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BREAKING: Eddie Gran and Darin Hinshaw out at Kentucky

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4 years ago

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They say “third times a charm,” well that isn’t the case when it comes to offensive coordinators at Kentucky under Mark Stoops. After four seasons in Lexington, Eddie Gran has been relieved of his offensive coordinator duties, as well as QB’s coach Darin Hinshaw.

As we all know, rumors about coaching changes have been looming for about a week now, and fans have been displeased with Gran’s job on the sideline for awhile now.

Even though there has been a lot of frustration centered around Gran’s play-calling the past couple years, overall, he was pretty successful at Kentucky. He had four different QB’s in his time here and all of them at one point succeeded.

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He had a promising QB in Drew Barker, who shined against Southern Miss in a new system, then he got hurt and Gran had to adjust to a completely different QB in Stephen Johnson, who was pretty successful in his time at Kentucky. Then Terry Wilson took over in 2018 and led Kentucky to a 10-win season. The next season, Wilson was injured in the second game of the year and ruled out for the rest of the season with a torn ACL. Gran had to come up with a new gameplay for incoming transfer Sawyer Smith, who had never played a down of SEC competition. He was really successful, until his injury. Then, maybe Gran’s best accomplishment at Kentucky, he took Lynn Bowden, a QB turned WR at Kentucky, and once again made him a QB. Bowden led the Cats to an 7-win regular season and a bowl victory over Virginia Tech.

Now, there have been a lot of complaints over the past couple seasons about Gran’s odd, conservative play calling, and the “don’t lose” style of play when the Cats take a big leads, which has lost Kentucky plenty of games, and his inability to “open up” the offense. Trust me, I have been aggravated plenty of times with it and have shouted some choice words from the stands. However, Eddie Gran did a good job here. We as Kentucky fans wanted 8-win seasons consistently when Stoops got here, and Kentucky has done nothing but that since Gran’s time here.

I think we all know the real problem here, but I do think it was time for Gran to go. The style of play won’t fit without the big blue wall and Kentucky is going to need to change its style of play to contend in the East. We’ve already seen a talented WR recruit decommmit, current and former players express their frustration on social media, and a former WR coach express his opinions about the real problem with the offense on social media. Once again, I think we all know the real problem here.

But, simply put, the style of play had become old with fans and players, which doesn’t equal anything good, and we saw that toward the end of this season.

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Who will the Cats hire? I don’t think anyone knows yet. I would expect names to be mentioned in the coming weeks.

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Kentucky Athletic Collectives Rank 11th of 16 Teams in SEC, Bring in over $11 Million

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2 weeks ago

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December 10, 2024

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Kentucky ranks 11th of 16 SEC teams in collective fundraising.
Jordan Prather | Imagn

For better or for worse of college sports, NIL is here to stay and it certainly gives an advantage to schools with more money. Just looking at the SEC alone, collectives raised more than $200 million in the 2023-24 fiscal year. Unfortunately, Kentucky is ranked in the lower half of that.

According to documents from the House v. NCAA proposed settlement, Kentucky raised $11,254,204 from athletics collectives for the 2023-24 fiscal year. That ranks 11th of the 15 public universities in the SEC and is just more than half of the top collective, Texas who raised over $22 million.

Full Rankings

Rank
School NameCollective Funding
1Texas22,272,474
2LSU20,137,141
3Georgia18,326,566
4Texas A&M17,228,714
5Alabama15,995,406
6Florida15,802,237
7Oklahoma14,817,595
8Tennessee11,602,164
9Auburn11,588,953
10Arkansas11,544,039
11Kentucky11,254,204
12S. Carolina9,554,700
13Ole Miss8,872,378
14Missouri7,146,859
15Mississippi St.6,467,166
NRVanderbiltNot Available (Private School)

While collective funding is low, Kentucky has been a top 20 athletic program in total revenue, partly thanks to being a school that profits from its basketball program. Looking ahead to 2025, Kentucky is expected to stay in the top 20 nationally in athletic revenue, fifth in the SEC by bringing in an estimated 131,139,792. Ahead of programs like Georgia, LSU, Florida, and Tennessee.

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With revenue sharing coming in the near future, even more money is going to be involved in roster and program building. Schools in the Big Ten and SEC have an even bigger advantage due to their new TV deals, giving them up to an extra $70 million or more.

A new era of college sports is here. It’s time to prepare and embrace it.

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Kentucky Wide Receiver Calls for “A Lot” More Leadership and Accountability from Staff

Published

3 weeks ago

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December 2, 2024

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Kentucky Wildcats head coach Mark Stoops walks onto the field before the game against the Louisville Cardinals.
Jordan Prather | Imagn

A poor offensive line. Inconsistent quarterback play. A lot of things led to Kentucky football’s abysmal 2024 season. However, they had the talent to finish better than 4-8, only defeating one power opponent this season. So what could have helped?

Kentucky wide receiver Ja’Mori Maclin was asked that question after the Wildcats’ loss to Louisville on Saturday. To his credit, he answered honestly and professionally.

“A lot more leadership,” Maclin said. “Holding guys accountable for things. A lot more discipline for all the guys… All around, players and coaches. We’re still a team, I don’t want to point at any one person or specific group. All around we need better leadership.”

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Maclin is a junior and could return for another season. Despite talking about Kentucky taking the next step, he has not made his decision and will be returning home to talk to his family to do so. If Maclin does return, it sounds like Kentucky will have a leader in the receiving room.

Despite being a 1,000-yard receiver at North Texas, Maclin was not targeted often. However, on his 13 receptions, he caught four for touchdowns, the most of any receiver on the team.

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Kentucky Player Seen At Concession Stand During Kentucky’s 41-14 Loss to Louisville

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3 weeks ago

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December 2, 2024

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A Kentucky football player was seen at buying food from the concession stand in Kentucky's 41-14 loss to Louisville.

Kentucky’s on-field product against Louisville was poor to say the least, sending 99% of Wildcat fans home early. It even sent an injured player from the sideline to get a snack…

Yes, offensive lineman Gerald Mincey, one of Kentucky’s most expensive transfer portal additions, was seen at one of the concession stands at Kroger Field during Kentucky’s 41-14 defeat.

Watching a 4-8 team is bad, but even worse to do on an empty stomach.

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Mincey is a senior and will not be returning next season, but it is nice to see him reinvesting some money back into the program.

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