Blanton Collier

[paulcalhoun_rivals397471]

Collier coached UK from 1954 to 1961 when he was fired. His 41-36-3 record would represent the last coach to post a winning record at UK before Mark Stoops. He would take the Browns head coaching job in 1963 and play in the NFL championship game 4 times winning it in 1964. Collier won 69% of his games in the NFL which ranks in the top 10 winning percentages of coaches with at least 100 games. His replacement Charlie Bradshaw would go 25-41 over 7 seasons. Followed by John Ray's 10-33 over 4 years. While 41-36-3 would be considered mediocre by most it beat the crap out of the 35-74 over the next 11 seasons and 2 coaches. I have to think firing Collier was a huge mistake. Being from Paris,Ky I tend to think we could have potentially kept him as long as the end of Ray's tenure in 1972.

 

[Cats_2010]

So now your going back over 70 years in your defense of stoops and the justification of keeping him on beyond this year.

 

[paulcalhoun_rivals397471]

It's not my fault you have to go back that far to find our last coach with a winning record. Do you think firing Collier in '61 was a good move? I'm not sure how I will feel about Stoops by the end of the season but I am introducing some perspective as to our reality at UK.

 

[Anon1755209580]

Guys, we can't get rid of Stoops because 3/4 of a century ago we got rid of a coach and it didn't work out.

 

[UK4Life#9]

 

[paulcalhoun_rivals397471]

Bump. Pertinent facts, perspective, and correlation here.

 

[TuckyFB]

Agreed.

I often wonder what the program would look like if

a.) We didn't run off Bear
b.) What if Collier wasn't fired and we went straight into a Curci tenure

 

[Snarks]

Change isn’t always a bad thing. Things with the football program have gotten stale. I have a hard time believing Jon Summerall wouldn’t do better than Stoops right now at UK.

 

[UKWildcats1987]

Stoops doesn't have a winning record at UK by any official statistical record.

 

[paulcalhoun_rivals397471]

Stoops doesn't have a winning record at UK by any official statistical record.

Sounds like the argument a rival fan would make. In actual games he does have a winning record much to your chagrin.

 

[UKWildcats1987]

Sounds like the argument a rival fan would make. In actual games he does have a winning record much to your chagrin.

It's not factually a winning record.

Just like factually cal only has the 4 final fours from UK.

UL has no 2013 title n bball and believe usc lost one n football as well from 2004 or whenever.

You are quoting stats and such but including statistics that are not valid. Be consistent.

 

[paulcalhoun_rivals397471]

It's not factually a winning record.

Just like factually cal only has the 4 final fours from UK.

UL has no 2013 title n bball and believe usc lost one n football as well from 2004 or whenever.

You are quoting stats and such but including statistics that are not valid. Be consistent.

If you insist on playing those games then Stoop's has the only "clean" 10 win season since Bryant. It would also mean Stoops has the only "clean" winning SEC season since 1964.

 

[paulcalhoun_rivals397471]

It's amazing to me that some of you hate the coach so much that you gladly diminish one of the few outstanding seasons we have actually produced. In any event we did factually win those games on the field.

 

[Johnfarrel]

Collier's 1959 group of assist coaches may have been the best group of assistants ever assembled in college football. Five of them went on to be NFL head coaches.

 

[jedwar]

 

[M080470]

Collier got screwed by the state legislature passing that insane 50% or more of the players had to be Kentucky kids to get a scholarship. Bryant's best talent came from Ohio and Pennsylvania while at UK. Stoops has had every advantage that every coach never had.

 

[mdluk1]

Collier's 1959 group of assist coaches may have been the best group of assistants ever assembled in college football. Five of them went on to be NFL head coaches.

 

[TeamAmerica]

Collier coached UK from 1954 to 1961 when he was fired. His 41-36-3 record would represent the last coach to post a winning record at UK before Mark Stoops. He would take the Browns head coaching job in 1963 and play in the NFL championship game 4 times winning it in 1964. Collier won 69% of his games in the NFL which ranks in the top 10 winning percentages of coaches with at least 100 games. His replacement Charlie Bradshaw would go 25-41 over 7 seasons. Followed by John Ray's 10-33 over 4 years. While 41-36-3 would be considered mediocre by most it beat the crap out of the 35-74 over the next 11 seasons and 2 coaches. I have to think firing Collier was a huge mistake. Being from Paris,Ky I tend to think we could have potentially kept him as long as the end of Ray's tenure in 1972.

Stoops has build his record beating dogs. Do you not see the ineptness out there today?

