Bring Back Brooks

The High Court

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Bring Back Brooks

October 26, 2005

Guy Morriss saw the writing on the wall, you know. And he didn’t have to think twice about bolting for greener pastures and more greenbacks. But it was the former, not the latter, that most hastened his departure to Baylor. Morriss knew that the probation UK was saddled with thanks to the Hal Mumme/Claude Bassett era would cripple the program. And so it has.

Do you really think the hot coaching prospects were lined up around the corner to move into Morriss’ old office and undertake the project waiting for them in Lexington? Yeah, me neither. Because the Kentucky job under normal circumstances isn’t exactly a stepping stone to building a legendary coaching career. Think I’m wrong? Whatever happened to Charlie Bradshaw? John Ray? Fran Curci? Jerry Claiborne retired. Bill Curry went into broadcasting. Hal Mumme…never mind. And Guy Morriss got the hell out of town. Fast. Not since a fellow named Paul Bryant left Lexington for Tuscaloosa (via College Station, Texas) has a Kentucky coach gone on to bigger and better things. So I have to ask…Has Kentucky hired the wrong guy every time for the past 50 years? Or is it more likely that trying to win in the SEC is a tough job, especially at a basketball school in a football conference. Because not one coach…not one…has left Kentucky with a winning record in the last forty-four years. The last to do it? The man who followed Bryant, Blanton Collier. Taking the Kentucky football job, as it turns out, is a good way to end a career. And everybody in college football knows it. So for those of you hoping to catch the next rising star in college football, think again. Most of those guys would like to have a happy ending to their career.

Given that atmosphere, Mitch Barnhart had to feel extremely fortunate to snag a terrific veteran coach to fill the vacancy left by Morriss following the 2002 season. In Rich Brooks, Barnhart was getting a man who had been in the business for four decades, working successfully at both the collegiate and professional levels of football. I won’t bother you with the Brooks bio (you can read The Case for Rich Brooks for that), but I can tell you that Barnhart was getting a man who had been to the Rose Bowl and the Super Bowl. And there aren’t a lot of those guys running loose for the hiring. And I can’t tell you what Barnhart’s exact thinking was, but I would guess the thing he was most impressed with when evaluating Brooks was his willingness to stay with the job of building a program until it was finished.

Because that is exactly what Brooks had done at Oregon. He built the program. From nothing. And that is the very job description he had when signing on at Kentucky. And boy do I know that will offend the hell out of some Kentucky fans. Tough. You can tell me about a renovated Commonwealth Stadium and the Nutter Center and all the support the Kentucky football team has. And I will tell you that none of those things seem to impress Florida, Georgia, or Tennessee very much. There was no semblance of a successful Southeastern Conference football program in place at UK when Rich Brooks took the job. Period. The word rebuilding gets thrown around all the time. You can’t rebuild something that isn’t there. This was a building job staring Rich Brooks in the face. Which is why he is, as he has always been, the perfect guy for the job. Eighteen years he stayed at Oregon. It took him twelve years just to get them to a bowl. And by that 18^th and final season, the Ducks were the champions of the Pac-10 and playing in Pasadena. Perhaps more importantly, his successor, Mike Bellotti has taken Brooks’ foundation and continued to build Oregon into a bowl team every year. The Ducks are currently on pace to make their ninth bowl appearance in the last ten years.

And I hear the grumbling. Wait twelve years to get to a bowl? Are you crazy? Maybe. And I am not saying it will take Brooks twelve years to get the Wildcats to a bowl (I suspect that even he might be ready for some easy living in another nine years…unless he pulls a Paterno and coaches forever). But wouldn’t you rather see the program built piece-by-piece, the right way, into a situation where Kentucky was a both a SEC contender and a bowl team every year, as opposed to being the program that occasionally makes a Music City Bowl appearance? Rich Brooks knows how to get that done.

Rich Brooks also has a talented offensive assistant, much like Bellotti at Oregon, by his side at Kentucky. You know him as Joker Phillips, offensive coordinator and former UK wide receiver. Phillips is highly regarded for his rapport with his players and is known to be an outstanding recruiter. I can’t think of a better scenario than seeing Coach Brooks getting a multi-year extension to get things going in the right direction, and then when he is ready, handing the reigns over to Coach Phillips. That would provide the sort of seamless continuity that is required for a program to be a force on the recruiting trail and on the football field.

