Kentucky Wildcats Football: If you build it, they will come

When Mark Stoops was hired as the head coach of the Kentucky Wildcats football team, it was widely seen as a good hire.  But very few people believed that the first time head coach could ever change the culture of losing that had become pervasive surrounding the Wildcats who were just one year removed from a bowl bid.

Rich Brooks did a great job of bring the Wildcats to respectability from the ruins of probation.  And when he handed the program to Joker Phillips, he left behind a legacy of four straight bowls.  Phillips got the team to a fifth bowl, but that was not enough and the fans turned on the program and it appears that most of his team quit on him as well.  After that disastrous hire, Kentucky fans wondered if Kentucky would ever be successful in football, much less find a competent head coach to guide them.

Enter Mark Stoops who actively lobbed for the job despite the numerous challenges that surrounded him.

"Stoops must also find a way to be competitive in the mighty Southeastern Conference — UK went 0-8 this season with seven losses by double digits – address facilities that are substandard compared with the rest of the league and overcome the program’s historical struggle in football.The Cats have 580 victories and 582 defeats all-time."

A big kudos go out to the UK administration and Mitch Barnhart for working together with Stoops to get most of these off the field issues like facilities and a stadium renovation accomplished already.  That is kind of amazing considering that a plan to renovate Rupp Arena still is in limbo.  But Kentucky basketball will always be Kentucky basketball.  Perhaps stinging from the Joker Phillips hire, Mitch Barnhart realized that Kentucky football had to be a priority and made it so.

With the facilities and stadium renovation in the plans, Mark Stoops was able to do what he was hired to do.  Win football games.  And while his first season finished with the same identical record as Joker Phillips, the culture had been changed.

The press conference welcoming Mark Stoops was the first sign that changes were afoot for Kentucky football.  Stoops got the pomp and circumstance normally reserved for Nick Saban type hires or dare I say … Kentucky basketball.  Stoops hit the ground running and hit the recruiting trail hard.  And brick by brick the foundation for Kentucky Wildcats football was laid.

Jason Hatcher, a former USC commit was on board.  As was Marcus McWilson, a former Nebraska commit.  Za’Darius Smith and Javess Blue were pulled from the JUCO ranks.  And who can forget 2/1/2013 when Jojo Kemp and Jeff Badet both committed?  Stoops refused to let in-state players like Ryan Timmons go to Florida.  And in just a few months, Stoops had taken the best of Joker Phillips class and added his own magic for the 29th best class in the nation per Rivals.

And in perhaps the biggest message of all, Kentucky had this ad aired during the Super Bowl.  Pretty ballsy for a 2-10 that was a traditional SEC doormat.