It really came as no surprise that Kentucky cut loose Joker Phillips as its football coach.
Phillips had not been able to bring the same magic to the program as a head coach as he once did as a player. Phillips was a wide receiver at Kentucky from 1981-84, and he had 75 receptions for 935 yards and nine touchdowns as a player.
As a head coach, he fell to 12-23 and 4-19 in SEC play after his Wildcats lost to Vanderbilt 40-0 on Saturday. Afterward, he seemed to sense the inevitable.
“I get this business. I get the criticism,” Phillips said after the Vanderbilt loss. “Nobody in this program wants this place to have success more than me, but I understand. I understand this is a business that is based on results, and we haven’t gotten the results right now.”
But you know what will get a coach fired as fast as the won-loss record? Apathy toward the program by the fans will.
They are the big contributors. And when they dry up, the cash flow dries up. The attendance Saturday was announced at 44,902. Last season, the Wildcats averaged 60,007 per game and that was down to 51,255 this year before Saturday’s game.
Phillips was asked how it affects the team when they run out of the tunnel before the game and the stands appeared to be only half full.
“First of all, I appreciate the fans who were there,” he said. “That’s the thing that I see. I see the people that are there and I want those guys to know that we appreciate them. Regardless of how it looks, you’ve got to play; regardless of how it looks. I’ve played a lot of games when it’s like that. Okay, you’ve got to play. It shouldn’t have any effect on how we perform.”
Kentucky athletic director Mitch Barnhart admitted the realities of the necessary aspects involved with a coaching position in a sport that helps shoulder the financial burden of the entire athletic program in his open letter announcing the firing of Phillips.
“In the end there are realities we must face and overcome,” he wrote. “Right or wrong, we must respond to those realities to protect the 22 programs and 500-plus student-athletes for whom we provide. Obviously our football program is not where we want it to be and we are all disappointed; coaches, players, administration and our fans.”
Barnhart indicated the search for a new coach would begin immediately. …
Meanwhile around the rest of the conference, the Georgia Bulldogs moved to within a win over Auburn of clinching the SEC East, while Alabama needs only a win over Texas A&M or Auburn to clinch the West.
It would take a Georgia loss to Auburn for Florida to still have a chance to win the East. Texas A&M could still win the West’s spot in the championship game by winning out and having Auburn knock off Alabama. There’s not much of a chance of either happening.
Georgia will be facing an Auburn team that is 1-0 with true freshman Jonathan Wallace as the team’s starting quarterback. Wallace led the Tigers to a 42-7 win over New Mexico State last Saturday.
“I did happen to see that game,” said Georgia coach Mark Richt. “[Wallace] didn’t throw the ball an awful lot during the game. They definitely had some play action pass type stuff for him. The reality of that game is they were able to turn it into a game where they could grind it out with their traditional runs. I don’t know if we got a really good feel for everything they want to do this week.
“I’ve not watched any game tape of Auburn yet. All we’ve really done is watch our own game from yesterday. I’m really curious about the new quarterback at Auburn, so I’ll watch the offense tape first.”
The Florida Gators still have a mathematical chance of getting into the SEC Championship Game even though they have finished their SEC schedule. The Gators will be big Auburn fans this weekend because it will take a Tigers upset of the Bulldogs to get Will Muschamp’s team into the SEC Championship Game.
“At the end of the day, and when I took this job—understanding fully the expectation is to go to Atlanta and win a championship — I’ve made my comment on how I feel about your season if that is not accomplished,” Muschamp said after Florida clinched at least a tie for the SEC East by beating Missouri. “We’ve made strides, but we’re not where we want to be.” …
Along with the race for the SEC Championship Game in Atlanta, there is still that little matter of the conference getting enough teams to be bowl-eligible to fill all of the SEC’s bowl agreements.
The league has seven teams bowl-eligible, with Ole Miss and Vanderbilt knocking on the door needing only one more win each. But here’s where it gets interesting. Missouri, Tennessee and Arkansas still have chances of reaching that sixth win needed to play in a bowl game, but each will have to win at least two of their final three games to get there.
Arkansas has South Carolina, Mississippi State and LSU left and there doesn’t appear to be two wins waiting in that stretch. Missouri still plays Tennessee, Syracuse and Texas A&M, while Tennessee has Missouri, Vanderbilt and Kentucky left. Obviously, this weekend’s Missouri-Tennessee game is huge for both teams’ bowl hopes.
Tennessee might have the best chance to pick up two more victories with its offense playing in high gear. In the Vols’ 55-48 win over Troy, the two teams combined for 1,439 yards of total offense to set a new SEC record for a game involving an SEC team. The previous record was 1,329 yards set in the 1997 game between Tennessee and Kentucky.