by Paul Jordan
I have to admit, I was not the biggest fan of Rich Brooks when he came to Kentucky. I was strictly a “WIN/LOSS” type of guy and was not impressed by his 91-109-4 record at Oregon. Or his 13-19 record as head coach of the St. Louis Rams. Or the fact that the guy had not coached a college game for nearly a decade. I just figured that no big names wanted to come to Kentucky on probation and the old ball coach was just going to be a kind of a figurehead for a few years while the team rode out the effects of probation and that Kentucky would hire a good coach later.
A 9-25 record over the next few years kind of validated my opinion of the guy. I had pretty much come to the realization that Kentucky was, is, and always would be solely a basketball school and that the school really did not even care about maintaining a football program. I was still a fan, but albeit a casual one now. Since I lived in Florida, I had adopted the Miami Hurricanes as my “Florida” school and caught UK on TV whenever I could.
About this time, I started to notice that the guy ran a clean program and that the reviews for the 2006 edition of the Wildcats were promising at least. There really was no more negativity associated with the program and I could tell that Brooks was a respected coach. I did some research on those Oregon teams and even those Rams and found that this guy is the one that set up programs for success. He was a grinder and did a lot of the the dirty work building a program. He is the one that set the tone for success and not the flashy type of coach to come in and promise championships from the start.
After back to back losses to South Carolina and LSU (a 49-0) debacle, the pressure was white hot in Lexington to replace the guy. But for their credit, UK stood their ground and stood by Brooks. What followed was a four game winning streak which included a win over the Georgia Bulldogs which led to the first of four straight bowl bids for the Wildcats.
True, Brooks did not get the Wildcats out of the state of Tennessee for a bowl game. And true, he never registered a win against Tennessee, South Carolina, or Florida. In a way, the Brooks legacy does seem incomplete. But a look at the overall work shows victories over Georgia (twice), a #1 LSU program, Florida State, Auburn, Clemson, and a three game winning streak against Louisville. And in that way, the Brooks legacy is complete.
Look at his prior stops at Oregon and the Rams. Note that Brooks is not the guy that delivered the teams to their best seasons or ultimate glory, but he is the guy that shook off the stigma of losing and set his teams on the right path. In that sense, the Brook’s era at Kentucky was a complete and utter success.
At Kentucky, Rich Brooks shook apathy off the football program and make the fans care once again. He took a lackadaisical following and turned it into an inspired fan base. He set the foundation for a Big Blue Nation that would follow his Wildcats 40,000 strong to a “second tier” bowl for the fourth straight season. Even mighty Florida could not sell out their Sugar Bowl allotment of tickets, yet Brooks had LP Stadium filled with Blue and made that bowl game yet another home game. Rich Brooks turned Kentucky football fans into the type of fans that would not simply accept a 23 point win over Louisiana Monroe as a win, but into a fanbase that expected more of their team and were upset when they did not play well — even in a win.
In that aspect, Rich Brooks did his job at Kentucky. And while some may look at the 39-47 record and wonder what the fuss was about, others look at his contributions with a great deal of gratitude and pride. We know now that unlike past seasons when we had minor bowl success and went back to our losing ways, the next year will be different. Rich Brooks was not simply a football coach at Kentucky, but he built a foundation for a program.
And for that, we are eternally grateful.
Keep following www.http://wildcatbluenation.com for the best in Kentucky basketball and football news, rumors, and opinions. By Kentucky fans for Kentucky fans