re: Joker Phillips Has Been Fired (Letter from AD Mitch Barnhart Enclosed)

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I think you have to look at guys like Kirby Smart (who will get a better offer), or another defensive coordinator at a good program (Chavis comes to mind), or even a NFL coordinator like Mike Zimmer.
I think if we go with a gimmicky offense, we will end up like the Mumme years and won't win anymore games, albeit they will be entertaining.

As far as the Outback bowl conversion, that was due as much to Tim Couch's heisman hype as the team. As I recall at 7-5 we passed over a couple if 8-4 teams because of Couch, not Mumme.

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Then my next question is where does the defensive talent come from?

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As I recall at 7-5 we passed over a couple if 8-4 teams because of Couch, not Mumme.

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Nail meet hammer!

Folks forget that we got the Outback over better teams. While Couch played a part having the president of Outback as a UK alum did most of the work. The problem is we got the national stage only to be embarrassed by a team that played defense in Penn State. If you want a bowl game to help recruiting you need to win it!

For the fans of UK that follow the other sports (see baseball) the Cats are picking of decent kids by raiding the B1G turf with promises of SEC exposure :

Zac Zellers St. Louis, MO
Matt Reida Russiaville, IN
Walter Wijas Elk Grove Village, IL
Max Kuhn Zionsville, IN
Jeff Boehm Lansing, IL
A.J. Reed Terre Haute, IN
Austin Cousino Dublin, OH
Luke Maile Crestview Hills, KY (Cincinnati suburb)
Jerad Grundy Johnsburg, IL
Sam Mahar Kenosha, WI
Greg Fettes Madison Heights, MI
Tyler Raymond Grove City, OH

If you lock out the nearby schools you cherry pick their best while keeping the option open to go beyond your state footprint. UK should beat Indiana or Virginia most of the time while getting UK football exposure in pockets of B1G and ACC territory. Scheduling Tulane or SMU gets the UK brand in football states like LA and TX which means better opportunity than Eastern or Morehead.