KSR - KSR Postgame UK FB at Louisville 11/29/25

Episode Date: November 29, 2025

Matt and Billy recap the Cats' 41-0 loss at Louisville.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and Friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter.

Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where SportsSlice comes in. I'm Timbo, and every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headline. And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

And for more, follow Timbo Slica Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. What's up, guys? This is Clivert Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Clivert Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me.

He goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue 42. A rep. My mama want you to wave at her. What? Where's she at? Hey, Miss Parker.

Listen to The Cliverts show on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, I'm Deanna Maria Riva, and on my new podcast, How Hard Can It Be? I call on my Gen X squad from Ohio to Hollywood as we navigate Midlife's most fantastic BS. Unfiltered conversations from night sweats to futas to scheduling sex. Wait, what sex? Is it just me? or does every woman my age want to look at Pinterest instead of having sex sometimes?

They say we can't polish a turn, but we're sure going to try. So let's get blunt with laughs, tears, or tears of laughter. Listen to How Hard Can It Be with Deanna Maria Riva on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome, everyone. It is the local toy dealers KSR Postgame Show. Final one of the UK football season. The cats get embarrassed in Louisville, 41.

to nothing, give up 41 points for the second straight year to the cards and finish the season 5 and 7, which is what I said was purgatory. That's where we are. You can give us a shout. We'll open up the phones at the end of this segment. And here's the way I'm going to do this today. I think I want to kind of talk about sort of the game and my position on the program and then kind of throw it to you all.

And, you know, in the last few weeks, we've talked a lot of. about what would happen, what could happen. I think now is the time for fans just to be able to say their opinions, what they think should happen. So our lines are closed. We'll open them when I finish and then let you go. Start with the game. I'm not going to go into detail on it.

We got destroyed 41 to nothing. That means in the last two years we've lost to Louisville, 82 to 17. 82 to 17 against two Louisville teams that towards the end of the season for both of those years were on a downward trend they still found a way in consecutive years to not just beat us but humiliate us today is the most humiliating today is probably the most humiliating Kentucky Louisville game of the Stoop's era. Not necessarily because of the margin, although it's an insane margin.

I'll note it's one point more than the Joker Phillips lost to Vandy that basically ended his time here. But also because of by game time, I think we were the favorite. I think it flipped right at game time and we were the one and a half point favorite. This was a Louisville team that had lost three straight games

that was without their top four running backs they started a running back who was a walk-on freshman from Ashland, Kentucky, that at this week last year played against Corbyn High School and had 61 yards rushing, and we gave up 113 yards. We gave up 52 more yards than Corbyn did last year. That's what happened today. It's a humiliating loss, and it was a game that was never close. The moment they blocked that punt, our team, it was over.

And in terms of, in terms of, all of you watching, you never thought we had a chance to win after that. And then they quit for the second straight week they quit, which is in some ways even more embarrassing than the final result. That you quit against Vandy and Louisville in back-to-back weeks. When winning any of the games would have gotten you a bowl, birth, you not only got humiliated in both of them, you quit. So it's a terrible loss and there's no hiding it. It's awful. But it's also not worth breaking down because the team on the field is not going to be on the field next year. Probably the most interesting thing coming out of the game is that Vince Mero tweeted at KSR from the sidelines with six minutes to go. Billy was six

minutes to go. He was tweeting about Nick Roush. Incredible. That is incredible. And it's very Vince Barrow. Vince, I'm sure you're listening right now. Congrats. But six minutes to go. That's insane.

So ultimately talking about the game is a waste of time. What matters is the future. And what matters is what needs to happen going forward. And those of you that have listened to this show for a long time, know that I am much more of an incrementalist than most people are. Most people sort of ride the emotions of the moment. They're up, they're down. I'm like that during a game, but then I try to sit back and go, okay, this is probably the lawyer in me. What is the argument on either side for things? So I have been with Mark Stoops going back to the beginning of the season, thinking, okay,

how is it to figure out what we should do with Mark Stoops? And you may remember I said, if he wins four games, you got to make a change. And if he wins six games, you're going to bring him back. But five wins would be the worst scenario. I was wrong about that. Five wins was not the worst scenario. Five wins with two humiliations to end the season is the worst scenario. Five wins with Indiana going undefeated.

Vandy having a shot if they win today to being 10 and 2 and losing to Louisville 41 to nothing that is probably the worst scenario after the game's over Mark Stoop says basically actually let me read the quote because I want to get it exactly right Mark Stoops has asked about his future twice he was asked in the press conference

and then he was asked by Tom Leach In the press conference, he said, you think I'm going to walk away? Are you kidding me? There's 0% chance I walk away. I'm going to be here as far as I'm concerned. Zero means zero. Zero percent chance I walk. It's pretty definitive, Billy, right?

Right. He said 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 times. So you know his take on it. Well, this is my take. Kentucky football, and really even broader than that, Kentucky athletics, it's time for a change. And it is time for a separation between UK football and Mark Stubes. And that's hard to say in some ways because I feel like we're where we were two years ago with John Calgary.

Let's talk about, because I think it's important to know what Stoops has done. Stoops has been the best coach at Kentucky of my lifetime for the majority of his career. When he came here, this program was abysmal. It had two wins. The fans were not only defeated. They had basically stopped caring. And he did something I did not think you could do during that era. which is recruit at Kentucky and bring in players that could make you competitive in the SEC

on a consistent basis. I didn't think you could do that here back then. I didn't think you could recruit. He made Ohio his base and he created a program that you could actually be proud of. Not only did they have two nine-win seasons. They had multiple sixes and sevens. They had a – but more importantly, you went into games, almost all of them think, you have a shot here.

And think about all the NFL players he produced. At one point, one season of our offensive line had more players who went to the NFL than the 25 years prior combined. That's a pretty amazing thing. And he should be given all the credit in the world for doing that. But ultimately, if you want to have a successful program, a successful business, a successful life. You cannot focus on the past.

You have to focus on the future. And the reality is that going forward, I cannot see a scenario where it is going to work if Stoops is back. I just can't. And there are a number of reasons for that. One is I don't think this regime is adapting to the modern era of college football. I don't think they know what kind of player they want to recruit.

They had a history of success by recruiting guys, developing them, and watching them come up the system. That's what he was good at. Then the portal started and they combined a handful of those guys with the people, they had and it worked. But now it's a different system. Now the system is lots of portal, handful of recruited guys

pay money. And so far they have not shown an ability to be good at that. They've picked the wrong quarterbacks at least two years in a row depending on what you think of Devin Leary 3. They have brought in players that not only have not necessarily helped,

they've brought in culture issues to the program. And I think it's pretty clear even looking at this year's team that the vast majority of guys that had success were who, guys that they had recruited out of high school, who played as freshmen or sophomores and did better than we thought. But who have been the disappointments? The people in the portal. And there's no way you can win in 2025 without crushing the portal. And it's clear they don't know how to do it. Last year, Stoops blamed on not having enough money. I think he had a little bit of a point.

Well, this year, they spent a lot of money. And I think the team is a little bit better, but they only had one more win. And they actually lost to Louisville by more than they did last year. And they lost to Vanderbilt by more than they did last year. And they lost to Tennessee by more than they did last year. So did it matter? I don't really think it did.

But beyond the on-the-field product, it's clear from Mark's comments. He's not going to change. Tom Leach asked him, I thought as nice as you could ask him, what do you think, are you going to be in the seat next year and what are you going to do? And his answer was basically like, well, we're going to recruit and develop. It's the same answer that he's given for 15 years. And an answer that's just not going to work in 2000. He said, we're going to work like we always do. We're going to try to build this roster.

