By now it's obvious Joker's tenure is coming to an end, fans arent showing up anymore, theyre strongly voicing their displeasure to the point where callers to the coach's call in show is being screened, even Rich Brooks has voiced his displeasure on Twitter. So now it becomes, not if Joker is fired, but when, and honestly, two other SEC teams will be looking for a new coach for sure, Arkansas and Tennessee, the more time passes, the more it's looking like Auburn will be joining that group as well, and who knows what else will happen the rest of the season, Mullen could possibly be looking for a better job if Nebraska decides they want a change, Richt could want to escape the impatient Georgia fanbase, Mizzou could decide Pinkle isnt an SEC caliber coach, the point is we could be looking at a year where more SEC coaches are gonna be replaced than in recent memory, and if Kentucky doesnt act and act fast, we could end up being declined by coaches we could probably get a year ago. Rumors have been swirling this week about Kentuckys possible interest in David Cutcliffe, but lets be honest, if he is sitting at home debating whether to stay at Duke, go to Kentucky or go to Tennessee, he's gonna pick Tennessee 10 times out of 10, that's just the cold hard truth. So who can we realistically get? Let's look at the possibilities.
Willie Taggart- Western Kentucky
Career Record - 14-16 3rd season
Pros: Took a team that was on a 20 game winning streak and is two wins away from back to back winning seasons in the Sun Belt. In 2011, had Bobby Rainey which was 5th in the entire FBS level in rushing yards with 1695 yards, averaging 4.6 YPC and 13 TDs, as a team they were 43rd in rushing with 181.6 YPG. In 2012 without Rainey, they have actually improved to 196.2 YPG, 33rd in the FBS, WHICH PROVES that Taggart can replace star players. This year WKU averages 30 PPG which is 56th in FBS and allows 22.0 PPG, 38th best.
Cons: WKU is 1-4 against the SEC under Taggart with an combined score of 185-72 and an average margin of defeat of 28.5 points, but again, those scores are against UK, Alabama and LSU and it is WKU, does that really mean as much? And just because he can win in the Sun Belt, does that mean he can win in the SEC, well considering the amount of upsets the Sun Belt has pulled on BCS schools this year, it possibly means more than we can imagine.
The truth is Taggart is THE young coach who relates to his players that Kentucky needs, on the flip side, everyone thinks the same way, and Taggart is THE hot coach of this year, if WKU wins out, he can get any job he wants.
David Cutcliffe- Duke
Career Record 64-64, 20-35 at Duke
Duke averages 291.3 passing YPG which is 25th in FBS, 111.1 rushing YPG, 108th in FBS, 35.3 PPG (34th) and allows 27.4 PPG (72nd)
Pros: Won a NC as an OC at Tennessee in 1998 with a QB that replaced Peyton Manning, again showing he can replace star players. Has built Duke into a respectable program and to date has a 5-2 record, with one more win Duke will have the most wins since the 1994 season where they went 8-4. He became only the 2nd Ole Miss coach to have 5 straight winning season to begin his tenure, something even Johnny Vaught couldnt do.He finished with a 44-29 record and was fired after refusing to fire some assistants following a 4-7 season, his only losing season in Oxford. Probably the biggest pro in all of this, Cutcliffe has recruiting ties in at least NC, TN, AL, LA and MS, something Kentucky desperately needs to compete on a hire level.
Cons: Only once did Ole Miss finish with a record above .500 in the SEC, a 7-1 record in 2003, losing only to eventual National Champions LSU, his record in the SEC is only 25-23 with 2 seasons below .500. This is an option where Kentucky fans really need to do some soul searching and decide if we want to go back to just the Rich Brooks years, or if we want to go where Rich Brooks was building to, and if that's the case, then Cutcliffe might not be the man for the job, if youre content with the Music City Bowl, the Independence Bowl just because it's better than where we are now, then by all means Cutcliffe is the right man for the job, but like stated earlier, Tennessee will also be looking for a new coach this offseason because Dooley is not working out, if Tennessee offers Cutcliffe, Cutcliffe will take that job without thinking twice.
