I'm old school in that I don't think it's fair to start judging a coach until after their 3rd year. Having said that, there's really not a lot of signs that Stoops is improving them significantly on the field.
It's a fact UK won more games last year than in Stoops' first year. Looking at that fact without the context is deceiving. They removed WKU, a team that had beaten them the two prior years. And Vanderbilt and SC were both horrible. Did UK really improve or did the competition just get worse? We know the competition got worse. So where does that leave UK? I'd argue it's not good enough to show significant improvement.
UK "almost" beat Florida and Louisville. But Florida's season was so subpar they changed coaches after the season. Louisville, UK played really, really hard to try to get into a Bowl. UofL was forced to play a 3rd string QB who had very little experience. And UofL still won.
That along with improved recruiting is really all the positive signs. Then start looking at the end of season swoons in both of Stoops' seasons. It's not hard to make a blanket statement that they quit in the last month of both seasons - minus the UofL game at the end. And they were getting torched by some teams, another negative sign. You maybe don't expect to see signs with Stoops yet, but some of those teams were naming their own final score. A sign of improvement is a competitive score, not losing 50-16 to a rebuilding Tennessee team.
I think before I believe Stoops is really turning them around in a significant way, not just minor improvement, I'm going to need to see UK beat a Top 25 team that finishes in a Bowl, and for UK to get to a bowl themselves. Until then I, and most of the country outside of Kentucky, will remain skeptical.