You know, we've been in tough spots before, and we're going to continue to improve. Is that an inspiring message? Is that a message that makes you think, let's go? It's not for me. This college football is a completely different sport than it was four years ago. You can now win at places like Kentucky. I don't know if that was true 15 years ago. But you can.

You can spend money. You can do it intelligently. You can coach at a high level. And you can have success. And there's nothing to me that says going forward that that can happen here. I wish it did. I like Mark. I sat here and thought, I didn't even watch the second half of this game.

I just kind of walked around downtown Lexington. trying to think about what I was going to say. Because I mean, I knew the game was over. So if it happened in the second half, I didn't even see it. Because I knew what was going to happen. And as I walked around, the people I saw or who screamed at me out of their car were all saying the same thing. Fire stoop's. You got to get rid of stoop.

This fan base is for the most part, I don't think it's completely, but for the most part out. They just are. I'm a hockey fan now because of my Carolina Hurricanes. And every year before the hockey season starts, the Athletic does something where they rank the 32 teams by how much hope their fan base has. I always like to read it because you can kind of see like, where are the fans on their team? I have a question for you, Billy.

If they did an SEC hope rankings with the fan base next year, if we bring Stoops back, what place are we going to be in? I'm going to say dead last. We're going to be in 16th. Because the teams that had less hope than us, what did they do? They're switching coaches. Hired a coach, yeah. Arkansas, Florida, Auburn.

The teams that used to be on our level, Vandy, Missouri, are excited about their futures. We would be last. And I think we would be last, and it wouldn't even be close. This van base is just. kind of over it. And the reality is two weeks ago, he had a chance. We were five and five with two games where it was programs that you should be competitive with.

And we went out and got destroyed both times. Destroyed. That flips it for me. I was on the edge before. but that flips it for me. He knew what was at stake in those games. The team knew, and not only did we not win, we got destroyed, and we quit in both games.

How in the world am I going to see that and then assume that next year is going to be better? What is it there that gives me hope? A big part of football, a big part of life, a big part of sports is you hope for, the future. I don't know what the hope is. I just don't. And I want Mark to succeed. But I just don't think the likelihood is high. We were talking the other day and Ryan wanted to bring him back and Drew said there should be a separation. Shannon and I were kind of in the middle.

But then Drew asked a question I thought was a very good question. Whether you bring him back or not, do you think next year it'll work? And I realized later, that my answer to that question was no. So if I don't think it's going to work, why am I doing it again? What's the point? I don't want to act like Mark Stoops has been a disaster. I think he's been like a really good coach here.

But when it's over, it's over. Some people know they've been in relationships. And it can have been great. but for people who've ended them, they know sometimes there's a moment when it's just over. And when it's over, it's over. And you can put it off until your kids graduate high school, and you can put it off until you pay off your house, and you can put off for a million reasons. But when it's over, it's over.

And I just think this is over. It's just over. So how do you get there? That's been my question to people. I don't think there's an easy answer. But you know what? I've become convinced in the last couple weeks. I think you just have to do it.

You have to find a way to get the money. And you got to make the change. Let's say you bring him back. You owe him $37 million. Let's say you bring him back and next year doesn't work. I would ask you, how many of you all think it's going to work next year? All right, let's say it doesn't work next year. You know what you owe him them, Billy?

What? $26 million. So you're still going to owe him a lot of money. The problem was the contract, which brings me to my second point. The best athletic director in the history of Kentucky is Mitch Barnhart. If you look at it, the success he's had here, is unbelievable. He has taken a school that was basically a basketball-only school,

and for most of his tenure, he's had a competitive football program, a competitive women's basketball program, won a national championship in volleyball, went to the World Series in baseball and softball, and produced Olympic world record holding track stars. And for much of that time, been really good at basketball, including winning a title. He's been here 23 years.

I think his record is really good. But I also have to say, it's time to move on. It's time for Mitch to do what I think he'll do anyway, but hand it off to somebody else. UK Athletics is behind. And as good as he's done, and the things that matter now,

we're way behind and we screwed up. our NIL system. Mitch waited two years too long and we're behind. Luckily in today's world, you can still catch up, but we are behind. And it's because of his personal aversion to it. That's a massive mistake. In the realm of being a CEO, it's an almost unforgivable mistake. You took the future of your product and you refused to adapt.

and you caused your company to be behind. That's number one. Number two, in an almost unprecedented way from any other athletic director in the country, you gave two of the worst contracts that have ever been given to coaches. Not because you gave them, but because you let the agents put in a provision

that required you to pay them immediately. No other coach except Jimbo Fisher has ever gotten a deal like this. that. And what happened to the AD that gave Jimbo Fisher that deal? He got fired. You got bailed out because one coach left. But you were going to keep him. You did the video with him. You got bailed out. But as Stoop's postgame comments make clear, you're not getting bailed out of this one. You made a unforgivable in the business term mistake. You made a. You made a. You made a contract where not only do we owe the money, we have to pay it in 60 days. I think if that 60 day provision wasn't there, he'd be let go. But if he's not let go, it will be because of your

decision. And you did it not once, you did it twice. Behind on NIL, way behind. Two contracts that I think are egregious. And then a future that I would say is at best a little tenuous. The new JMI NIL deal, I don't know about that. I was told it was the future and the whole country was going to follow. And so far no one has. We're still the only one doing it like that. And I got to tell you, at least looking at trying to lock up these top basketball recruits, I'm a little bit worse. worried about how that's going to work. So, 23 years of success. 23 years is a long time.

And sometimes you can have people who are legends in their jobs and have unprecedented success. And there comes a time where you just need to move on. And there comes a time for everybody that you just need to have a change. There's a song I really like by one of my two or three favorite artists. Tom Petty, and it's called It's Time to Move On. And the course is like, it's time to move on, it's time to get going. What lies ahead, I have no way of knowing.

But under my feet, grass is growing. It's time to move on. It's time to get going. That's how I feel about UK football, and that's how I feel about UK athletics. The two people in those positions have done an amazing job. but under our feet in both levels grass is growing and it's time for UK football and UK athletics to get going 859-28027 that's my take forgive me for my length will now go to you 859-2807 it's a local toilet dealers KSR post game show well done getting the song there billy

it's like you're like Shannon getting doing the song that I that I refer to well done you've had a busy day and you got that made it happen oh it's time to get going Matt you go did you know that song or is that like before your time a little before my time but I already like it I love Tom Petty like Tom Petty Johnny Cash Tyler Childers if I was to have like one I mean these people are dead except Tyler Childers so I don't think I can see them but like that would be my perfect bill would be like those three but that's a good line very unlikely to happen at this point 859-2802-87 one person says Matt

that was amazing but it was also clearly written is that what you did during the second half Mario's standing here did I write any did I even have notes that was just

that was just off the top of my head but also I thought about what I was going to say but I didn't write it down Mario can tell he was sitting there I was watching his head bob yes or no

as I was saying. 859, 280, 2020. I've talked enough. Let's just go to you all. Mike. Go ahead, Mike. So my buddies were asking me, we're asking us what we thought the prediction or the score of the game would be.

And I said it would be the most Kentucky football thing ever if they got blown out in this game. And lo and behold, it became into existence. 41 than nothing. I got a question. Could you educate me on NIL for just a second? Sure. Well, as much as I know. I don't understand. So does it hurt Kentucky that they are like baseball's good?

Yes, I think it is an issue. Yes, I do think it's an issue. I think it is hard to be in everything school going forward. So to be in everything school going forward. And I think that is an issue that a lot of the secondary programs that UK are thinking about. But I think you have to do what Craig Skinner's doing with volleyball. He's kind of creating his own little N IL thing with donors there that's working. But yes, I think something that's difficult for UK football is that we want UK basketball to be really good. But with that said, so does Louisville. And they beat us 41 to nothing. Right. So that's not an excuse for this season.

