Aaron Gordon visits Kentucky Wildcats, UK still in top 5

Over the weekend, another couple of names emerged for the head coaching position of Kentucky Wildcat football. The most prominent was Texas A&M Offensive Co-ordinator Kliff Kingsbury. There are plenty of negatives (age, inexperience), yet there are some that think that Kentucky should hire Kingsbury  and one of the reasons is because he develops talent:

"2) He Develops Talent: Joker Phillips was promoted in 2010 in part because of his ability to recruit and develop talent. In 2013, Kentucky will have just fifteen Seniors on a very young squad. Obviously, Kentucky needs to bring in a guy who can cultivate and develop young players and, at least in the beginning, develop 2 and 3-star recruits. Clearly, Kingsbury can bring in highly touted recruits, but what is more impressive is his ability to develop existing talent. In 2010, A&M had the #7 recruiting class in the SEC (adjusted) and #10 in 2011, yet TAMU is 4th in the country in points scored this season. Johnny Manziel was a Rivals 3 star recruit out of high school but is the leading rusher in the league and the SEC’s second highest grossing quarterback. Mike Evans, a Rivals 3-star receiver out of high school, is the second best wideout in the SEC West. Ryan Swope, the third best receiver in the division, was also a 3-star recruit."

April 3, 2012; Fayetteville, AR, USA; Arkansas Razorback head coach Bobby Petrino speaks at a press conference at Razorback Stadium following a motorcycle accident he sustained on April 1. Mandatory Credit: Beth Hall-US PRESSWIRE

Love him or hate him, this UK job search is going to be determined by what Bobby Petrino does. Reports over the weekend suggested that Derek Dooley had been fired and that Auburn’s Gene Chizik may be on his way out too. All of this puts greater pressure on Kentucky to make a move and soon. If you were on Twitter, you know all about this … but Joe B Hall provided a lot of debate on the topic of Bobby Petrino:

"“I know there is a lot of misinformation about Petrino and looking for other jobs when he was at Louisville, especially the situation at Auburn,” said Hall. “People were wanting to talk to him. He was not out chasing jobs and would not have left Louisville if he had not been approached about jobs. He was very loyal to Louisville. The AD (athletics director) and president at Auburn pressure him to meet with them. They flew up to southern Indiana to talk to him. He told them it was a waste of time but he had been at Auburn as offensive coordinator and respected those people. All he did was talk. Nothing else.” While it is interesting that Hall is inserting himself into this, the effect it will have is uncertain. There is still a very large anti-Petrino contingent and it seems like a Petrino decision will split the fanbase right down the middle. That is NOT what the fanbase needs and while the most vocal fans seen to want Petrino, I don’t think a polarizing decision will be best moving forward."