There were comments made the other day in the Lexington paper on an article stating that Coach Brooks was happy, fit and ready to continue coaching and that the best for this program is still to come…  With something like 14 straight non conference wins, three straight bowl wins and a 23 and 17 record the last three years (which really in my mind should be considered his first three years) and the best recruiting class ever coming in this year he very well could be right (Lindley and Jarmon will have some impact on this also)…  The opening comment was from a Gator fan that ripped UK and basically stated that UK should hire a real football coach in response to the article… 

Here are the statements that really fired me up re-printed exactly as it was typed… 

“To Uk our step-sister of the SEC. Thanks for winning your bowl game against ECU. Going 7-6 is good for you. Now that you have brooks back for another year. We the GATOR NATION will have a week off from practice when we play the wildcats. 63-5 Do you really think that joker is best I mean cheapest coach you can fine. When is Uk going to hire a coach like they hire at UT. He been on the job less than a month and he already sign better players than Uk. Look what Coach Nutt has done in his first year at Ole Miss. If you want a have great program, hire a coach that will win more than 5-6 ball games a year. That why you a step sister in the SEC. You alway have/will be a step sister in the SEC. Look at Uk 7-6 program and look at the Gators program. NATIONAL CHAMPS… “

Here is my response:

“We had to carry the torch in basketball for about 50 years and then you guys finally showed up and I think that is great when any team from our conference does well...  I take your reference as a stepsister as a severe insult and a pure sign of your level of intelligence...  UK is not and never will be Florida in football but we are good with that...  We are on the right path and we are good with that too...  Write it down UT will run Lane Kifin by year four, as he is too young and inexperienced to handle that position...  Brooks is now one of the longest tenured coaches in SEC football and I like that stability... By the way where were you sitting when I sat at mid-court two years in a row and rooted on your school to the National Championship in basketball because they are in the SEC...”

Sporting News said that Coach Brooks was the worst hire EVER by a division one school when he got the job and I have to say I have been his number one critic…  Brooks was an under .500 coach at Oregon (even when you throw out is first six years there which were the pre NIKE Phil Knight pumping money into the program)…  He did not have a great bowl record and his teams were always average in the Pac 10…  He was fired as head coach of the Rams and became the defensive coordinator for the Falcons and in Dan Reeves absence took that team to the Super Bowl…  I thought Brooks did a very poor job in his first year and then the next two were just awful but not his fault which I really did not realize at the time…    

What I think is that Brooks has been reborn in the football-coaching world…  Why???  He was away from the game long enough that he got settled, was financially comfortable did not really plan on coaching again and then the UK job fell in his lap…  He was juiced for a huge challenge (taking this job at the time he did was monumental), had no fear of failure and I am sure looked back and said at some point if I could go back and do it all over again (as starting in 1979 as a head coach) here is all the things I would do different and to this point that is what he doing… 

So now can this reborn football coach take this thing to the next level which would be get to the SEC Championship Game, a BCS bowl or the Capitol One Bowl (this is the bowl that the best SEC East team that does not go BCS bowl game goes to) …  As a die hard football fan and one of the rare UK fans who puts football before basketball I am truly excited about where this program is and where it looks like we are pointed to go…  Brooks has brought stability, discipline, accountability and expectation that we are going to win and continue to win… 

To get UK to the next level Brooks will have to improve on his record against the elite coaches or teams (that is teams that have either won SEC championships in the last five years or coaches who have coached their respective teams to a BCS bowl game in the last five years)…  To this point by my calculations in the non probation years Coach Brooks is 4 and 19 against these coaches (beat LSU at home, beat Georgia at home, beat Arkansas on the road and Arkansas at home)…  He also must not ever lose to Vandy at home… 

Coach Brooks is a fine man of integrity and I thank him for the job he as done to this point and I wish him and his staff the best of luck getting us to the next level…  Go Cats!!!