So. And Louisville like also, I mean, Louisville's women's basketball team's good. Louisville's baseball team's good like Louisville's volleyball team's good like they're in the same position we are and they just destroyed us two years in a row. So at the end of the day, it comes down to having people that make good decisions and are good coaches. I totally agree with you.

Thank you, Matt. Appreciate the call. Ultimately, I think being smart is more important now than it's ever been in terms of making the decisions. Because now a lot of the decisions that are going to determine whether or not you are successful are decisions not based on how well you coach them up, but how will you make decisions. Be they on the field or in the boardroom before. Let's go to Jerry. Go ahead, Jerry.

Man, I agree with everything you said, everybody. And I appreciate you saying that. But you know, I've got two things. I don't want to bother me more than anything to work. This is two weeks in a row that this team has quit. I sat back and watched Louisville play last week against SMU. Gave up almost 500 total yards. And they completely dominated us today.

And I hated for color-a-bole, but he never did have a shot today in that game. He really did. And Louisville, I appreciate the call. Louisville and Kentucky quit last week. Louisville quit against SMU or was it Clemson they played last week? I guess it was Clemson. SMU. They only scored six points.

Yeah, so both teams came into this game having quit on their last game, but they got up for it, and we didn't. So they were more ready. Todd, go ahead, Todd. Todd, go ahead, Todd. Can you hear me? Yes. Okay, yeah, Matt, I agree with everything you said.

Stoops has done great things here, and I hate to see that his legacy has kind of come down to this. but is there a world that that was just coach speak after the game and that he may agree to a lesser buyout to kind of save face and walk away or is he going to dig in like Brian Kelly, you think? I don't know. I would have thought, I've never known Stoops to be someone who doesn't mean what he says. So I think I wouldn't have thought that was going to be what he said in the post game,

but he did. So I have to think he believes that. And while I would wish selfishly that Stoops would be open to something, whether it be extending the payout over a term of years or whether it be taking less, ultimately asking a person not to take money, a contract says they give them, they don't have to do that. And so while part of me wants to ask him to, at the end of the day, the fact we owe him $37 million if we do it, ultimately that's Mitch Barnhart's fault. it's not Mark Stoops' fault. Right. You know? Yeah, I just, it's his fault.

We're in this same spot again, just the whole cow situation, and then you turn around and done it to us again. That's right. Do you think that season ticket holders, do you think that takes a hit? And honestly, I would love to have season tickets.

I have a son at EKU right now, and he said, don't you dare buy season tickets right now. And I would love to buy them, but I just don't want to in this kind of situation. Yeah, I don't know. I mean, I appreciate the call. I think it'll certainly lose some. The question's how many. I mean, you know, I think some people will have season tickets for social reasons. So like, I don't know. I don't know. I think attendance is usually a better measure than actual ticket sale. But I don't know. Listen, if they do, if they do bring those, if they do bring them back, like, I mean, they couldn't have handled this offseason worse in pretty much. every way possible. And, you know, how do you sell this to the... I just don't know how you sell this back to the fans.

How? I mean, what is there to be excited about? I guess Cutter, maybe some of these young receivers, but, I mean, they just got destroyed. So, I don't know. Let's go to Isaac. What's up, Isaac? Hi, Matt. How are you?

Good. What's up? I've just kind of been growing apathetic towards his team this season. Like, it's, I mean, it's time for a change for sure. I mean, Mark Stoops has been the coach for my whole life, but he's got to go. But my main point is if I were Mitch Barnhart and Mark Stoops' agents coming to me and putting that provision on the table where we have to pay in 60 days or Mark Stoves will walk if that provision is not put in, how does Mitch Barnhart,

just not let him walk. In my opinion, there is no coach in the country that is worth putting that provision in the contract. Yeah, I mean, I agree with you in hindsight. I don't know what happened in that moment. I wasn't in the room. Did he have another job offer? I think when they did that contract, there was a lot more. I mean, Stoops was very popular, so it would have been hard if he walked away. At the same time, though, part of me would say, since I don't know of any other coach in the country that has that provision. I think he got out bluffed by Jimmy Sexton. The only other person that got that was Jimbo Fisher,

who was coming off a national championship. And while he was a failure, he also today said his protege, Mark Stoops, that Louisville was a racehorse and we were, what, a wounded donkey or something? I mean, that's his mentor, right, that said that. So, yeah, at best, and I appreciate the call, At best, Mitch got vastly out negotiated in that.

That's the best read of it. At worse, he's just bad at that. The other provisions in the contract, I don't even mind. I don't even mind the money amount because at the time we didn't want him to leave, I don't even mind the term of years. I just mind that 60-day provision because nobody else has that. That's not an industry norm. and I know of three coaches that have gotten that and two of them were here.

That just doesn't make sense. The hateful truth. What does that mean, Billy? That's his name. All right. Go ahead. Yeah, fire Mark Stoves and Fire Barnhart, and I appreciate the call. Well, there you go.

It's kind of what I thought was coming. When I saw that, when I saw that, I just kind of thought that's what was coming. James. Go ahead, James. James. James. Yeah. Yeah, I'm here. Hello, can you hear?

Yes, go ahead. Sorry about that. So immediately after the game, despite the performance with all the noise going on, Cutter wants to stay. Cutter wants to be a wildcat. And I really like seeing that. But my worry is if what have changes do happen, how likely is he to stay or how likely is he, you know, to leave or transfer out?

I mean, he could be a high target for some really good football team. Well, I mean, Mark, so Mark clearly screwed up earlier this week. week saying that he was 100% in. As a matter of fact, how do you know he screwed up? Because he walked it back in the post game. I kind of heard that the Bowley folks didn't like that. Now, with that said, Bowley did say after the game he wants to be at Kentucky. He did say wants to be at Kentucky. I will note, I can't help but parse people's words. I do think it matters. He said, I want to be Kentucky. He did not say, I will be at Kentucky. Mark Stoop said we have lots of players locked up. Billy, he did not say we have

Bowley locked up, right? So, I mean, those things matter. With that said, I think there is a very, very good chance Bowley is back. And I think most of the young players that have done well this year, if Stoops were to come back, would also be back. But I don't think for me that's enough to just say, well, let's just run it back. I totally agree with that. Thank you for taking the call. Appreciate the call. And listen, you know, I think people probably know this. It's not easy for me to say that stuff because there's probably a good chance he will be back. And things are not going to be great for me for saying that. You know, they're probably not going to be very happy. Either Mark or the administration like Barnhart and those guys for me saying it. But I also just have to tell you how I feel. And I really didn't get to the point that I was like, we just have to do it until.

half time tonight. Because I still was like, well, it's a lot of money. But the money was always the issue for me. And the money is still an issue. I can't magically say it's going to appear. But I now am like, what are we doing if we bring back? Like, what are we doing?

What is going to happen? What is going to change? I mean, I could pull up that schedule next year. Do you, I mean, winning six games. I mean, I don't, maybe you see it. I don't. Nick, go ahead, Nick. Hey, Matt.

What's up? I was just wondering, how do you think Mark Stoops lost the locker in between from now and Tennessee Tech? You know, I don't know if he lost the locker room. I haven't heard that he lost the locker room. I just think, you know, he wasn't able to get him to play. I don't think that means like they hate him. I actually think the opposite. I think those guys want to see.

succeed for him. I think especially this group. I think last year they lost the locker room. I don't think they lost it this year, especially the young guys. I just think, you know, they just couldn't do it. You can have, like, you can have a nice guys and you just can't get it done. And so I don't think he lost the locker room, at least that I've heard. All right. Thank you, man. Appreciate the call. I do think he lost the locker room last year. But I don't think that happened, at least from what I've heard this year. Andrew, go ahead, Andrew. Yeah, and Matt, first time I'm a long time.

