What a weekend. Kentucky loses yet another game in another beat-down, and now there is a huge contingent of UK fans clamoring for Joker’s immediate dismissal and the hiring of Mike Leach as Kentucky’s new head coach. This movement has built so much momentum, that as of today, Mike Leach’s wikipedia page shows this:
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I take a couple of issues with all of this “Fire Joker and Hire Leach” stuff and I’ll lay them out for you here.
1. First and foremost, I do not believe that there is ever a case in where the mid-season firing of a head football coach is in the best short-term interest of the team. The offensive and defensive schemes are executed by the players and designed by the coordinators, but the head coach puts the blueprints in place for the team. A change at the top could appease disgruntled fans, but in effect, it can also tank the season. Most of the players on the team were recruited, at least partially, by Joker Phillips and signed up to play for him specifically. His dismissal could easily rupture any continuity the team is hoping to build on and bridge over to the 2012 season.
2. Mike Leach is a very confusing choice for me. Kentucky fans might flock to Leach because of his name recognition or their familiarity with him (being a former assistant coach at Kentucky), but Leach is hardly a ‘no-brainer’ hire. He has a well documented history of off-field issues with a player at Texas Tech, and has been a lightning rod of sorts throughout his career. I’m not saying that Mike Leach is Billy Gillispie, but the Kentucky Athletic department has been down that road (think quirky personality with question marks in their background) before and it obviously did not go well. Leach is a big personality with big-time name recognition, but does come with some baggage. Wildcat fans might remember that Leach’s departure came with Kentucky being placed on a serious probation sentence that took several years to recover from. While Leach himself was never named as a violator, it would be questionable to bring him back to Lexington after his last stay here ended so poorly.
3. If we’re going to stick with the notion that Joker has to go (which I’m not on board with just yet), there is also the issue of there being better names out there to go after before Leach. While I don’t think Kentucky could easily land just anyone, there are other proven college coaches that would be higher on most teams’ list than Leach. Urban Meyer, Jim Tressel, and Mike Bellotti are all off of the sidelines for the time being and have been hugely successful in the college ranks as head coaches. A team could look to current head coaches like Utah’s Kyle Whittingham, Boise State’s Chris Peterson, TCU’s Gary Patterson, or SMU’s June Jones as guys that are options to move up to a bigger position at a more prestigious university or in a big time conference like the SEC. There are guys with NFL ties, like Jeff Fischer, Bill Cowher, Jim Mora Jr, Mike Singletary, Mike Nolan, or Josh McDaniels that might be interested in a head coaching job in the college ranks. Then, there are also plenty of coordinators that could be great options to move on to a head coaching job. Utah’s Norm Chow, Auburn’s Gus Malzahn, Oklahoma’s Brent Venables, Alabama’s Kirby Smart, or Wisconsin’s Paul Chryst are all guys that are prime candidates to move on up. The bottom line here is that it’s not like Leach is the only option for the Cats if they do decide to make a switch.
4. Money is likely to also be an issue. For the UKAA to make a serious splash with a head coaching change, they will very likely have to top the $1.8 million they’re paying Joker Phillips per year. With the heavy emphasis the Athletic Department puts on the non-revenue sports, it’s going to be pretty tough for Barnhart to find the cash to pay for one of these big name guys unless Calipari and Matthew Mitchell are willing to take a pay cut from their lofty salaries. On top of that, a big-name head coach like Mike Leach will likely not only want a higher salary for himself, but will most likely also demand a higher payout to hire a top notch staff. Unless the UKAA is willing to make some big financial changes in the way they do things, it will be tough to find the cash to get one of the upper echelon coaches. I just don’t see the Athletic Association making deep cuts to the non-revenue sports that would probably be necessary.
5. This might be the biggest issue of all, but Kentucky fans can be very naïve when it comes to the Wildcats place in the grand scheme of things. Lexington is not a premier destination for a college coach for several reasons. Not being located in a talent rich state makes recruiting difficult for even an established staff, the brutal stretch required by the SEC makes climbing the conference ladder a tall order, and the lack of top notch facilities makes coaching, recruiting and fund-raising much more difficult. Kentucky fans need to realize that coaching at Kentucky is going to be a means to an end for most coaches on their way to an Ohio State, a Texas, or a Georgia caliber job. The fans in Louisville will soon find out that keeping a coach for more than four years is tough when you’re a stepping stone program and whether we like to admit it or not, Kentucky is just that to most coaches and only a drastic change in philosophy from the administration will ever change that. With Joker Phillips being from the state of Kentucky, being a Wildcat football alumni, and a having been a long-term assistant here before his promotion, he is much more likely to stick around to continue to build the program than a lot of other coaches.
