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Kentucky coach Mark Stoops did the right thing to start his weekly press conference Monday when he reached out to Eastern Kentucky coach Dean Hood, his staff and Eastern fans by offering condolences on the death of EKU player Joey Kraemer, a former high school teammate in Ohio of UK tight end Greg Hart.
“Hearing about that tragedy, it is sad for all of us. Our hearts go out to him, his family and the entire program. That is sad thing about leading into this game because we are very excited to play them. We welcome them and look forward to another hard fought game in bringing them to Commonwealth (Stadium Saturday night),” said Stoops.
“So look forward to a very good game with Eastern and I know they have some distractions this week in dealing with that tragedy. Again, I just feel for them and their program.”
Kraemer was pronounced dead Sunday by the Madison County Coroner following a single vehicle accident on Tates Creek Road in Madison County.
“The news that we lost one of our own is devastating to me, our team and our coaches,” Hood said in a release . “We pray that God will give strength to Joey’s family during their time of mourning. Joey will truly be missed by all of us he touched, not only because of what he accomplished on the football field, but because of who he was as a person and the impact he made on our lives.”
Kraemer, 19, transferred to EKU from the University of Texas El Paso where he redshirted as a freshman last season. He had yet to play in a game this year.
Hart came to see Stoops Monday morning when the coach was in a meeting and left a message asking Stoops if there might be a way to honor Kraemer before Saturday’s game.
“Of course we would be certainly open to do that. It could be a great game for the state and our two institutions, and we would do anything to help bring some sort of peace to him and his family,” Stoops said. “ I’m not sure on those sort of things. I’m in full support of and need to go through the chain of command. It’s above my pay grade.”
The two teams had players involved in offseason fights in Richmond. Stoops made it clear Monday he expects none of that to be carried over to the field Saturday night by his team.
“We will talk about it and then it’s done with. We have to move on. I have great respect for coach Hood and his program and the program he is building and the history they have had and what they have done. We will welcome them to our stadium,” Stoops said. “I think this can be a very good situation and a good rivalry.
“I have seen it before at other programs where teams that are so close let that kind of stuff filter into the game and there is no place for it. I will have no tolerance all week on anything off the field or any talk and all of that BS. I don’t want anything to do with that.
“We want to play a good, clean, hard-fought football game and that is what I am going to tell them and I don’t want to hear any of it. I have respect for them. This could be a good thing for the state and a good thing for both programs and we want a good game.”
If the play on the field does get chippy, Stoops will take care of the Kentucky side of the problem quickly.
“If I see any of that stuff, then they are not going to play. I am not going to deal with that stuff. That looks classless and looks sloppy and we will not play that way,” he said.
Good for Stoops. I could not agree more on all his points. What did or did not happen in Richmond involving a few players on both teams should not define the programs by leading to on-field incidents by either side.
I also agree that it would be nice to see Kentucky and Eastern play more often. Why bring in an out-of-state team for a guarantee if Eastern is willing to do that?
And I certainly agree that a moment of silence or something to honor Kraemer would be only fitting and I’ll be stunned if UK officials do not agree.
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