Who I? I was getting picked off at computers in high school, listening to Jai Lucas, PEPAT. Yeah, boy, you go way back. Never called in before, but I'm just thinking over football and basketball. I'm fully prepared to get whipped on Tuesday. I just want to know where is this one of the department going.

Like, what is the motivation for me to continue to support the program, donate to NIL, buy tickets to both go sports. Well, I mean, I think the motivation for basketball is we're only six games into the season. Football, though, I think, especially the donating to NIL, I think that's a fair question. Where are you, like, who's excited to give to NIL for football next year? Not me. I mean, I mean, I'm not, I grant you, like, who is excited for that?

I don't know who those people are. Right. I'm not poor. I mean, I'm, you know, I'm making, okay. money, the UK grad, went to bed, listened to UK football games for me to sleep right by the stadium as a baby. You know, I'm, but I just don't understand why I'm at. What is, what Stoops has to go?

You can't keep doing this. I think Pope can get it right. That's a separate issue. But the Stoops thing, we got to make a move. Well, I think a lot of people, hang up and listen. Thank you so much. Appreciate the call. I think a lot of people agree with you.

Yeah, I don't know how you, I don't know how you would get NIL donations for next year for football. I mean, you know, maybe they will. But I don't know. And I, I just, like, just think about, people sometimes say we focus too much on PR. But let me just, let me just give an example of where I think Mitch is unbelievably behind the times. When's the last time you all heard Mitch speak? Anybody know? No.

I don't even know. Now, counter that with other ADs. I've heard the AD at Old Miss speak like four times in the last few weeks. Mitch Pornhart never says anything. We hear from him like twice a year. It's absurd. Even during all of this happening with Stoops, he never said a word. Even when we were two and five, like he never says anything.

Can you remember the most passionate Mitch Barnhart moment of the last five years? Maybe after hiring Pope. Okay. But again, that's an official press. True. He was at Football Media Day, but has he said a word since then? Like, he needs to speak today. Let me put it like this.

If he's going to bring Mark Stoops back, he needs to say it right now. Like every moment you don't say it, what happens, Billy? The void is filled. The void is filled. So if you're going to bring him back, you need to say it right now. Now, if you're not or if you're thinking about it, then that's a different question. But if Mitch knows he's bringing Mitch Stoops back, he should be talking. Because every moment he doesn't talk, people are going to think.

Well, maybe. And I don't know that he ever thinks about the PR aspect of any of this. I think they are so bad at PR in the football and athletic department that it's like, sometimes I go, listen, I volunteer to help you. Just do better. But they're just not good at it. Let's go to Brad. Go ahead, Brad.

Three practical steps. Number one, get the attorneys in the room to see if they can negotiate out of the 60 or 90 days. 60 days, 60 days. That's step one. You can't get it. Next thing, you go to the money. Number two, number three, if you can't get the money, I think you got to make a switch with the,

I guess the Board of Trustees and the Athletic Department. I don't think that's a, I mean, that's not an impract. I mean, that's at least a logical plan. I also think, look, one more thing about both Stoops and Mitch. Let's say you believe they're both have a positive future. Let's say you believe they'll both turn it around. Billy, how many years could they possibly have left? How many years is Mitch really going to go from now on?

Right. Like at max three to four. At max, two, not two, three. So let's just go ahead and do it. Right? Because this is the most important year or two that this will set up college sports for the next 20 years. There's something about people who have a lot of success. Mario, that they feel like no one else can do it.

And that's not true. You can be successful and then someone after you can do it too. Remind me of this billion like eight or ten years or maybe five. Yeah, when you give it up. Right. But like for me, it was really hard for me to like hand over the website. It was like, I built this. Like, can I?

No, I need to. You know what? They do fine. They're good. They don't need me. Mitch, he's not the only person that can run an athletic department. I saw no filter, the cut man, say on Twitter like, well, who you're going to get? You think Mark Stubes is the only guy that can go five and seven?

If we were 10 and 2, Billy, that might be different. But we're 5 and 7. Yeah. We can find other people to go 5 and 7. So, you know, just like Mitch McConnell and Nancy Pelosi and like, you don't have to do it forever. You can let someone else do it. 859-28027. We'll take a break.

Be right back. It's the local toy dealers, KSR, post-game show. Welcome back. It is the local toy dealers, KSR post-game show. 859-28027. When person says, Matt, I love you. I think you're very smart, but you own a restaurant that's built on a radio show, and you cannot broadcast the radio show through the speakers without feedback.

Hire a smart person like you tell Bernard to hire a smart person to get it to work. Fair point. That is a problem. Touche. Yes. Touche. We can never get the equipment to work. But that's why if I was running like an audio department, I wouldn't hire me.

Right? I feel like that's kind of where we are. One person writes, Matt, I saw you walking downtown and I thought, isn't the game on? True. I wasn't going to watch the second half. I mean, what was the point? I watched the first half. I thought, I had somebody, I texted somebody and said, if we come back, let me know and I'll pop in somewhere and watch it.

Because I was trying to think of what I was going to say, and I needed to get my steps in. And then I had to go shave. Oh, yeah, you came in. You said you needed shaving cream. Yeah, I forgot I didn't have shaved because, like, you know, now my beard grows gray if I don't do it. All right, one person says, Madam, have you a list of names. Who is working at Kentucky on July 1st? I like this, okay.

Mark Stoops, Bush Hamden, Brad White, Mitch Barnhart. Okay. So this is not a who I think should be working here, but who I think will be. I think Bush Hamden is almost not certainly, but very unlikely to be here next year. at this point. I think he could have been absent these last two games.

Brad White, I think, is probably going to, no matter what Stoops does, do something else. So that's another thing you've got to think about. If Stoops comes back, we might have two new coordinators. Is that good for a person that has one year to kind of show it? I think Mitch Barnhart is going to step away. I hope that's, again, not calling for his job in the sense of like he should be fired, But I hope he does. It's time.

It's time for him to move on. And then for Mark, I think it's over, but I don't think he knows it's over. And I'm not sure. It's, again, it's like a divorce. Okay. Husband and wife, both in their hearts know it's over.

Husband's in denial. Thinks maybe if he can just act a little better, can keep the wife around. Wife knows it's over. does she think she ought to stay a couple more year for the kids, or do you just go ahead and do it now? That's where I think we are. That's the analogy, in my opinion.

And all their friends are like, it's probably time. You know, you two can't stop fighting. Like, that's where we are. I just, it's over. It was a good run. It was a really good run. In Mitch Barnhart's case, it was a great run.

But it's over. let's go to Robert. What's up, Robert? What's going on, Matt? What's up? I'm sorry I missed your intro. It sounds like it was epic. I will go back and catch it.

Yeah, we'll have it up on YouTube and then Mario's making a little video of it too. But go ahead. I've got to ask. So earlier this week, you've been saying, hey, Mitch may be going after this calendar or this sports year, like in May June, whatever it may be.

I mean, if that's the case, then Stoops has got to say, I don't see why we hire a coach, Mitch go away, and then the new AD is stuck with the new coach. Well, it's a very fair point. I mean, it's a very fair point, but what do you do, right? Like, like, I mean, let's say, let's say that Mitch, let me just put a scenario. Let's say Mitch Barnhart in his mind knows he's going to step away. but he also thinks he should replace the coach.