So, as a Kentucky fans, you have to ask yourselves…
– Are you willing to cash out the 2011 season and possibly finish 2-10 only to completely start over in 2012 including a drastic change in philosophy that will require a mild overhaul on the roster?
– Are you willing to bring in a coach with a checkered past with not only the national media, but also here in Lexington?
– Are you willing to pass on a better coach and a bigger name to secure Mike Leach?
– Are you willing to donate more of your hard-earned money to the university through higher K-Fund costs, ticket prices, parking prices, etc. to pay for this overhaul?
– Are you willing to see a carousel of coaches every 3-4 years as anyone successful takes a more prominent job after they’ve paid their dues in Lexington?
If the answers to these questions are ‘Yes,’ then it is probably time to cut ties with Joker Phillips and throw out a full-court press in the hopes of getting Mike Leach as the new head coach. If you’re like me though and have reservations, consider the following:
Joker has been the head football coach at Kentucky for one and a half seasons. Despite the Head-Coach-In-Waiting tag he received prior to his promotion, Rich Brooks was still calling the shots. Joker will need some time to build this program into what he wants it to be and that is probably going to be a slightly different model than what Brooks had constructed. While the team is going through some serious hiccups right now, the defensive front seven has played very well
at times and looks like the strength of the team (the way it should be in the SEC). He showed a defined instance of good judgment by bringing in an established defencsive coordinator like Rick Minter to shore up what was an awful defense last season instead of reaching for Randy Shannon. After all of the issues down in Miami have come to light, how good does that move look right now? Joker Phillips has brought in increasingly higher levels of talent each season and has had the integrity to make the tough decisions like sitting Hartline last year. With the emphasis most Kentuckians put on integrity and doing the right thing, does that mean nothing anymore? Joker has shown that he does not care how highly rated a prep player is, if he is not willing to buy into the team, he doesn’t have a place in Lexington. These things mean something to me, and as much as I hate seeing the team lose, I would hate seeing the team win by doing things the wrong way more. I want to see Kentucky built into a national powerhouse and I’m not delusional enough to think that it can be done overnight. I want a coach here that is in it for the long haul.
To be clear, I’m not saying that Joker should get a pass on this season. I think he has to be held accountable for the dysfunction that is this team and some serious changes need to be made. Going forward, I believe that the kinks that the Wildcats are experiencing can be worked out. The staff has two weeks to prepare for FCS school Jacksonville State and what SHOULD be a guaranteed win. If necessary, cutting ties with Randy Sanders and Steve Brown would be seen as a commitment to improving this program and while I’m not a fan of mid-season staff changes, sacrificing these two could buy Joker some time. That being said, both need to be let go before the Jacksonville State game if they’re going to be fired. If Kentucky were to come out and lose to a FCS school after how bad the start of the seasonhas been, I do not believe that their dismissal would mean enough to fans and retaining Joker this offseason will likely not be an option. Again, I support Joker Phillips and I want him to build the program the right way, but I also believe that this team is better than they have played this year. If he finishes this season with a 2-10 mark and comes back with anything less than seven wins in 2012, I would be fully supportive of a change being made. The lack of a ‘honeymoon phase’ has left Kentucky fans forgetting that our coach has only been at the helm for 19 games, but the fact remains that the current head coach is 8-11 in those 19 games.
While I understand the fanbase’s desire for change and immediate success, I would encourage everyone to relax just a little bit. As outlined above, Mike Leach is not going to make Kentucky a national title contender in 2012 the way Calipari did when he arrived. It just doesn’t work that way in football and most rational people realize that. On top of all of that, I find that Kentucky websites and other local media are seeking Leach out for interviews right now as being EXTREMELY disrespectful to Joker Phillips. We would all be wise to remember the old saying “The Grass is always greener…” It has been around this long for a reason.
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