A Candid Rich Brooks

“ ... because people are going to take us more seriously so we have to get a lot better than we were last year if we wanna have the same results, and we don't wanna have the same, we wanna improve. We wanna be a factor to compete for the SEC Championship and we're in a position hopefully that we can make some noise in that direction this year. ”

“ ... but walking into the Music City Bowl in Nashville and lookin at the predominately blue and white crowd, at least three quarters of it, was a very special moment, and to see how those fans responded to the way there team played hard and played with their heart on the field was a very special moment. ”

“ The Keenan Burton's, the Andre Woodson's, to home-grown Kentucky guys, you know, Rafael Little, Jacob Tamme, and other Kentucky guys, we're talkin' about not only great players but great individuals and great class. ”

In what was perhaps so far was the interview of the year by KSR, head coach Rich Brooks heads up a 15 minute candid interview in which some of things he said ruffled up my passion for this special Kentucky team this year. In a good way though, I finally saw by listening to this interview a glimpse of a coach we rarely get to hear about in this much candid and special interview. You won't be disappointed when you listen.

On Woodson's Improvement

“He's always had the ability. He grew up a great deal in maturity. Not getting down on himself when things didn't go well around him. He just made huge, huge transition in leadership and the ability to know what's going on on the field. He spent time in the film room. Coach Sander I think had a major impact on him. He's as good as anybody in the country in my opinion.”

On His Time In Lexington

“We've recruited very hard obviously. As an example, we had my first year, we had one player that could run under 4.5. This past March on Pro Timing Day we had 15, so the speed level on our team has increased dramatically. We had more players that I would say are SEC caliber and much of that has come just because we finally have all our scholarships back.”

On Defensive Coordinator Steve Brown

“Steve is much like Joker Phillips. He has paid his dues as a coach. He was a great player in college, an All-American, played for me at Oregon. He played in the NFL as a starting corner for 8 years for the Houston Oilers. Just an outstanding communicator. He's got a Super Bowl championship ring, stayed on, I hired him in St. Louis to coach the secondary. He stayed on with Dick Vermeil to coach the secondary on the Super Bowl championship team after I left there, and he's just done a great job at the college level the last four years of recruiting, communicating with the players, and I think it is a very positive influence on players that we have.”

On The Incoming Recruiting Class

“Well, probably won't be as many as the last two years (True freshmen starting). Two years ago we had 14 true freshmen play, thirteen last year. I would imagine that hopefully it won't be in double digits. It would be below ten I would think. But we do have some players I think that come in and have a chance to do some things for us. We certainly had five of them in the Kentucky - Tennessee All Start game: four lineman and one punter/kicker who obviously will challenge Mathsay for playing time. We have some skill guys coming in. We'll look hard at Matt Lentz, quarterback from South Carolina who also played in an All-star game down there. And I just think there's a lot of good prospects, and the good news is we'll be able to redshirt more of them than we have in the past and give them another year to mature and grow.”

On Recruiting In General

“Well one, we have to cover a big base and we do a lot. We recruit the state as hard as we possibly can. We would like to keep everybody in state, obviously some of them get away from us. Some of them go out of state. L'ville has had a major impact obviously in the recruiting war in state as well, but I think that most of all we've done a good job evaluating the talent level of the player we bring in that will be better athletically hopefully than the player we currently have. Each year we've been able to upgrade that a little bit as far as speed and size and it's starting to pay dividends.”

On Keenan Burton

“Keenan is as good a player on and off the field as I ever coached. He's a great leader. He's bright. The really exciting thing for me is this past Spring he was better than he's ever been since he's been here, and he came off a phenomenal year last fall. He improved this past Spring … Based on what I've seen, he's going to have a fantastic year.”

Spring Thoughts

“I think Hartline's arm might be a little stronger than Fidler's right now, but that was based on Spring practice. And as you know, there's a good three month period and I'm anxious to see them this August when we start up again throwing the football.”

On Himself

“Well I don't know that there's any magic thing than just rollin up your sleeves and goin to work everyday and not letting the negatives influence your judgement because certainly there's been enough of those flying around particularly in my first three years here, so you just have to know that you're doing the things right and just keep going about it and trying to work hard and we had a good year last year but it isn't where we wanna be, we wanna be better that that, and it's gonna be harder to accomplish even what we did last year because people are going to take us more seriously so we have to get a lot better than we were last year if we wanna have the same results, and we don't wanna have the same, we wanna improve. We wanna be a factor to compete for the SEC championship and we're in a position hopefully that we can make some noise in that direction this year, but to do it we have to beat people that Kentucky hadn't beaten in a long time so that's always to me a great challenge, a great way to motivate yourself to keep your nose to the grindstone and try to make things better.”

On Last Season

“Well I had hoped that it wouldn't take the fourth year, I had hoped it would happen in the second or third but it didn't, and we just kept going forward and now, the main thing it ranks up there, it was great fun. I'm not sure, you always have great moments and great games and great memories about places you've been whether it was the Falcons we we went to the Super Bowl and we beat the Vikings on the road up there. The Rose Bowl year, the first bowl game at Oregon in 26 years in 1989 when we went to the Independence Bowl and beat Tulsa there. Those are special memories, but walking into the Music City Bowl in Nashville and looking at the predominately blue and white crowd, at least three quarters of it, was a very special moment, and to see how those fans responded to the way there team played with their heart on the field was a very special moment. I just hope we can repeat that many times this upcoming season and the years to come.”

On 2007 Keys To Success

“I really think that last year we did a great job at home. We were 6-1 at Commonwealth Stadium. We have eight homes this year now. Some of those games are harder with great teams coming in. L'ville comin in here, LSU's comin in here, Tennessee's comin in here, it's just not going to be an easy schedule but if we can maintain our position at home and come out of there with six or seven wins then all of a sudden anythings possible with this football team in my mind. I think we have closed the gap on the upper teams in our league talent wise, and now we just have to get over the hump and stigma if you will of not having beat Tennessee a couple decades, struggling with the LSU's, and the Arkansas's, and the Alabama's, and those kind of people, the Florida's if you will. We just have to start beating some of those people.”

On Moving The L'ville Game

“I'm just a believer that a rival game, particularly an end of season game, is where most people play their rival games. You look at George-GT, two teams in different leagues, they play it at the end of the year ... I just think that you build up to that game through the season and it's a great way to finish the year … It isn't going to be any less significant because it's not the first game, and I just have a problem with people going wacko on just all of a sudden this great rivalry isn't going to be a great rivalry any more. We just have to do a better job of being competitive in that game to get our side of the rivalry back to where it belongs.”

On Beating L'ville

“Well it's always important. We obviously failed in my four years here. That doesn't sit well with me, I know it doesn't sit well with the fans. I think we have closed the gap in the talent area. L'ville's still a great team as the preseason rankings are showing, but we're a better team than we were last year when we played them. We have improved a little bit each year talent wise and now we just have to step up and try to get a win.”

Closing Interview

“We'll it's my pleasure. I just hope that everybody will come into Commonwealth and root for these Wildcats. We got a lot of great young men that came here with the thought of trying to make Kentucky Football something that everybody could be proud of, and this senior class that will be playing their last season here is a major, major part of it. The Keenan Burton's, the Andre Woodson's, to home-grown Kentucky guys, you know, Rafael Little, Jacob Tamme, and other Kentucky guys. We're talking about not only great players but great individuals and great class.”

If Brooks gets Kentucky to an SEC Championship win, he'll deserve Commonwealth Stadium named after him.

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