(We all hoped at the time that Kentucky’s appearance at last year’s College World Series would become a watershed moment in UK Athletics.)
I’m not sure exactly when it happened. Maybe it was while I was loading up on barbecue brisket and burnt ends in Omaha last June. Or perhaps it was during that rare moment of peace when the volleyball team swept another conference foe and all felt right with the world. But somewhere along the way, I started to believe that Kentucky Athletics had turned a corner.
We weren’t just a basketball school anymore. We weren’t even just a basketball and football school. We had become a full-on athletic juggernaut. A Director’s Cup darling. A holistic haven of sporting excellence. We won national championships in Volleyball and Rifle. We fielded top-tier teams in Tennis, Gymnastics, and Soccer. We had superheroes like Sydney McLaughlin and Abby Steiner running Track. And—oh yes—we made it to Omaha, the mythical mountaintop of college baseball, for the very first time.
That’s why Kentucky’s brutal season-ending defeat to West Virginia last night had me reaching for the Xanax. The Cats blew two five-run leads and lost 13 – 12 to the Mountaineers in the NCAA regional finals. If last year was a mountaintop moment, this year felt like hanging on to the ledge with one sweaty hand.
Now I know what you’re thinking. “John, chill out. We made the tournament. Coach Nick Mingione took a roster with thirty new players, fought through a rash of injuries, and survived one of the nation’s most difficult schedules to come within three wins of a return to Omaha.”
Sure, I get it. If it weren’t for bad luck, the Cats wouldn’t have any luck at all. In just this one season, the team lost 12 one-run ballgames for god’s sake. But let’s not gloss over the cold, hard fact that Kentucky Baseball finished just three rungs from the bottom of the conference ladder. That 13th place SEC finish makes you wonder if last year’s ascent was a fluke more than a foundation. In fact, is Kentucky’s decades-long ascension up the ladder of SEC respectability across all its sporting programs also entirely a fluke?
In an era where there’s so much speculation about trimming budgets and cutting out “minor” sports, that’s certainly a question worth pondering.
Let’s take a quick look at the 2024 – 25 conference standings that I pulled directly off the Southeastern Conference website, shall we? Kentucky’s rank among all our SEC brethren is probably lower than you realized.
- Volleyball: 1st (okay, we’re off to a hot start. Go, Coach Skinner.)
- Women’s Basketball: T4 (Kudos also to Coach Kenny Brooks in his first year at the helm.)
- Men’s Basketball: 6 (What used to be a disaster, we now consider respectable.)
- Gymnastics: 6 (meh)
- Women’s Soccer: 8 (meh)
- Women’s Outdoor Track & Field: 8 (meh)
Not bad so far, but now things drop quicker than Stoops’ offense on 3rd and 12.
- Men’s Tennis: T8 (disappointing, especially after the previous championship near misses.)
- Men’s Swimming & Diving: 9 (disappointing)
- Women’s Indoor Track & Field: 10 (disappointing)
- Men’s Cross Country: 10 (disappointing)
- Women’s Tennis: 11 (disappointing)
- Women’s Swimming & Diving: 11 (disappointing)
- Women’s Golf: 11 (disappointing)
- Men’s Indoor Track & Field: 12 (disappointing)
- Men’s Outdoor Track & Field: 13 (disappointing)
- Baseball: 13 (devastating)
- Softball: 13 (devastating)
- Football: 15 (disastrous)
- Women’s Cross Country: 15 (disastrous)
- Men’s Golf: 15 (disastrous)
Ladies and gentlemen, we’ve got a problem. Those results are concerning to me.
Look, I’m not just a sports fan. I’m a University of Kentucky sports fan. A proud, hopelessly devoted disciple of all things Blue and White. I watch Women’s Golf on the SEC Network. I know how many meters are in a 4×400 relay. I can name two people on the Tennis team without Googling. This is personal.
So, what in the name of Mitch Barnhart is going on?
We can’t blame COVID. That ship sailed a couple of years ago. And don’t go pointing fingers at NIL either. Every other SEC school is playing under the same unspoken “pay to play” rulebook. We’ve got the resources. We’ve got the facilities. We’ve got the best fans in the world. Coaching salaries? Let’s just say nobody’s clipping coupons. We give $100K raises to O-line coaches without batting an eye. So why do we suddenly look like we’re fielding club teams in a conference of powerhouses?
Could it be complacency? Bad luck? Poor hiring? Is it that Native American burial ground supposedly hidden under Kroger Field exacting revenge? Or maybe it’s just the cyclical nature of sports and our turn in the barrel has finally come (remember, even Tennessee and Florida sucked at football for a few years). I’m hoping it’s just a temporary blip.
Whatever the reason, it’s scary that the trend may not be our friend. We’re turning into Vanderbilt without the brains.
Feel free to whine and lament. The stark reality is that UK Athletics is simply not where we were a decade ago. A football team that won bowl games. A basketball team that hadn’t yet lost to Saint Peter’s. A damn good softball team. Life was good.
But now? Now we’re in danger of becoming the Power Five equivalent of a mid-major. Scrappy. Somewhat respectable. Occasionally dangerous—but mostly just hanging around. Maybe IT IS THE MONEY and the lack of big donors and corporate sponsorships after all.
I’m not trying to be overly dramatic. (Okay, maybe a little bit.) But when you love something as much as I love Kentucky sports, it’s hard not to mourn when it starts slipping away. And while I’ll always be proud of our athletes and grateful for the moments of magic they still provide, I can’t help but feel like the era of across-the-board Big Blue brilliance is in the rearview mirror.
Maybe Mark Pope resurrects the magic on the hardwood. Perhaps the football team surprises us all. Maybe…just maybe…Coach Skinner reloads and saves the day.
Or maybe, a boatload of NIL cash drops directly into our laps like manna from heaven.
We can always dream, can’t we?
Dr. John Huang is a retired orthodontist, military veteran, and award-winning author. Currently serving as a columnist for Nolan Group Media, he invites readers to follow him on social media @KYHuangs. Explore his debut novel— “Name, Image, and Murder”—and all his books at https://www.Amazon.com/stores/Dr.-John-Huang/author/B092RKJBRD
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