What’s really holding back Kentucky football? 5 key issues fans always point to

At Kentucky, we expect excellence in basketball. In football, we want it to be fun and competitive. The last 2 years have been anything but fun and, for a large portion of the games, haven't been competitive either. Kentucky has lost 7 straight SEC games at home, will finish 0-4 in home SEC games for the first time since 2013, is just 2-11 in the last 13 home SEC games, and has scored 6 offensive touchdowns in 6 SEC games. What is holding Kentucky back from taking that next step as a program?

1. In State Recruiting

Kentucky football has made strides in recent years under Rich Brooks and Mark Stoops, but there are real and significant obstacles the program must overcome to reach its full potential. First, as a state, we struggle to attract or produce elite in-state recruits. So, coaches have to win recruiting battles in other states, which Mark Stoops has done well (making moves in Ohio, Michigan, and Georgia). And when they do come up, you have to be able to keep the top players home, something Kentucky has picked up on in recent years with Vince Marrow.

2. Offensive Coordinators

Mark Stoops has had 7 different offensive coordinators during his time at Kentucky, 5 since 2020 (Neal Brown, Shannon Dawson, Eddie Gran, Liam Coen, Rich Scangarello, Liam Coen returns, Bush Hamdan). So far, only 2 have lasted longer than a single season, Neal Brown and Eddie Gran. However, as they leave Kentucky, a lot of them find much better success. Shannon Dawson at Miami (FL) and Liam Coen in the NFL, Neal Brown became a head coach, and Eddie Gran is still on Kentucky's staff.

None of them have been able to recruit and develop a quarterback, as Kentucky is the only SEC school not to have a 3000-yard passing season in Mark Stoops's tenure.

3. Quarterback development

As mentioned, Kentucky is the only school not to have produced a 3000-yard passer since Mark Stoops took over. Drew Barker, Patrick Towles, and others have been brought in but never developed and usually transfer. Mark Stoops turned to the transfer portal as they couldn't make it work with high school players and had mixed results. Brock Vandagriff and Devin Leary have struggled. Will Levis had maybe the most successful QB season under Mark Stoops but could only get 2800 yards passing.

4. Mark Stoops

Kentucky's headman had his second 10-win season wiped out with violations, so he is under .500 overall while at Kentucky. His style of grinding opponents down, holding the ball, and winning with defense is hard to do in the modern game. You have to play near-perfect football, and Kentucky has done so very few times under Stoops.

Too many penalties, bad special teams, and clock management that makes a pee wee coach blush, there's a lot left to be desired from the 9 million dollar man.

However, he has won more games than any other coach in Kentucky history and raised the bar. Seemingly forcing his offenses to play slow to allow the defense to rest and stay off the field is limiting the team's potential.

5. Mitch Barnhart

People wonder how Mark Stoops got such a lucrative buyout and contract. He gets an auto extension for a year every time Kentucky wins 7 games (now you know why we play directional schools in the non-conference). Stoops' buyout is just over 40 million. He uses a private jet every year and has received 3 cars from the University. If he wins 10 games, he gets 2 years automatically added.

Mitch has been slow to allow NIL to develop, refused alcohol sales, stuck Rich Brooks with a limited budget, and made sure Joker Phillips was the next man up (we know how that went). He also gave out bad contracts to Kyra Elzy, John Calipari, and Mark Stoops and had a contract fiasco with Billy Gillispie.

Mitch has found success in a lot of sports and helped guide Kentucky to 10-win seasons in football and a college world series in baseball, but has been behind on a lot of changes as they come. Is it time to replace the most tenured AD in the SEC?