Is the End Near for UK's Our Mr. Brooks?

As a student at the University of Kentucky in the early 1990s I suffered through the ineptitude of the Bill Curry-coached Wildcats. The joke was that you could predict the offensive sets like this:

First down, run up the middle. Gain of three yards.

Second down, run the sweep. Gain of two yards.

Third down, pass incomplete.

Fourth down, punt.

After Curry had enough of answering press conference questions with that same dour expression and repetitive clichés, UK welcomed Hal Mumme, who no one had heard of outside of Valdosta, Georgia but had to better than the predecessor since he promised not to subject fans to the horror of watching Tim Couch run the option. (Imagine one of the animatronic puppets at Disney's Presidential exhibit trying to run the forty and you get the idea.)

I have to admit it was kind of fun during the Mumme-ified era. We put up lots of points under Couch and Jared Lorenzen and went to a couple of bowl games. Then one of his assistants allegedly some recruits, which the NCAA tends to frown upon and Mumme said adios (or was told to). (1)

Lately things have been pretty good in Kentucky football land. People no longer consider it something to do until basketball season starts and we've won three straight ball games for the first time in school history. Our coach, Rich Brooks, had spent forever at Oregon and didn't do squat with the St. Louis Rams because he didn't want to have his quarterback throw the ball seventy times a game. (Then again, we tried that in the past and we didn't win three straight bowl games so what do we know?)

Things could be interesting this season as we go for four in a row. Trevard Lindley, who tagged along to SEC Media days despite the fact you want to stick a megaphone under his mouth when he speaks so you can hear him, could have been a first-round pick this past April but wanted to come back for his senior year. Jeremy Jarmon got drafted by the Redskins in the supplemental draft because he took a supplement (2) so the defensive front is a bit suspect. We've accepted the fact that Mike Hartline is a "game-manager" quarterback who won't excite you as long he can still win and as long as Randall Cobb gets to touch the ball oh, every other play or so.

But while we were also getting used to Brooks sticking around for longer than two Presidential terms, which hasn't happened since Fran Curci, he dropped a slight bomb by hinting he would be leaving sooner than expected. "I've been going to too many memorial services," he said at SEC Media Days yesterday. (3) He's tabbed assistant Joker Phillips as his coach-in-waiting, which should make for a smooth transition, but I'll hate to see him go. I thought he was an unimaginative crusty fart who didn't do anything at Oregon for eighteen years but he's stuck around longer than I thought and he's changed the local perception to where we've come to expect success.

Hope you stay for a while even though you're seeing the end, Coach.

Sources

1 - Steve Bailey. "Mumme Resigns As Kentucky Football Coach". USA Today. February 7, 2001.
2 - ESPN.com News Services. "Jarmon Picked In Third Round". ESPN.com. July 16, 2009.
3 - Chip Cosby. "Brooks Plays Hurry-Up". Lexington Herald-Leader. July 22, 2009.