This is good for them. They needed to do something. Their stadium was a dumpster and so was their program. At least they are making an effort to improve themselves and thus improve this series. With UL moving into the ACC and getting more ACC money this series was really at risk of becoming a complete laughing stock. UL leads the modern series and that was with UL being saddled with every disadvantage a program could have and UK was just saddled with being a crappy program. So with ULs stock soaring the last few years and joining the ACC, UK was at a real crossroads of getting left even more in the dust in the state. I mean if you remove the Kragthorpe debacle/era from the history books (07-08-09-10) UL is 13-4 in the modern era of the rivalry. So UK needed to do something and I'm glad they have. In my opinion the jury is still out on Stoops but he's at least been a mild success and had they fumbled that coaching hire and brought in another failure it would have doomed that program for that next decade. I'm not saying the renovations and Stoops mild success on the recruiting trail is going to turn UK into a relevant football program but at least they're doing something.
The real test for the program will be for Stoops to actually wins some games, continue to recruit SEC level talent when he can't promise instant playing time, stop recruiting so many players that get arrested, and to actually make UK a decent program. UKs never going to be the type of program that can challenge for an SEC title year in and year out but if he can lift them to the type of program that can consistently win 6-8 games he will be a hot commodity in the coaching circles. If he can do that then it will be interesting to see what the UK administration does if other schools start trying to take their coach...something they've NEVER had to deal with.