Should you just keep the coach? Just cause? I mean, like, what do you do? I'm with you. I don't really know the answer to that question. You know, I don't know. And I will tell you, I texted the text machine the day when Drew was on his rant

and he was right. You know who needs to be ponying up right now? Mr. Barnhart. And I know that that's a snowball's chance in blank. That that's going to happen. Well, I don't think he has $37 million to give. But he could contribute those. Well, he does.

To be fair to Mitch, he contributes a lot to the university. He's one of the few ADs I know that gives back to the university. I mean, like part of why he has an amount of money he's pledged, I think, to give to the university every year for like the last five years. And I think that ends this year, which is, I think, part of why I kind of think he resigns at the end of it. But to be fair to him, he's actually given a lot back to the university. more than almost any other AD, I bet, has. I mean, you make it tough on me. I just want to be fair to him.

I mean, I understand. You know, I actually think he has been, and I appreciate the call, I think he's been very generous in giving back. That doesn't excuse the contracts, but I mean, one person on a text machine says, all right, let's say Mitch leaves. Who should be the AD? So here's what I would, here's what I think should happen if he leaves. I'm a big believer that the way you make a decision,

especially hiring decisions, you have a number of candidates, a set number. You don't want to have too many because then you get like, what is it? What's the phrase, Billy, like, well, something leads to indecision. Too many choices.

Too many choices can lead to indecision. So you have like, let's say, let's just say five is a number. In my opinion, two of those candidates without question should be Mark Hill and Dwayne PV. They've not only earned it, they know this school, they should be two of the candidates, but there should be more. It should not be handed to somebody just because they've been here. You should do a search and have a couple more. Then you should look at all of them and make the choice of who would be the best one. And I would argue it should not be Mitch Barnhart making that choice. It should be people apart. It should be a hiring committee.

They should do it like when they hired Mark Stoops. They put a committee together. They interviewed like five people. They chose Stoops, and I think that worked out. I think Mark Hill and Dwayne Peev should be two of them, but they shouldn't be the only two. And I say that even though Dwayne Peev is my great friend, and I get along with Mark Hill.

There should be more. And then you should decide who's the best of the group. You shouldn't just hand it to somebody. No offense. Nobody's earned that yet. Who's next? Rooney. Rooney, go ahead, Rooney.

Matt's cleaning the house tonight. Well, I mean, I love those guys. And if Mark Hill or Dwayne Peevee becomes the AD, I'm going to be their biggest backer hoping I can make them succeed. But, like, everybody should earn their job, right? Yeah, I agree. I called in after the Vandy game, and I said the only thing they have to do, or the coach Stu

has to do is not get smoked by Louisville, which he did. Yeah. I'm kind of with Drew at this point. It's not my money. But who are we going to get? Because we can't do another Billy G. There's a lot of people we could get.

Let me ask you a question. Before Vandy hired, what is it, Lee, Clark Lee, or whatever's name is? Did you ever heard of him? Has you ever heard of Kurt Signetti? Have you ever heard of the new guy that Arkansas,

State just hired from North Texas. There's a lot of great coaches out there, you know? Yeah, but I think, you know, just break down one of those examples. You got Vandy. They got a coach, I have no idea who he is, but he got lucky with his NIL and got a great damn quarterback. He didn't get lucky. He didn't get lucky.

He picked him. He didn't get lucky. He picked the right guy. But he picked the right guy. I mean, when people have success, and I'm not saying you are, like this, Rooney. But when people have success, the loser mentality is to go they got lucky. No, he was smart. And by the way, Diego Pavi's really good. But like, they're not tied at Tennessee right now because he's the only good player they've got, right? Oh, I agree with that. But there's

luck and everything. There is. I'm lucky. I'm lucky where I'm at today and you're lucky where you're at today. You're exactly right. But success is not 100% luck. But success is not 100% luck. I agree that. There's others. Luck is part of it, but like success is when talent meets luck, right? That's right. So I appreciate to call.

I mean, it's easy to go, well, it didn't work out, so I'm unlucky. Yeah. I mean, I'm lucky Patrick Patterson and Jay Lucas were there. I'm lucky Instagram didn't exist when John Wall and DeMarcus cousins got here. But I also worked my ass off, right? Like John Caliperi's lucky that this recruiter, that recruit hit, but he also knew what he was doing to get him here. You know, there's a lot, like, luck's part of it, but it's not all of it.

Let's go to Noah. What's up, Noah? Hey, Matt. What's up? So I'm making my way back home. I was at the game today. Sat up in the nosebleed. Took my brother to his first ever Kentucky football game.

What a start. Yeah, it's a tough one. Well, just telling him it's all down. It's all better from here. Yeah, hopefully. Because my first game that I went to was when Kentucky got trounced 40 to nothing to Vanderbilt in Joker's last game. Well, this is good bookends. It's a good book in.

Yeah. So what I'll ask is with the success that we've had in the past few years and the success that we're seeing for teams like Indiana, teams like Vanderbilt, is this a new low for Kentucky? Does this feel worse than it did when Joker got fired? No, because I didn't think there was any hope of success when Joker got hired. Like none. I was excited for a new era, but I just, I never thought Kentucky. I mean, if you listen to show, you know, I thought Kentucky football would always be horrible.

I just had accepted it. I think in this new era, you can win. We can go get somebody and win. We just have to go get the right person. So no. I don't think it's a new low. I mean, we went five and seven. That's better than last year.

So if this is a low, last year was worse. But I would say to you that now I'm not as hopeless because I actually think you can win at this school, whereas I used to not think that. Yeah, I guess it could just be the fact that they were playing Grove Street party on the last kickoff. I didn't like that. That one really burned me up, you know. Yeah, well, I mean, they trolled us well. I appreciate the call.

That Grove Street, when I heard it, Billy and I were sitting in here and we were like, uh-oh. But I would have done it too, if I were them, you know? What's amazing is we rescued their season, Billy. They were like, I mean, they were in the tank. I mean, yeah, they were playing their fifth string running back. They had lost three straight games and, like, just were a disaster.

I mean, we were favored at kickoff. We lost 41 to nothing. Let's go to Jay. Go ahead, Jay. Yeah, Matt, disagreed with your intro. You're saying that Kentucky as a business should look down the road. Well, their basketball intro music is right here, right now. Right here, right now.

L.A. Rams, ditch golf, brought in Stafford one right now. Vandy brings in their players wins right now. Indiana brings in their players. Wins right now. So what do you disagree with? I'm asking you a question. What do you disagree with? What are you disagreeing with?

UK president, can I say something here? UK president, are they going to have the Cahonis to pull the trigger to get rid of Barnhart? Who I believe is on one of the commissioners for the basketball selection committee. But what do you do? I understand what you're saying? People with power do not leave their positions. But what do you disagree with? Am I correct?

What are you disagree with, though? I don't understand what you're disagreeing with. You said you disband. Your earlier stay where you're like, we're not looking down, we're not looking ahead. You don't look ahead. You look for right now. You win right now. And I keep looking 10 years down the road.

Okay. Win right now. I appreciate you. I've heard. Okay, I got you. A lot of right nows. Yeah, I still don't know that you, I mean, we came to the same conclusion. Sounds like he agreed with you, honestly.

Yeah. I mean, that seems like an argument you would make for keeping Stoops because you would go, I think he can turn it around right now. I don't totally understand this point. But, you know, I think I saw Justin Rowland say, Mark Stubes has been the coach here for 13 years. Eli Capiluto has been the president of UK for 16 years, which is an enormous amount of time for a college president. I bet there are almost no college presidents in America that have been in their job for that long. Usually it's like a four or five year job.