On a side note: all we've heard this last couple weeks was that every UK opponent we've played up until the Arkansas game has had only 2 losses, and Kent States loss to Kentucky was one of them, while Duke has a 5-2 record, those 5 wins comes with a combined record of 11-21 and the best record of those teams belongs to North Carolina Central which has a 4-2 record, add the wins together and the total record is 19-26
Mike Leach- Washington State
Career record 86-47, 2-4 at Washington State
Stats: 322.3 Passing YPG (12th) 40.6 Rushing YPG (112th), 21.1 PPG (103rd), 30.4 Points APG (86th)
Pros: We've seen what he did at Kentucky under Mumme, the 802 yards against Louisville in 98 was an NCAA record for 14 years until West Virginia broke the record earlier this year against Baylor. In 5 of his 10 seasons in Lubbock, TT finished above .500 in the Big 12 and finished 3rd or higher in the South 7 of those years and is Techs all time winningest coach. The following is the notable achievements from Wikipedia
Kentucky
Four NCAA, 42 SEC, and 116 school records broken as Kentucky's offensive coordinator[70]
Texas Tech
10 consecutive winning seasons
8 consecutive seasons with at least 8 wins
4 seasons with at least 9 wins[71]
1 season with 11 wins
9 consecutive bowl appearances[72]
5 bowl wins (most by any individual coach in the history of the program)[72]
4 seasons completed with team ranked in the Top 25[73]
19–11 record against in-state conference rivals Baylor, Texas, and Texas A&M
53–11 record at Jones AT&T Stadium, home of the Texas Tech Red Raider football team
2008 AP Big 12 Coach of the Year[31]
2008 Big 12 Coach of the Year[32]
Coached 1 Fred Biletnikoff Award (Best Wide Receiver) winner: Michael Crabtree (two-time winner)
Coached 1 Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award (Best Senior Quarterback) winner: Graham Harrell
Coached 1 Mosi Tatupu Award (Best Kick Returner) winner: Wes Welker
Coached 3 Sammy Baugh Trophy (Outstanding Quarterback) winners: Kliff Kingsbury, B.J. Symons, and Graham Harrell
More than 150 NCAA, Big 12 and school records broken as Texas Tech's head coach[7]
Cons: He, like Mumme, is WAY too one dimensional, we saw with Mumme, Kentucky seriously competed in the SEC only to get slowly and slowly worse after Couch left, this is the SEC, SEC coaches catch on quick and if you dont have a solid running game, if you dont have a defense to help you out, you are NOT gonna be in a position to win games, plain and simple. Also he has a Billy Gillispie-esq reputation, whether or not the whole tool shed incident is true, we saw that Tech was looking for a reason to fire him because they just did not like his personality. While he is better than Gillispie, it is proven that he has a reputation, the question is begged to be ask, is this a hire that Kentucky will pay for later on? He's already complaining about his Washington State team and there could be some trouble down the line.
Tommy Tuberville
Career Record 126-73, 18-13 at Texas Tech
2012 stats: 369.0 Passing YPG (4th), 168.3 Rushing YPG (60th), 40.7 PPG (16th), 16.3 PAG(17th)
Pros: Not only has he won in the SEC, he has dominated in the SEC, in 14 seasons with Ole Miss and Auburn, only 6 were below .500 in the conference, in 5 seasons Auburn either tied for 1st in or outright won the West with a combined SEC record of 64-50 before resigning against the ADs wishes in 2008.
Cons: His record at Auburn was much different than at Ole Miss going 52-30 at Auburn, and 12-20 at Ole Miss. It's well documented that Kentucky has the lowest budget in the SEC, but Auburn puts a lot more into the program than Ole Miss, could that be a sign of things to come if he came to UK, after Tech beat Oklahoma last year, they completely hit rock bottom to finish the year going 0-5, however, is that a factor that would keep Kentucky from hiring him...god I hope not cause in this case (and in others), the cons just dont outweigh the pros, if Kentucky hired TT, it would send shock waves throughout the south.
Who else could we get, I mean REALLY get, Jon Gruden isnt coming to Lexington, neither is Andy Reid, Mike Tomlim or Marvin Lewis...REALISTICALLY, who would get you excited about Kentucky football again, either on this list or not
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Originally Posted by dan_bgblue
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