Kentucky's Brooks on the hot seat

By Ray Glier

For the AJC

Rich Brooks, the Kentucky football coach, has taken a decades-old fixer-upper and made it relatively attractive. But there are expectations that come with the new paint job.

The Wildcats have won three straight bowl games and are on an 18-game non-conference winning streak. They just beat Auburn for the first time in 43 years and own Louisville in the in-state rivalry. But lose to Mississippi State?

Suddenly, the new paint job looks faded.

“We’re already there,” Brooks said of dimmed expectations reaching Kentucky football. “They put some ‘Ditch Rich’ bumper stickers on their cars. They say I’m too old and I gotta go, that they need a better coach.

“They’re howling. We lost to No. 1 Florida, No., 3 Alabama, and South Carolina, then Mississippi State. Some of them want me out of here.”

Brooks, 68, brought it on himself. Kentucky was a graveyard for football coaches before he arrived, but the Wildcats have some promise. If UK can win at Georgia on Saturday and beat Tennessee the following week and go 8-4, Brooks’ four-year stretch will be as solid as any UK coach since the legendary Bear Bryant left Lexington 55 years ago.

The Wildcats have not finished in the Top 25 since it was the Top 20 in 1984. But they could get into the national rankings with a couple of victories.

“The good news is we have established a base camp with postseason play being consistent,” Brooks said. “There have been real good Kentucky teams, but it is usually a one- or two-year blip and then it goes back to not very good. The consistency of our run into the fourth year is the most pleasing thing.”

It might have been a better run this season without key injuries. Quarterback Mike Hartline will undergo knee surgery Tuesday and will not be available until a projected bowl game. Cornerback Trevard Lindley, projected as a high-round NFL draft pick, missed four games with an ankle injury. Tailback Derrick Locke and wide receiver Randall Cobb, the team’s only playmakers, each missed a game and have been banged up much of the year.

The season's centerpiece victory came Oct. 17 at Auburn when the Wildcats won 21-14 without committing a turnover or penalty. Cobb, a wide receiver/wildcat back, scored the winning touchdown with a four-yard run in the fourth quarter.

“We don’t have as many playmakers as some teams do and we’re wearing out our two that we have, Locke and Cobb,” Brooks said. “That’s where we need to get better.”

Locke, a 5-foot-9, 190-pound junior, leads Kentucky with 741 yards rushing and will have to be at his best Saturday with UK starting a true freshman quarterback, Morgan Newton. The Wildcats have a veteran offensive line, not to mention a change-of-pace player in Cobb, who will line up to take direct snaps in the “WildCobb” formation.

There is still a bigger moment out there for Kentucky football, according to Bill Curry, the Georgia State coach who was the UK coach from 1990-1996. Curry believes the SEC Eastern Division is the most competitive division in all of sports, but the Wildcats can break through because of Brooks and an energized fan base.

“That’s a regret I will take to my grave, that we didn’t do a better job there,” Curry said. “I believe that job can be done. Rich has done a great job.”