Kentucky football lost something historic in 2012. The Cats can get it back in 2020
If there is an NCAA college football season in 2020, Mark Stoops and the Kentucky Wildcats will have a historic opportunity.
Assuming the coronavirus and the efforts to contain it do not cancel the 2020 season, Stoops and troops have a chance to return the UK football program to the status of an all-time winner.
Kentucky will enter the coming season with a 624-626-44 overall mark. The Cats will need to finish at least three games above .500 in 2020 to restore an all-time winning record to the Kentucky football program.
After 109 years, UK lost the status as an all-time winner in 2012.
From the second game of the 1903 season until the 10th game of 2012, no UK football team ever took the field representing a program with an overall losing record.
Given the persistent level of mediocrity (or worse) that has defined much of modern Kentucky football history, it always amazed me how long UK nevertheless had an all-time winning record.
Alas, when Kentucky fell 33-10 at Missouri in the ninth game of Joker Phillips’ final season as UK head coach in 2012, it lowered the Wildcats’ all-time record to 579-580-44.
The following week — what became a dispiriting 40-0 loss to Vanderbilt that cost Phillips his job — was the first time a Kentucky team entered a game with an all-time losing mark since the 1903 season opener (UK was 44-45-2 entering that game).
The wins cushion that allowed UK football to build an all-time winning mark that endured for 109 years came primarily from two periods.
From 1903 through 1916, Kentucky enjoyed 14 straight winning seasons. UK was 62 games over .500 (134-72-11) at the end of that stretch.
When UK joined the Southeastern Conference as a charter member in 1933, the Wildcats were 69 games above the break-even mark (198-129-23).
The second period of bounty began in 1946, when Kentucky hired a young Maryland head coach named Paul Bryant. At the time, UK was 60 games above .500 (249-189-27).
In seven seasons at Kentucky, Bear Bryant went 60-23-5. When he left Lexington for Texas A&M, UK was 97 games (309-212-32) to the good.
Bryant’s successor, Blanton Collier posted a 41-36-3 mark in eight seasons (1954-61). When Collier was ousted as Cats coach after the 1961 season, Kentucky was 102 games above .500 (350-248-35).
A 102-game cushion should have ensured Kentucky retained the status of all-time winning football program for eternity.
Instead, the next nine Kentucky coaches all had losing overall records. That, eventually, wiped out all of that 102-game winning margin.
Particularly damaging to UK football’s bottom line were the coaching tenures of Charlie Bradshaw (minus-16 at 25-41-4 from 1962-68), John Ray (minus-23 at 10-33 from 1969-72) and Bill Curry (minus-26 at 26-52 from 1990-96).
When Stoops inherited the UK program in 2013, Kentucky stood 580-582-44.
To start, things got worse. Three straight losing seasons, including a 2-10 slog in 2013, dropped UK to 592-606-44 entering Stoops’ fourth season as head coach.
When the Wildcats began that 2016 season 0-2, Kentucky football was minus-16 all-time. UK seemed to be digging an all-time loser’s hole too deep ever to climb from.
Instead, that is when the fortunes of the Stoops era turned.
Kentucky went on to win seven of its final 11 games in 2016. That has launched a streak of four straight winning seasons.
UK’s 10-3 record in 2018 took a big bite out of its all-time wins/losses deficit. Going 8-5 last season pulled Kentucky back within two games of .500 all-time.
Kentucky’s recent success is also lifting Stoops up the UK football coaching-wins ladder. After starting 12-26 as Kentucky coach, Stoops has gone 32-18 since.
Entering 2020, Stoops (44-44 in seven seasons) needs four victories to pass Fran Curci (47-51-2) for second in all-time coaching wins at UK.
Long term, Stoops needs 17 more victories as Kentucky head man to pass Bryant (60-23-5) as the Wildcats’ all-time wins leader.
For the 2020 season, UK returns four starters from a punishing offensive line; a stable of quality running backs; and eight starters from a defense that was stout in 2019.
It will be a disappointment if the Wildcats don’t improve on last season’s 7-5 regular-season record. That is true even though Kentucky’s SEC schedule, trading a home game with Arkansas for a road game at Auburn, will be tougher.
At least a plus-three in 2020’s win/loss column would return the Kentucky football program to the ranks of the all-time winners. From a hole of 16-below .500 only four years ago, getting UK back above break-even all-time would be a notable achievement for Stoops.
It just sounds better when one can say their program has an all-time winning record. If they play a normal college football season in 2020, Kentucky fans should again be able to say that by year’s end.