And then Mitch Barnhart's been the AD for 23 years. That's a lot of stagnation. You know, that's a lot of like the same names for a long time. I don't know. Sometimes you need to do something different. What's next? We've got another Jay on the line. Jay, go ahead.

Hey, Matt. So you stole a bit of my thunder. But my whole thing is I want soups of Mitch gone, obviously. but if Stoop steps away, he has that advisory role. How do we know that he's not going to get one of his boys, Mark or Dwayne, your buddy, and them just do the same exact thing? Well, because he shouldn't be the one picking it. He shouldn't be the one picking it.

I mean, Mark, like, when we go back to Mark and Dwayne, I'm not saying they can't be good A-Ds, I think they actually can't. But I think Mitch should have no role in picking the replacement. I think they should pick a group of people that are outside the athletic, department and they should choose. And then if they end up choosing one of those guys, I'm good with it. Somebody has to choose, right? But he shouldn't be the one to choose for the reasons you're talking about. Yeah, it just kind of scares me with that advisory role because, you know, like everyone who is that successful has a little bit of, you know, control issues. They want to control

it. And I think he's going to be the same way. And I mean, also, Roland was talking a while ago that Capoluto's on his way out and they're just going to get one of his assistants too to be. the next president. And so it's like we're not really moving forward if we get rid of Mitch and Capoluto and have the same stuff. It's kind of like hiring Brad White as our next football coach. It's the same exact thing. We need a whole new start. We need to get rid of everyone and just start over. Yeah. Well, I appreciate the call. I mean, Eli Capoludo, that's a little different because the job of a university presence a lot more than sports. And I think in general, Eli Capiluto has been a successful president of university Kentucky. It's a much better school as a

university now than it was when he got there. So, I mean, sports is a small part of that job. And I actually think he's done pretty good job at that job. 859-280-2287. We'll take a break and come back for a final segment. It's a local toy dealers, KSR post-game show. Welcome back, final segment, local toy dealers, KSR post-game show. You know, I cited a song in my opening.

Do you think he was doing Billy that Van Halen song right now? Do you know that song? What song are you talking about? The Van Halen song right now. Do you know that song? I think I've heard that before. Right now. Hey, until tomorrow.

You don't know that song? No, I think I do. But you think Stoops is doing that? No, I thought that caller that said right now 15 short times that was saying. That was a little bit of bizarre. That was a lot of right now. I still don't know what his point was. Vandy and Tennessee tied at 21, second half.

Missouri leads Arkansas, 2017. might be the last time Bobby Petrino is a head coach today. And then LSU and Oklahoma, just three three. So to win the game tonight, Alabama, Auburn. What else? Anything? You know, Florida was playing Florida State, but that's already started. So I'm not sure what's tonight. Okay.

All right. 859-2802287. We'll go till just a little bit past six and then call it an evening. Thank you all. I mean, this is probably like a record number of listeners for posting it. Wouldn't you think, Billy, this has got to be up there. If not, basketball, we probably had more the day Cal lost and all that national title. But it's got to be close, wouldn't you think?

Yeah, these are biggies, the state of the union one. Yeah. Biggest one we ever had was when we won the national championship. But I think that after we lost Oakland was probably pretty close. Nothing will ever get close to Catina Pau, though. Like the numbers there were just stupid. Terry and Shepherdsville, go Terry. Well, the song, the guy, the callers referencing is the one that goes, right here, right now, right here, right now.

Yeah, I know that one, yeah. Okay, so I came out to my happy place. I came out to my fire pit. I got my fire going, hoping to look up and get some guys and some brothers South End Steve. I just, I really did. I thought today, win or loose, in my heart of hearts, I thought Stoops was going to walk away. I thought he was going to say. Did you really?

I thought he was going to say, I've done all I can do here. I'm going to hand it off to someone. The fact that he doubled down and said zero, four times, really hurts me at my core because he still has to look in the mirror and ask himself, am I doing this fan-based justice? And it has to be no. Every answer has to be no. It can't be anything. than that. Now, Matt, you're probably not going to agree with this. What I'm going to say here, but if you go back and watch the second half, you might change your mind. My message to the fans, are you watching the games? Why do you care if Cutter Bowley comes back? He's not good. He's not good. He misses wide open receivers, cross the middle. He forces the ball into coverage. He can't run. And when he does run, he makes the wrong and he throws the ball to the other team all the time. He's got like 30.

or 14 and receptions. And he didn't even start the year off point. So I would say you got two points here. Let's go back to the first one. I would not have thought he was going to walk away. But I was a little surprised by his kind of defiance in that answer. He kind of laughed when the question was asked and he was like zero. That was a little surprising to me.

I mean, I would have thought he would have taken the view of, you know, this has not gone well. and I, but I want to be here and hopefully, you know, we figure out a way to, you know, something like that. I was surprised it, because it reminded me of when Jim Calhoun was asked if he was going to give up any of his salary. Do you remember that? And he was like, not one dollar or something like that. And it kind of reminded me of that, which is not a great memory. On your second thing, I disagree with you about Cutter. I understand what you're saying.

My, like, my. If he wasn't, if he wasn't from Kentucky, people wouldn't be saying it. That may be true. We do care a lot more about people from Kentucky. What I would say to you is I'd love Cutter to be back. I actually think Cutter has a lot of talent. I would say this, though.

Whatever decision you make can't be made because of Cutter Bowling, one way or the other. I mean, I want Cutter to come back and I appreciate the call. I think he can be good here. But you don't make this decision. Whatever it is, you don't make it based on Cutter Bowley. You make it based on what's good for Kentucky football and Kentucky athletics long term going forward.

Branson, go ahead, Branson. I'm Tom. Whoa? What's up? Hey, real quick, that last call just completely caught me off guard. But to respond to that, why in the world would he walk away from $37 million? He wouldn't. He wouldn't. And he shouldn't, but he maybe should be flexible to talk to us about saying,

and hey man, do we have to give it to you in 60 days? Can we find a way to, you know, that to me, that would be good of him. Completely agree with you there. And his answer in the press conference was kind of smug. I mean, he was kind of smug. It was kind of smug. Real quick, just to get away from the big picture type of things, in the NIO world, I think it's probably as important as ever to evaluate talent.

Without question. We have a backup quarterback making $1.5 million in the SEC. We have screwed up, we screwed up our evaluations. We screwed up, I mean, Devin Leary, I think was okay, but probably not a good fit for our Liam Cohen at the time. Brock Van de Griff was a whiff. Zach Kowzada was a whiff. And they're not the only ones.

We have a lot of money sitting on the bench while we play freshman. I think this season is a perfect example. We got a lot of money sitting on the bench that are not playing. playing because they didn't evaluate the transfers well. And the guys that were surprisingly good were actually dudes that we recruited and developed. I wonder if Mark Stoops is a dude that's kind of like dabbo Sweeney in the sense that he's really good at recruiting and developing, but he's not either willing.

Well, he's willing to take transfers, but he doesn't pick the right ones. And looking to the future, I mean, we're, we've heard all offseason about how, you know, the portal was used to add depth, depth, depth. and then stoop's after the game today. All he talks about is how we have a lack of depth. It's just extremely contradictory. Well, they also don't have a consistent, I appreciate the call. They don't have a consistent philosophy of what they want to do.

I mean, last, okay, so go back two years ago, 2023. The theory was, let's go get guys who are super talented and can come plug holes. But then they ended up getting a lot of guys. And then the next year it was like, well, they're not talented enough. So let's go get dudes who were backups at the big programs. But then that didn't work because they didn't have the good attitude. Then this year it was like, all right, let's go get guys who were big time contributors at small programs. And then that hasn't really worked.

