re: Kentucky's committment to football

Just like ole miss and state who aren't actually good at anything...

we should drop both MS schools if anything. they only dilute the money the big boys bring in and they add nothing.

as a UGA fan we also lose nothing if they leave. not like MS is a recruiting hot bed or we have any rivalries or desire to go there anyway

Barnhart has probably been the first AD to actually fully commit to try to get improvements to facilities and etc at Commonwealth and he's had to fight the University tooth and nail to get it done. University administrators threw a holy shite fit when Barnhart asked for UK (not just the athletic association) to contribute to their installation. And I'm talking full on, rabid bitching from professors and etc. Pretty ridiculous.

As far as the fans, there's been plenty of fan support (ask all of those Clemson and Florida State fans we outnumbered at recent bowl games), especially from the "common" fan that fills the stadium seats. That said, your big money boosters are all basketball guys and that wasn't helped by having some pretty basketball centric ADs in years past who didn't try to push donating to the football program.

You also have the issue of in-state talent. Kentucky is one of the lowest states in the country in terms of quality talent in football. It's why Joker has had to try to form some pipelines in places like Georgia and Ohio to try to get over the hump in recruiting and it's been tough for obvious reasons.

People always want to say, hire the "name" coach and they'll come, while conveniently forgetting the Bill Curry era who was big enough when he came to UK that by that logic he should've been able to build a consistent middle of the pack SEC team. He couldn't.

As long as the SEC is as strong as it is, it's going to be extremely tough for UK to climb the ladder. We've already lost the momentum of our recent bowl streak and it could get worse depending on how this season plays out. Theoretically you could throw money at someone like Mike Leach but it's going to be a moot point without continuing to build up facilities in a big way AND building a recruiting budget that gives him the resources to recruit out of state because of the pitiful state of KY football talent. And there's still no guarantee even then.

The best comparison I can make is Beamer and Virginia Tech and how long it took him to build their program up to a point of being in contention for quality bowl games. He had to go with a unique approach (creating a "specialty" in special teams), took almost a decade to reach a BCS bowl, and that was in the Big East and now the ACC with a stronger in-state talent base. It's that tough.