A few important historical facts the fanbase needs right now (posted on Cats Pause by mbc82584 and I thought it necessary to post here too)

Three Exhibits:

COACH A:

-Has 3 coaching stops, here are his first two years at each school:

Year 1: 9-17
Year 2: 7-19

Year 1: 13-15
Year 2: 19-14

Year 1: 11-17
Year 2: 18-11

-In his THIRD SEASON, he improved at all three places, once reaching the NCAA tournament, once the Sweet 16, and once the FINAL GAME. Given two years of mediocrity, he was able to install his system, and win BIG, going to three consecutive final fours.


COACH B:
-This coach was in his first major coaching position, coming in for a team who had been to the final four just two years earlier, and replacing a coach who went to the NBA. Here are his first two seasons:

Year 1: 13-17
Year 2: 14-15

-In this THIRD SEASON, he was able to turn the corner and go 22-9, and finish in the Sweet Sixteen. He'd be in the final four just a year later.


COACH C:
-This coach was left with the cupboard ABSOLUTELY STACKED, returning many players from a team that had just lost in the NCAA NAT'L Championship game, and had the benefit of being led by a future hall-of-fame coach just before his arrival.

-In his first 3 seasons, he suffered losses to mid-major opponents in the FIRST ROUND of the NCAA tournament.

-Even with a healthy amount of talent, he went on losing streaks at the end of 2/3 seasons to sour the fanbase. He even broke a 31 game winning streak against Kansas State, losing to them (GASP) TWICE.

-Given time to install his system, however, and his team not only quit losing the games it shouldn't, but began winning almost all of them, culminating in the National Championship.



In case you're new to this college basketball thing, Coach A is Ben Howland (UCLA), Coach B is Billy Donovan (Florida), and Coach C is Bill Self (Kansas). All three coaches are final four caliber, top-notch coaches, and all three have histories of HUGE struggles while implementing their system.

These schools (especially Kansas/UCLA), likely had some SERIOUS griping fans after the first two years, some even wanting to get RID OF THE COACH. IF THEY HAD GOTTEN THEIR WAY, they would have NEVER ended up with the level of success those programs have achieved since.

In other words, if you are seriously bitching (in by best EBB voice) about Gillispie the SECOND GAME of just his SECOND YEAR, you need to get a grip and do a little HISTORICAL RESEARCH.

As hard as our CATS battled and worked this year and as much emotion that Joe and Ramel showed (Joe in particular) at the conclusion of yesterday's game....does anyone plan on going to the Airport today to greet them (or to Wildcat Lodge)? Just curious. I think it would be great to have a good number of people to show this team that the Fans are proud of what they did over the entire year even with a 1st round loss!

In looking at the North Carolina program and their record when they had a down year I thought it may be interesting to look at both them and UCLA to see how long it really took to bring the programs back to where they are truly an elite team again.  The last 10 years for North Carolina looked like this:

Year     Record     Season Ended
97-98       34-4       Final 4
98-99       24-10      1st Round
99-00       22-14      Final 4
------------------------
00-01       26-7       2nd Round
01-02       8-20       End of Regular Season
02-03       19-16      NIT Quarterfinals
------------------------
03-04       19-11      2nd Round
04-05       33-4       NCAA Champions
05-06       23-8       2nd Round
06-07       31-7       Elite 8

UCLA's Last 10 years:

Year     Record     Season Ended
97-98       24-9       Sweet 16
98-99       22-9       1st Round
99-00       21-12      Sweet 16
00-01       23-9       Sweet 16
01-02       21-12      Sweet 16
02-03       10-19      End of Regular Season
--------------------------------
03-04       11-17      End of Regular Season
04-05       18-11      1st Round
05-06       32-7       NCAA Finals
06-07       30-6       Final 4

I use both of those examples to show that after a team had been worn down with a lack of recruiting great talent it took at least 2-3 years to truly turn the program around and get it back to where it should be.  In our case people are talking about next year and what the team will look like next year, but if history serves with truly elite teams like UNC, UCLA and UK, it will take more like 2 to 3 years to truly get the talent level back where it should be.

I think BCG will get it turned around but we must give him the time he needs.  Even rushing to judgment next year would, in my opinion, be too soon to tell anything.  So I ask you, How Long are you willing to wait for the UK program to get turned around?

*Note: The dashes indicate a coaching change

I don't know if anyone else noticed the graphic that was flashed up during the Arkansas game the other night showing the UK scoring average over the last few years (since Rich Brooks took over).  For those of you who didn't here is a summary:

2003 - 27.3 (Ranked #57)
2004 - 15.7 (Ranked #114)
2005 - 21.7 (Ranked #89)
2006 - 26.7 (Ranked #43)
2007 - 47.0 (Ranked #10 so far)

I don't know about anyone else but seeing that and seeing the results on the field are enough for me to see that Rich Brooks is on the right track.  I know next year may not be quite as good, loosing quite a bit of our offense but seeing the progression under Coach Brooks gives me hope for this year not just being a one and done year.  Hopefully we can see continued success into the future because I am loving what I see in the present!

I read on nfl.com that Eli Manning is expected to miss anywhere from a week to a month with a separated right (throwing) shoulder. He's not expected to start Week 2 against the Packers and Jared Lorenzen is expected to be the Giants starting QB.  I will definately be interested to see what J-Lo has to offer if he does make his first NFL start.  Good luck to him, I would love to see him do well!

John Cole of Somerset, KY is one of, if not the top receiver coming out of this years senior class in Kentucky has been offered a scholarship to Vanderbilt and Stanford based solely on his speed. Running between a 4.2 to 4.3 40 at his visits he could be an explosive receiver for anyone interested. But with all of the recent talk about the UK football program my question is whether or not he is on our radar? In just his junior season he compile a state record 1,896 receiving yards and scored a KHSAA all-time best of 28 touchdowns. He not only set two KHSAA single-season receiving records last season, but he ranks fourth in Kentucky high school career receiving yardage just behind Mason County's Chris Lofton. And if he duplicates last year's numbers, John will claim the top spot. He ranks fifth in the state in career touchdown receptions and needs only 14 TD's to claim the top spot in the state's high school football history books. So far he has received offers from Eastern Kentucky University, Western Kentucky University, Vanderbilt and Stanford. Out of those he says he is going to go ahead and early commit before the season starts to either Stanford or Vandy. For more detail on John Cole see This Article from the Commonwealth Journal: http://www.somerset-kentucky.com/localsports/local_story_209171317.html