So now like they're saying let's go get Juko guys. Billy, it's almost like they don't know what to get. They don't have a philosophy. Yeah, you got to pick one. You got to have a philosophy. You know, you got to decide, okay, what is, what am I going to do? Because they've had like four different philosophies, which tells me they don't know what to do. Let's go to Paul.

Paul, go ahead. Paul. All right, Carl. Matt. First time, forever, long time. Who are? Who are? Okay.

What we're talking about earlier, the recruit, I mean, why is, why Stoop is even, terrible hop walls. You know what? I give him credit for knowing it wasn't going well. You know what I mean? Yeah, admitted when he was down. Like he realized this isn't happening. So I'm just going to stop.

I give him credit for that. He knew when to fold him. Like, let's do six more and we'll call it a night. Jake, go ahead, Jake. Hey, man, how are you doing this evening, sir? Jake, I can't believe you got through. This is the phone lines. This is the closest I've ever seen.

to like the moment we hang up, Billy, another one rings. Like, is it always like that? Big games. Yeah, it is. Unbelievable. Go ahead, Jay. Hey, I was curious what you had to say about the fan like me that hasn't seen the lowest and the highest things.

I just saw what David and Lerry did and what Brock did and what we did this year. I'm not really ready to get rid of Mark yet. Okay, so why is that? Well, because I haven't seen his, I haven't been where you guys are, right? I haven't seen the worst that he's done, and I haven't seen the best he's done. What do you mean? Does that make, well, I haven't, we, the, the 10 and 2 season that was in 2021, if I'm doing my math correct.

There was two of them, yes. One of the 10 and, that was the first, that was one, that was one of them. And he was the, and he was the coach then, right? Yeah. But you were a fan then, Jake. No, I wasn't. I wasn't listened to the games yet. Oh, I didn't realize that.

Okay. So when did you start? No, when I called you back in 2023. Wow. I feel like you've been calling a lot longer than two or three years. I didn't realize that. Okay. All right.

So you're, well, that means you've only seen a struggle. Yeah. Okay. All right. Well, Jake, I thought you've been around a lot longer than two or three years. No, when I called you back in 2023, wanting to get the eye heart app was when I first started to listen to the games. Billy, did you know it's only been a couple years for Jake? I did not.

I thought he was a loyalist. Well, you made quite an impression in those couple years, Jake. Well, I appreciate the call. You will put you down as a vote for keeping stoops, okay? Yes, sir. All right. Now, that's a shock to me. Didn't think you'd get a shock in the last segment of the tonight's post game, did you?

The biggest shock in the history of KSR was when I saw how old Madison was. That's the biggest shock. But Jake only having called for two years, I don't even know if I believe him. He's so genuine. I don't know. I do. All right. Jordan, go ahead, Jordan.

Hey, Matt. Just really quick, what sort of emotions do you feel when on every single broadcast they show. Mark Stoops, longest tenured head coach in the SEC. Yeah, I don't know if I have emotions. I will say I had today, I definitely had emotions of kind of sadness because it felt like to me, and I can only speak for me personally, that for me it was like, okay, the last remaining hopes that I had that this could be turned around, it's kind of over. that made me sad because I like I've always liked Mark and I also think this has been a really good

time and I'm hoping we don't have what I'm worried is going to happen which he's going to dig in and stay Mitch is going to feel like he can't raise the 37 million then he doesn't get rid of him and we have this situation where the fans are against the coach and a relationship that was really good turns like toxic in a way that's really not helpful. for everybody. Yeah, I was kind of leaning more toward, like, you know, a couple of years ago before, I guess he was the longest coach and, you know, before saving retired, it was like, oh, yeah, we've held on to our guy, you know, we kept him from going to, you know, Texas A-San-in,

and I think Michigan State at one point was maybe tossed around. I was like, yeah, we've held onto our guy. We've had him for a while. But now it's almost like, you know, just looking at it in hindsight, it feels like his career's done a bell curve, you know, like it came up and met the peace with the two 10 and two seasons and now it's just sort of on the way down and if it was a stock, when would you sell it kind of thing? Yeah, and that's a really great way to put it.

I agree. I had a stock once during the whole post-COVID thing where I was like, made a lot of money and I should have sold it then, but I kept it. And then I was like, well, I'm not going to, I mean, it's on its way down. I can't let it go now because what if it bounces back and I kept letting it and Billy, it just kept going down and down and down. and then it was like, oh, I should have cut my losses a couple years before. It just feels like the Stoops thing is going down.

And I appreciate the call. I don't know who out there. I mean, Bill, do you think there are people out there that are confident this will turn around for the positive? Sure, there's somebody out there. Who, though? Like, what's the case? Give me the case for not just he should be back. I do think there's a case for that.

But what's the case for things are going to be better in the coming years? You know, new offensive coordinator. But, I mean, how many times are we going to have that? I mean, like, how many times are we doing? I mean, you're right. You're preaching to the choir here. I mean, how many times can we do that, you know? Yeah, Brad White, he's been around for a while too,

and that defense was abysmal these last two weeks. I get they had injuries, but that's embarrassing. It's a fifth string running back doing that against you. It's a walk-on. a walk on freshman that was playing against Corbyn last year. Your metaphor was they were staying together for the kids. Well, this seems pretty detrimental to the kids if you're standing together. You know, that's exactly right.

I meant to say that in my little thing. When you stay together for the kids because you think it's for their best interest, you might actually make it worse for the kids. And I do wonder if like, you know, this will be worse for the, If we do this again next year, it will be even worse than it is now. Who wants that? Dan, go ahead, Dan. Hey, Matt, first time, a long time.

Who are? So, you know, I go back to one of your first points where, you know, you talk about how, you know, it was clear that the team had just quit in the second half especially. You know, that starts at the top. I mean, you know, kids, kids are watching their kids. coaches, they see the attitude of their coaches. I just got to have a big question about that. You know, I grew up in Columbus, came to UK and decided that I was all in as a UK fan. And to this day, I still catch hell about it from my dad. But, you know, I got to think that what we see today, and for all the good things that Mark Stoops has done for the program, you know, we appreciate it.

But everybody's got a timeline. Everybody has, everyone has, that's a great way to put it. Everybody, to use a different point, everyone has an expiration date, right? Yeah. Exactly. For a job. I'm not saying Mark can't still be a coach, but his expiration date for this job has hit. Exactly.

And, you know, not say, you know, we're going to go out and find a Ryan Day or whoever it is, but we might find a guy who is going to be a Ryan day someday. Yes. And maybe that's with us. And there's no reason why we can't do that. And I just hate the kind of the attitude of the program thinking that, or at least seeming, that they think that we can't make that happen. I didn't think we can make it happen, but I do now because the world has changed.

And the college football world, I appreciate the call, has changed. It's, it is, NIL has made things possible that weren't possible before. Go ask Texas Tech. Go ask Indiana. Go ask Vandy. It's different now. You can do different things. And the traditional powers are not guaranteed success.

They certainly have a leg up, but they're not guaranteed success. So you have a shot. And everything has an expiration day. That's right. you can have a perfectly great gallon of milk, Billy. That was great. But when it hits the expiration date, no matter how great it was, it'll be worse. Yes.

That's a good analogy. That is an analogy. That guy's analogy is good. How are you making fun of his analogy? That's a good analogy. When's the last time you've had milk? Okay, that's a different point. But this is about his analogy.

Let's go to James. Go ahead, James. Hey guys, I'm calling from Louisville. And first off, I got a shout out Ryan Lemon, go Kentucky Wesleyan, down here in Owensboro. But, you know, we made Merlin Moss look like a high-sman contender today, and I'm tired of that. But how long do y'all think Stoops is going to be here, man? He's the longest 10-year SEC coach.

