The Kentucky football program wants your respect, and quite frankly they deserve it.
When Mark Stoops accepted this job in 2013, football was an afterthought in Lexington. In fact, the fan base was probably more excited about the action at the Keeneland race track on Saturday afternoons in October than what was happening at Kroger Field.
That's just simply not the case anymore. Stoops has instilled a hard-nosed mentality that has changed the DNA of this football program. He joined College Football Gametime ahead of their trip to #14 Ole Miss to talk about his team and why he wants the respect that's owed to this team.
The conversation was prompted by a question from College Football Gametime's Jon Chuckery. He asked Coach Stoops about the outside noise that annually swells whenever vacancies at traditional powers come open.
Stoops was rather candid with his response, "You know, it's annoying because you pour your heart and soul, your life, into this job for ten years," he said. "I believe it demands the respect that it deserves, and my players deserve."
He's not wrong. The doubters will tell you about the history of Kentucky football, or the lack thereof, but the people that watch his team play will tell you they're the real deal and not the team so used to playing second-fiddle to the round-ball team.
Mark Stoops built this program from the ground up. When he took over, Kentucky football was butt of every joke in the SEC. The jokes got louder when Stoops got off to a 12-26 start, but have quickly dissipated after his 49-27 record since then that has propelled him into being the winningest coach in program history.
The last winningest coach in their program history (Bear Bryant) left because he couldn't attract any attention to the program from its own fans. For anyone that still believes that Stoops will follow suit will likely be disappointed. He appears to be a Wildcat for the long-haul.
"I'm committed to building this program into a championship contender," Stoops continued. "You know, ten years ago I was laughed at when I said that."
Well, nobody's laughing now.
Now the Wildcats are undefeated, boast their highest AP ranking since 1977 (seventh), and are looking for their fifth consecutive bowl victory. Sure, there is still a ways to go for Kentucky before they reach that upper echelon of the college football elites, but Big Blue Nation encompasses more than a basketball school and it's long past time that the country recognizes that fact.