I love how some judge Kiffin by last nights performance but totally ignore Stoops and the USCe game. If you want a Stoops type I think Franklin is a better choice.
It isn't judging on one game. Kiffin repeatedly gets blown out against top competition. And I haven't thrown support of stoops specifically but I'd take him over kiffin in a heartbeat if that's what it boils down to. Franklin can't get over the hump in the big ten at a traditional power. Stoops has made people forget that Kentucky is still Kentucky while claiming they are an average sec team. Know what they were before stoops showed up?
We’ve seen what defensive minded coaches do at UF. Stoops gets blown out as well and his teams have a tendency to crumble under pressure. He’s had 4 losing seasons and his ceiling is 7-6 Franklin has a Big10 title and he won at Vandy and he’s only had 2 losing seasons. He recruits well. Lane has had one losing season. I do think Kiffin comes with a lot of risks but I don’t see a lot of sure things out there. UF does well when it has an offensive identity. I also don’t think UF can bring in anyone that can compete with Bama, UGA or Texas. I don’t think that’s a coaching issue as much as a UF issue. UF fans needs to accept a ceiling of 9 plus winning seasons with hopefully a pop every few seasons. I think Franklin/Kiffin can give UF that easily. Franklin would probably just last longer than Kiffin.
Franklin has won 9 or 10 games more often than not and has a conference championship. So you're faulting him for not beating OSU and Michigan more often, one of which is is the most consistent and (arguably) talented team in the country.
Penn state has all the history and resources to not play 2nd fiddle to OSU and Michigan. He's done well there but people weren't happy with Mullen losing to Georgia and Bama either. Again, I'm not throwing an endorsement of Stoops OVER Franklin but I will say he's a better and proven coach over Kiffin while also proving he's stable. Why do people seem to forget how bad Kentucky had been as a program? Stoops has become a victim of his own success no matter how much people want to downplay their results.
I don't buy into offensive vs defensive identities for a particular program or university. Florida was once well known for defense in the 80s as well as their balanced title teams of the 90s and 2000s. Fans might prefer offense but we have and can win with various styles of football. We had extreme anomalies with muschamp who couldn't run an offense at Florida or South carolina and is now unemployed as a head coach because he wasn't a good head coach not because he had strong defenses. Mullen couldn't get over the hump because his defenses were atrocious despite having excellent offense most of his time here. We need a good coach regardless of style.
History doesn't win games. They haven't won a national title since the 80s and only have 3 conference titles this century, one of which is Franklin's. And no, PSU is nowhere near the national brand OSU is. People were ok with Mullen being 1-2 against UGA teams playing for titles. They weren't ok with him refusing to make any necessary changes, being an awful recruiter, and literally giving up on the program after 2020. But as Marine said competing with UGA and Bama every year is out of the question for several years anyway. If you'd be happy with Kentucky results here, fine. I'd much rather have Kiffin/OM or Franklin/PSU results.
I would take Franklin in a heartbeat. He’s proven that he can do more with less as well as being a consistent contender. Sure he’s only beaten OSU once, but you could count on your hand how many teams that can beat them. The only concerning metric is his record against top 25 teams. There could be a scenario where he would be the only logical option if Napier is fired and the hiring criteria is limited to an experienced Power 4 head coach.
That’s fine, but if UF hires Stoops he will already be behind because he will not bring a lot of excitement or backing from the majority.
Kentucky has won 10 games 4 times in their history. 1950, 1977 and twice under stoops. They rank 94th in all time win percentage. They have been a joke more often than not with pockets of mediocrity. They had a few 8 win seasons prior to bottoming out at 2 and 10 back to back before stoops took over. Judging him on record alone without context is laughable. Similar to Sabans record at Michigan state. That guy sucked too.
He'll start off behind and then gain some support when he brings back fundamental and competitive football. Let's see what happens when we play them this year. Again, I'm not saying he is THE answer but he is over kiffin in my eyes. And I was excited by the notion of kiffin under the pretenses that he builds off of last year which so far he has not shown to have done.
I can understand this view, and it would be great to have a defense that didn't suck for the first time in a long time. That said, I still would rather get someone that plays a less Muschampian brand of football.
If we don’t judge coaches by their performance then what do we judge them by? Eye test? If you say Kiffin is Mullen 2.0 than Stoops is Muschamp 2.0
Yeah, I don't want Mark Stoops at all. Good coach who brings toughness to a program, but I think we all want exciting football back in the Swamp.
I wonder if this would be a discussion at all if the KY receiver hadn't performed the most obvious push-off I've ever seen for KY to win the game yesterday
It’s perplexing. A&M practically had a revolt when his name was brought up. I couldn’t imagine it going over well here.
Ole miss is about 65th in all time wins. Kentucky Is 94th. Ole miss has had multiple pockets of kiffin level success. There isn't much sustained periods of even mediocrity in Kentucky history. I feel like I'm absolutely judging by performance. Again, muschamp destroyed a talent laden program fresh off of recent titles. How does stoops taking over a perennial bottom feeder similar?