I'm tired of that. And we got to quit that. But I will say, next year when we play them down here in Lexington, it's not going to be 41 nothing because it's going to be 44 to nothing. We're going to lose bigger because go go cards.

Little brother, you guys. That was a good, good attempt. I appreciate the call. You think Ryan Lemon is still is still probably bringing him back? That would be interesting. Should we end with a Ryan Lemon

what he thinks? Yeah. Okay, I'll tell you what. Get Logan next. and quickly call Ryan Lemon and see if he'll, I mean, he answers any call. You think he'll answer the hotline number? Text him and say you're going to call. Here, all right, open the lines.

Let's take one more person so you have two calls to get Ryan Limit. Plus, that was a card fan. He doesn't count. 859-280-2287. We'll take one more, then I'll have two calls and then Ryan. So we'll do Logan. All right, you got one right there. Stop.

Okay, cut them on. Okay, Logan. Go ahead, Logan. Well, first of all, you put me on after a person. Cardinals fan. Tell that dude to get lost. Yes. They don't beat us hardly ever. We'll give him his due. But my second, actually

my first question to you is, does the Board of Trustees not also review those contracts that Ms. Garnhart approved? They do. So we can't put all this on Mitch because I think he's done a great job overall. Now those two contracts

are all. All right. So here's the thing, when you have had a lot of success. My guess, and I don't know this, I'm not at the board of trustee meetings. But my guess is, because Mitch has done so well, they have given him a lot of deference over the years. And he's earned it, right? And so it's on you. You know what I mean?

I mean, there are things I heart lets me do with my show that no other host probably gets to do. But that means if it messes up, it's on me. And I think that's probably how this is with Mitch. All right. My second question is, so this is college football, especially in NIL era, is a rich man's game. So you get your donors like Joe Kraft, for example, you think this didn't get under his skin a little bit? Like I think in the background right now, there's a ton of conversations going on, phone calls being made. I just don't think you can lose to your rival and get shut out like that and embarrassed and not. stir up a hornet's nest. Yeah. Well, I can't speak for Joe Kraft.

I appreciate the call. I mean, he plays a big part in all this. I mean, he is a huge donor. I don't think he makes the final decision by any means. But I don't know what he thinks, to be honest with you. I really don't. But he's certainly very, very involved in football. And it's without question, probably the person that has had the most impact financially

on the football program during the Stoops era. Adrian, go ahead, Adrian. All right. So, Matt, I think you hit it right on the nail when you started out. Mitch was far behind being able to keep up with the new way college athletics work. Stoops, even in his comments later on, said, hey, we're just going to keep recruiting. We're going to develop. Well, that's just not the way it works.

His system works that way. Unfortunately, we're not in that era where we have a year or two for that to happen. That's a really good point. It's like you're like Jim Beheim running the zone defense when everybody learned to shoot 30s. You know what I mean? Like that system just doesn't work anymore. That's right. And we have to find somebody who can adjust and adjust on the fly, sort of speak.

Unfortunately, if this was, let's just look at it as basketball. You had some of the greats walk away because they couldn't keep up with it. You had Coach Kay, you had Roy Williams. Now let's go to Sabin. Well, let's use the better analogy. Let's use the better analogy because those guys were old. Think about Tony Bennett and Jay Wright. Okay?

Those were guys that still had years left in them that just decided this isn't for me. And while I didn't like that they quit right before the season, I do think with both those guys, they were just acknowledging what I do may not work now. That's right. That's right. And that's where the UK is right now. And that was the point. I think you were trying to make earlier in the show that some people may have missed.

Yeah, I appreciate the co. That's exactly if I wasn't clear. That's what I meant. Now, Ryan's here because I started with my, okay, it's time to change. Ryan was of the opinion. He was the most adamant on the show last week that you bring him back. After back-to-back, drubbing to Vandy and Louisville and back-to-back years of Louisville, Ryan, are you still in the same spot?

well you know i mean my my dad was a coach and he got fired one time and i've been uh you know i've been through that with your your coach loses their job gets fired so maybe i definitely admit i had a longer leash that i probably should have when it comes the issues like this but man you know you sat right beside me i said i changed my tune after a cow lost to oakland last year and to be honest i changed my tune after this loss today today you've changed now you're you think he shouldn't be the, today flipped you? I think the program needs to change. It's sad for me to have to fire a coach,

but you can't run it back next year. There will not be anybody lining up for season tickets. There won't be anybody lining up for NIL donation. The program needs a change. And to me, I change today. Wow, so Billy, he said last week, nothing would change. It was that bad today.

Don't you think it was? I mean, that was an embarrassing. I mean, it was. I didn't think you would have flipped like that. But to me, if you flipped, then I don't know. Who's left? Like I said, I think I admit, I probably have a longer lease than most people. And I want it to work.

And to be honest, man, I'm a little sad. I want it to work for Mark. I'm sad. I'm sad without question. And I'm sad in part because I hate to see it in, and in part because I think it's not going to end. and I think we're going to have a situation. Who's going to be buying season tickets next year if they try to run it back again, you know?

I don't know if anybody is. But, I mean, do you think, I mean, look, we'll know. Let's put it like this. I'll ask the two of you. Will Mark Stubbs be the coach Monday morning when we do KSR? Because if he's the coach Monday morning, he'll be the coach. So is he the coach Monday morning? Yes.

Ryan. I'm going to say no. Because I think a change has to be made and it's got to be made. quickly. So it probably happens tomorrow. But it's Mitch that's making that decision. That's Mitch's guy. He's about to ride off in the sunset himself. Now he's going to make a whole new coaching search. Yeah.

I just don't see that happen. Okay, let me be very clear. I do not know. I'm going to spend, I've been preparing for this show and dealing with the show. So I've done no phone calls, no looks, no anything. So I have no notion now. There's something, though, that sort of tells me, that I'm kind of like with Ryan, I wonder if maybe it's going to happen.

The only reason I say that is I expect it after that intro, Ryan, you know how it goes, like already blowback. And I haven't gotten it. Nothing yet. No. That doesn't mean I won't get it. But that's a telltale sign.

If nobody's reached out to you already. If nobody said anything or not even like said anything, but like there's sometimes there's people who would be like, Matt, I can't believe you did that because that ain't going to happen and how, you know, like none of that. Now that maybe that'll come, but it hasn't come yet. So that's the only reason I think maybe.

But if he's the coach when we come on Monday morning, then he's the coach. So we'll find out. Stay tuned tonight and especially tomorrow. We'll see. All right. Thank you guys. Ryan, thank you for coming on.

We will see you later. Thanks to everybody listening today. terrible end of the season. We'll see what happens. This has been the local toy dealers, KSR, post-game show. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends.

Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starting.

starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo, and every episode we're cutting through the noise,

breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headline. And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to SportsSlice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slical Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. What's up, guys?

This is Clivert Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me, he goes, A, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out.

Quarterback on office blue with 42. Hey, Wreck, my mama want you to weigh better. What? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, I'm Deanna Maria Riva, and on my new podcast, How Hard Can It Be? I call on my Gen X squad from Ohio to Hollywood as we navigate Midlife's most fantastic BS. Unfiltered Conversation.

from night sweats to futas to scheduling sex. Wait, what sex? Is it just me or does every woman my age want to look at Pinterest instead of having sex sometimes? They say we can't polish a turd, but we're sure going to try. So let's get blunt with laughs, tears, or tears of laughter. Listen to How Hard Can It Be with Tiana Maria Riva on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.