Sep 20, 2014; Tuscaloosa, AL, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban leaves the field after his team defeated the Florida Gators 42-21 at Bryant-Denny Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Marvin Gentry-USA TODAY Sports
The reality is that Kentucky can never be Alabama, Notre Dame, USC, etc. Those types of schools have combined for centuries of college football’s history and are so engrained in the prestige of the sport that the Crimson Tide, Irish and Trojans haven’t even changed their uniform designs for the better part of their existence. The Kentucky Wildcats have a history much less impressive and while they’ve had their moments at times, no one has ever thought of Kentucky as one of the storied football programs in the country.
So, when you don’t have a celebrated history, what does one do?
You create a new one.
Miami, Florida State, Clemson, and Oregon. What do they all have in common you ask? The answer is that they were all four putrid football programs until at least the 1970’s. In that particular decade, each school hired a new head football coach that breathed new life into the program on and off the field. The results for each are well known as all four programs are considered in the “elite” of their respective conferences to this day and all used a different, yet strikingly similar blueprint to build the steps from doormat to contender.
Enter Mark Stoops.