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Mark Story: UK finally headed in right direction

Rich Brooks has Kentucky football back in a familiar place — at the turn. On the verge of at last making it around the proverbial corner.

It is the same spot that every modern UK football coach — save the underachieving Bill Curry and the short-tenured Guy Morriss — have occupied.

After 1977, Fran Curci had Kentucky at the turn.

He supplied the best two-year period of UK football since Bear Bryant bailed for Texas A&M. In ’76 and ’77, UK went 19-4, tied for an Southeastern Conference championship and for the best record in the league the other year (but was ineligible for the 1977 title because of probation).

But after his two good years, the effects of NCAA sanctions and a string of off-the-field player behavioral problems drained the upward momentum from Curci’s program.

He never had another winning season at UK. After four more years, Curci was fired.

After 1984, Jerry Claiborne had Kentucky at the turn.

Brought in as a Mr. Clean after the turbulence of the latter Curci years, Claiborne took Kentucky to back-to-back Hall of Fame Bowls (now the Outback). His highlight was a nine-win gem of a season that included victory over Tennessee in 1984.

But after his two good years, Claiborne was unable to sustain recruiting success and his program stalled. In five more years, he never took UK back to a bowl.

After 1999, Hal Mumme had Kentucky at the turn.

Unshackling Tim Couch in his pass-happy system, Mumme in 1998 took UK to its first New Year’s Day Bowl (the Outback) since the 1952 Cotton Bowl.

The next year, without Couch, Mumme coaxed six wins and a Music City Bowl berth from a Dusty Bonner-led team.

Attracted by the pinball numbers being produced by Mumme’s offense, UK recruiting was drawing talented skill players from around the country.

But after his two good years, Mumme experienced a spectacular fall from grace.

In-fighting on his coaching staff helped produce a 2-9 disaster in 2000. After that season, allegations of NCAA impropriety inside Mumme’s program eventually led to the coach’s ouster.

Now, after 13 wins in his last 19 games, Brooks has Kentucky at the turn.

The 2006 and 2007 seasons saw Kentucky win 16 games, including back-to-back Music City bowls, and beat traditional football brands Georgia, Clemson, Arkansas, Louisiana State and Florida State.

It is the best non-probation, two-year stretch of Kentucky football since the 1950s.

Yet the question that looms for UK football in 2008 is: Can Brooks succeed where Curci, Claiborne and Mumme derailed and get Kentucky to turn the corner with a third-straight winning season?

Even with the massive loss of offensive firepower to graduation, Brooks has consistently said the answer is yes.

”There is enough talent on this team, we should be as good as we have been,“ Brooks said after spring practice. ”Now, we may be ‘as good as we have been’ in a different way.“

If UK is to earn its third straight bowl trip, it will have to do so by dramatically changing its ”program personality.“

The past two Kentucky teams relied on an explosive offense fueled by Andre Woodson passing to a bevy of gifted receivers (who are now in the NFL).

This year, UK’s hopes are banked on a veteran defense and a quartet of talented running backs working behind an experienced offensive line.

”I think defensively we are going to make major strides this year,“ Brooks said. ”Obviously, we have some offensive production to replace. But I think we have talented people ready to step up.“

Modern history says good coaches get UK to the turn but never around the corner.

If offensive playmakers emerge, Brooks might at last allow Kentucky fans to see what it looks like on the other side.

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