When I began preparing research for this column, I was all prepared to talk about the ridiculous number of injuries Kentucky has dealt with this season. And it is nearly unbelievable. Wire reports out this week noted that Kentucky players had undergone 18 surgeries since fall practice. A total of 13 starters and key reserves have missed a total of 43 games already this season. That list includes impact players like wide receivers Keenan Burton (who returned for limited practice yesterday) and Tommy Cook, defensive tackle Lamar Mills, defensive end Travis Day, and safety Marcus McClinton. And that list does not include linebackers Jon Sumrall and Dennis Johnson, cornerback Warren Wilson, or offensive tackle Aaron Miller…each of whom would have figured into the Wildcats 2005 plans but have not been with the team due to injury or for personal reasons.

But I won’t dwell on that issue. Critics of Brooks will simply point to that as excuse-making. It isn’t of course, because even a team as great as the New England Patriots can see their performance hampered by a slew of key injuries. And the ‘Cats weren’t exactly the Patriots to start with. I could tell you that this team is way too lacking in talent to expect much more from them. I could tell you that if they had a few more playmakers on defense that they might be able to get off the field on third down (opponents are converting a whopping 56% on third down and hold nearly a ten-minute per game time of possession advantage). I could tell you that a few more playmakers on defense might allow them to get to the opposing quarterback more often (only 7 sacks thus far) and force more turnovers (only 7 of those, too). I could suggest to you that it is the players dropping the ball, literally (17 fumbles, 12 lost…leading to -9 in the turnover column), and not the coaches. But I am not going to do any of that. Because that would be a slap in the face to the kids busting their butts every day trying to do better. They don’t deserve that from me…or from you, for that matter.

There will be many who suggest that I am just a Big Blue face-painter or a UK propaganda pusher, but neither could be further from the truth. It is true that I grew up a die-hard UK fan, but once I was old enough to compete on the same field with the ‘Cats (in baseball), it was time to put that hero-worship away. And the last time I had a seat in Commonwealth Stadium, I had the opportunity to listen to many of the Wildcat “faithful” boo my long-time friend, Pookie Jones while he was under center for UK. I have never forgotten that, obviously, so pardon me if I simply chuckle when I hear some of those same faithful calling for the head of Rich Brooks. You have no idea what you are talking about.

And don’t think for a minute that I am painting all Kentucky fans with the same brush. I have heard from enough of you on the original Brooks column to know that there are many Kentucky fans squarely behind the coaching staff. And I do respect the opinion and viewpoint of the informed fans who seek a new direction. But for those of you who jump ship every single time things don’t go well…why don’t you just put on some orange and say, “Go Vols!”?

That’s what Guy Morriss did when things looked bleak. He jumped ship. Not that I blame him. He seems like a good man and he is certainly a good football coach. He just didn’t want any part of what was waiting on him at UK. But Rich Brooks did. He stepped into the breach. He has done so with passion. I respect what he did at Oregon. I respect the fact that he put his reputation as a good football coach on the line to take a very difficult job. And he is still a very good football coach, you know? He hasn’t forgotten how to coach since he was recognized as the national coach of the year in 1994. The national coach of the year. Can you believe Kentucky has one of those on its sideline? Me neither. So start giving the man the respect he deserves.

Rich Brooks was there for Mitch Barnhart in his time of need. Now it is time for Mitch to return the favor. Mr. Barnhart, I am suggesting to you that you should not turn your back on a man who has refused to turn his on your football program. Do not let boosters run your athletic department. Don’t force your football coach to defend himself at press conferences. Don’t allow your student-athletes to worry about who they will be playing for in 2006. Don’t allow potential recruits to be lost to the unsettled coaching situation. Give Rich Brooks what he deserves. A multi-year contract extension. Now.

Contact The Chief Justice at chiefjustice@thehighcourtofsports.com.

Chief’s note: Some of our Wildcat readers have expressed extreme displeasure with my comments on Guy Morriss and his departure from the University of Kentucky. I want to make it clear that I consider Coach Morriss to be an outstanding football coach, and upon the one brief meeting I shared with him, I found him to be a very genuine individual. It was not my intent to paint him as a coward who ran out on his players and the Kentucky program just because things were getting tough in the face of probation. My intent was merely to say the he realized what a difficult situation the program would be in, and sought a better opportunity. My choice of words and any suggestion that he “jumped ship” was in poor taste, and I apologize to anyone (especially Coach Morriss and his family) that might have been offended by them.

Please join us next week when The High Court debuts the first of its All-Rupp Arena teams in honor of the 30th anniversary of UK basketball in Rupp Arena. The Powdered Wig will kick things off next Tuesday, November 1st, with The High Court’s first, second, and third team All-Rupp squads.

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