High performance, so what? Yes, it is difficult to see the proof. It takes a few years to develop any player. Now, there have been two full off seasons that the players have worked with this program. Will we see results in the win column?
In season four, Stoops will have a team of mostly all his players. Quite frankly, the program and the fans can't wait that long. The team needs to win a minimum of 6 games and go to any kind of a bowl game, this season. They also need to show up against the better teams and avoid blow outs. They need to win at least 6, to keep recruiting momentum and to keep the fans engaged with the program.
Personally, I like the new OC over the last guy. I don't claim to be some football guru or have crystal ball and be able to see him doing miracles. But, I think he will fair much better than the last OC.
What else is new with Kentucky football? Because of the SEC Network and the UK's media media deal with radio, they finally put a substantial amount of money into the program. Ho hum, you might say? Actually this is huge. Not only is the program making the facilities worthy of attracting recruits, the administration is finally paying the coaches salaries that are high enough for them to stick around, when other programs want to steal them. Kentucky hasn't even started winning and other teams are trying to poach the best assistants on the staff. IN the past, they left.
Yes, we the fans, have a right to be skeptical. But, we also have more reasons than ever before to be hopeful that a new dawn of Kentucky football is on the horizon.
I am hoping that a new winning tradition starts in year 3 of the Stoops era. I am hoping for 7 wins, but would settle for 6 and a low tier bowl game. Go Cats!
[ 04-28-2015, 08:46 AM: Message edited by: boomdaddy ]
Posts: 8791 | From: paris, ky | Registered: Mar 2006
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catmandoo
Player
Member # 1284
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posted 04-28-2015 09:01 AM
Good post boom., You gave us a lot of good information.
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Posts: 186362 | From: st. augustine florida 32092 | Registered: Mar 2001
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