Did Eddie Gran deserve the same chance from Mark Stoops that Mitch Barnhart gave Stoops
It’s a good thing Kentucky athletics director Mitch Barnhart doesn’t subscribe to the same hiring and firing philosophy as Mark Stoops. If he did Stoops would have been fired twice already. Think about it. Stoops was hired in 2013 to turn around a Kentucky Football program that had a little success under Rich Brooks but had dropped right back down to the bottom of the SEC after Joker Phillips took over the reins.
After a few years of really bad football under Phillips and a 40-0 beatdown by Vanderbilt, Barnhart decided to pull the plug and fire Phillips. He brought in a coach in Stoops who had no head coaching experience at the time.
The first couple of seasons were rough. With the promise of a wide open offense and physical, hard hitting defense fans had high expectations. What they received was a “bill of goods.”
Stoops put together two wins that first season. One was against a Mid-America Conference team, Miami of Ohio, and the other was against an FCS school — Alabama State.
Not exactly what everyone was hoping for when one of the Stoops brothers walked in the door but Barnhart had patience. He was invested in the hire and wanted it to be successful.
In years two and three with Neal Brown finishing out as the offensive coordinator — before taking the Troy head coaching job — and trying to run what appeared to be a watered down version of the Air Raid offense and Shannon Dawson — a Hal Mumme disciple — coming in as a one year offensive coordinator with handcuffs on, the results didn’t greatly improve.
Sure UK won a few more games but nothing significant. They had done no better than 2-6 in the SEC after three years of Stoops at the helm. Stoops had been through two offensive coordinators, a defensive coordinator and as a defensive minded coach his teams were giving up to SEC teams, on average over that three year span, 32 points per game. No one except Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin wins games in the SEC giving up 32 points per game and he doesn’t win that many.
At that point, after three years of losing performances with a record of 12-24 no one would have blamed Mitch Barnhart for “relieving Mark Stoops of his duties” as was so aptly put for Eddie Gran and Darin Hinshaw. But Barnhart didn’t do it. He believed in Stoops and gave him an opportunity to dig in and make some changes. Stoops did that. He brought in Eddie Gran and turned the offense over to him. Stoops focused on improving his leaky defense. The rest they say is history.
Now five years later when Mark Stoops has the opportunity to believe in his Coordinator and give him time to fix the problems, he doesn’t. He sweeps him out like yesterday’s trash.
Stoops said in his press conference on Sunday about the firing, “With the unfortunate circumstances of a year ago, I do think it hindered us and it carried over. It just didn’t work. When that happens, then you have issues with the confidence, with the culture, with the fan base. That trickles into your team and there gets to be doubt. That’s when the change needs to be made. I think we’re all responsible for that. Eddie and Darin are true professionals and understand that.”
Interesting word choice there.
“It just didn’t work. When that happens, then you have issues with the confidence, with the fan base, with the culture.”
Does anyone think that those same words could not have been spoken by Mitch Barnhart about Mark Stoops after year three?
“It didn’t work”, “no confidence”, “issues with the fan base”. Come on, I remember those days. Does anyone remember the loss to Bobby Petrino and his Western Kentucky team where Stoops was outcoached in every phase of the game his first season? Or the five-game losing streak in the middle of the 2016 season when a Stoops defense couldn’t hold anyone, including Vanderbilt, under 21 points? Or maybe the 50-16 beatdown by Tennessee in Knoxville in 2014? Or all the beatdowns by mediocre Tennessee teams throughout Stoops tenure at UK. And the list could go on.
But Barnhart hung in there with Stoops, granted him some leniency, and as time has gone on he has performed.
But it appears that what works for the head coach doesn’t work for the assistants. It seems to be a “what have you done for me lately” culture when it comes to the assistant coaches. After a year that included Chris Oats medical problems, Covid19 and losing offensive line coach John Schlarman to cancer one would think that Eddie Gran had earned another year to correct the problems.
But, unlike Barnhart who stuck with a losing coach that didn’t have those same obstacles to overcome, Stoops decided that a quick trigger was the best solution. Throw the baby out with the bath water.
Sometimes it takes more of a man to shoulder the blame, stand by your convictions and work through the issues than it does to kick the problem to the side and hope that the next coach in will clean up the mess. Tennessee coach Jeremy Pruitt has been trying that in Knoxville now for several years and has little to show for it.
So there you have it, two different leadership styles. One, Barnhart, that is recognized as one of the best in the industry and has turned UK Sports into a Top 10 program. Another, Stoops, who is recognized as a coach that has pulled UK Football from the bottom of the SEC to a spot as a “middle of the pack” team.
You make your choice. Which one seems to be the way to go? Sticking with your coaches, working through the issues, giving them extra latitude to solve problems or jerking the rug out after a bad season.
It seems to me that as a coach who develops players and works to help them improve through their good and bad performances that Stoops would have given Gran at least one more year to make the needed changes to the offense and fix the problems. After all, he’s already paying him to be there. Kind of like Barnhart did for Stoops back in 2015. But hey, what do I know? I’m just a guy that calls them like I see them.
And when I see a paradox like this, I feel like it needs to be pointed out. At that point the outsiders looking in can decide who’s right and who is wrong. After all, when the new offensive coordinator is offered the job and realizes that the last person to occupy that chair was relieved of his duties after one bad season even though he helped create the winningest team in UK history over the last five years, he may have second thoughts about taking a seat.
— Keith Peel, Contributing Writer