 

[paulcalhoun_rivals397471]

Stoops has build his record beating dogs. Do you not see the ineptness out there today?

I definitely saw some bad officiating. I also watched us lose to plenty of "dogs" over the years.

 

[Anon1739778738]

Our ceiling with stoops will never be an appearance in the sec championship game.Nine-Million a year should sway someone else with a higher possibility of success

 

[paulcalhoun_rivals397471]

The hyena thing is always such a brilliant retort TA. You are totally devoid of perspective.

 

[paulcalhoun_rivals397471]

Our ceiling with stoops will never be an appearance in the sec championship game.Nine-Million a year should sway someone else with a higher possibility of success

Extremely unlikely. Bill Curry won the SEC at Bama the year before arriving here and could never produce a single winning SEC record here. I liked Rich Brooks and he got a ton of credit for what he did at Oregon. Have a look at the records though and you'll find he was never as good there (though better than here) as Stoops has been here. Your confidence in easily getting someone who can do better totally flies in the face of reality and history.

 

[paulcalhoun_rivals397471]

Our ceiling with stoops will never be an appearance in the sec championship game.Nine-Million a year should sway someone else with a higher possibility of success

If Mitch knew for certain a major homerun hire would come that wouldn't be the worst idea that ever was. It's not actually a possibility on top of the buyout you would have to pay however.

 

[paulcalhoun_rivals397471]

Change isn’t always a bad thing. Things with the football program have gotten stale. I have a hard time believing Jon Summerall wouldn’t do better than Stoops right now at UK.

I have nothing against UK Alum Sumrall. I just ask if you are going to push for him please learn to spell his name.

 

[theKybluedude]

Collier got screwed by the state legislature passing that insane 50% or more of the players had to be Kentucky kids to get a scholarship. Bryant's best talent came from Ohio and Pennsylvania while at UK. Stoops has had every advantage that every coach never had.

5-2-1 vs UT

 

[paulcalhoun_rivals397471]

bttt

 

[Farrr Mawk Stoopids]

It's not my fault you have to go back that far to find our last coach with a winning record. Do you think firing Collier in '61 was a good move? I'm not sure how I will feel about Stoops by the end of the season but I am introducing some perspective as to our reality at UK.

69–71 (.493 win percentage)

Add the 2 wins this season and he's a .500 coach. Yet he's one of the top 12 highest paid coaches in the country and has been on a downward trend since 2021 (those wins are vacated btw) and even more so since aTm left him on the tarmac in '23 - time for him to go. The program needs new blood and life.

 

[merrimanm]

69–71 (.493 win percentage)

Add the 2 wins this season and he's a .500 coach. Yet he's one of the top 12 highest paid coaches in the country and has been on a downward trend since 2021 (those wins are vacated btw) and even more so since aTm left him on the tarmac in '23 - time for him to go. The program needs new blood and life.

On field record is better than that. And vacating that season is a joke anyway, but especially in the college landscape now.

 

[CATALCOHOLIC]

I definitely saw some bad officiating. I also watched us lose to plenty of "dogs" over the years.

I saw us lose to a bunch of dogs. Stoops broke a TWO YEAR losing streak on the road. Paul you can’t win with these folks anything good we do is because the other teams stink. A lot of the teams we beat put them with a losing record. If they beat us they would have a winning record. YOU CANT REASON WITH THESE FOLKS!! I have never heard another fan base that beat us say no big deal.

 

[paulcalhoun_rivals397471]

I saw us lose to a bunch of dogs. Stoops broke a TWO YEAR losing streak on the road. Paul you can’t win with these folks anything good we do is because the other teams stink. A lot of the teams we beat put them with a losing record. If they beat us they would have a winning record. YOU CANT REASON WITH THESE FOLKS!! I have never heard another fan base that beat us say no big deal.

You are absolutely correct about no winning with these folks. I just like to add some facts and a little perspective to breakup the wall to wall whining a little bit. There are legitimate issues to be unhappy with but it tends to get ridiculous around here. You can't even discuss what needs to be done to fix things without a host of people insisting that the only possible way to ever fix anything is to fire the coach and AD.

 

[BrokenBlue]

Well you folks have changed my mind about Stoops. I now think we should keep him and keep reminiscing about the two 10 win seasons and the streaks he broke. It doesn't matter that now we are a horrible program that gets embarrassed in games. It doesn't matter that Stoops doesn't want to be here. Who cares if we won 4 games last year and we are going to need to upset a team for a chance to get a back to back 4 win seasons. We still have the past.