When you’ve lost the support of Larry Vaught and your name is Joker Phillips, it’s time to pack your bags.
Larry has been one of the steadfast supporters of the Joke. Now, even Larry has publicly stated that the Joke is a lost cause.
Instead, it’s time to face the obvious — something just has not clicked in Phillips’ three years as head coach and the Wildcat have to make a change, especially after the embarrassing 49-7 loss at Arkansas Saturday. The score would have been worse if the game had not been stopped midway of the third quarter when a second lightning storm hit after a one-hour delay in the first half and this week’s game with Georgia could be just as one-sided since the Bulldogs opened as a 27-point favorite even with the game in Lexington.
And this from Deadspin is, well, dead on…
Arkansas 49, Kentucky 7: It’s kind of amazing we’ve gone this long without talking about Kentucky, the team so bad Nature couldn’t stand to watch anymore. The Wildcats got early dismissal against the Razorbacks with a third of the game left. What had they done with the previous two-thirds?
– Allowed Arkansas to rack up 161 rushing yards and 533 total yards, both near season highs
– Forced zero turnovers against an offense that had given the ball away at least two times in all of its previous games
– Secured the longest Kentucky losing streak since 2004
All without even needing to play the last 20 minutes, because if you’re going to fail, at least fail efficiently.
From 2005 to 2010, the Wildcats have won at least two conference games a season, and they’ll need to split their last four games against Georgia, Missouri, Vanderbilt, and Tennessee to keep that mostly sad pattern of achievement alive. Fortunately, they’re armed with a defense ranked next to last in the nation in third-down conversions and passing-completion allowed. (It’s possible that I don’t know what the word “fortunately” means because I’m a product of Florida’s public school system.)
What about Joker made people think that he could do it at UK?
What made anyone think that he’d be successful at UK?
He’s not the guy for UK. He doesn’t have the imagination or the discipline to be successful at UK and he never did.
Any coach whom the players “like” will never win or win big at UK. That is one of Joker’s greatest liabilities at a program like UK.
Of course, this is simply my opinion.
First time that I heard a player say that they loved Joker (not that they respected Joker), I knew it was just a matter of time before the wheels fell off.
If you have great recruits, you can allow them to love you. If you have the recruits that Joker has brought in, those guys have to hate you because you work them so hard and drive them so hard that the very thought of you scares the heck out of them.
Joker doesn’t have that and never will.
He’d probably be successful at another program with higher talent. Just not at UK.
That’s one of the reasons that I knew this day would come sooner rather than later.
That is also exactly why a Bobby Petrino would be successful at UK. He’ll take that mediocre talent and turn it into something greater than it’s parts.
I can’t imagine that there is anything left to say after Fayetteville. Joker should be fired now. Right now. Name anyone interim coach. Start talking to Bobby Petrino.
Just do it.
Thai Chilis and Blue Grass 