Joker Phillips

Winning and losing football games is one thing. Life is another. That's the message Kentucky coach Joker Phillips has been preaching to his team since receiving a text from a former unidentified player battling liver and lung cancer last week. The players are trying to salvage their season, while Phillips is battling to save his job. Somewhere, a friend of Phillips is trying to save his life. “It's a bigger fight than we are facing right now and that's how I look at it,” the Kentucky coach said.

Since he coached Neal Brown in high school, former Kentucky linebackers coach Chuck Smith is obviously going to be a bit biased in his opinion about the Texas Tech offensive coordinator. However, he has no doubts that Brown would be a “tremendous hire” for new UK coach Mark Stoops to run the Kentucky offense. “I just think it would be a tremendous hire for them if it happens,” said Smith, who was also UK's recruiting coordinator. “Neal has such a great reputation right now. He is a hot name and has done a wonderful job. His offense has been in the top 15 (nationally)

LEXINGTON — Since Kentucky is a Nike-sponsored football team, Kentucky coach Joker Phillips is expected to speak at two Nike coaching clinics this year. He’s already done one in Tunica, Miss., and this weekend he’ll be speaking at the Nike Coach of the Year Clinic in Orlando along with several other college head coaches including Jimbo Fisher of Florida State and Bob Stoops of Oklahoma along with college assistant coaches and several coaches of state championship high school teams in Florida.

LEXINGTON - Kentucky will honor 19 seniors before Saturday night's final regular-season home game against Samford in what will also be coach Joker Phillips' final game as head coach in Commonwealth Stadium. Phillips was fired after UK's 40-0 loss to Vanderbilt two weeks ago that dropped the Wildcats to 1-9. He initially did not plan to coach the final two games, but reconsidered at the urging of his players - and especially his seniors. “That's the reason I'm coaching these last two games.

While Kentucky coach Joker Phillips walked away with a smile on his face after his last game at UK, defensive coordinator Rick Minter didn't exactly do the same and even offered some advice for the next coach - which is now Mark Stoops after the Florida State defensive coordinator was named head coach Tuesday. Minter - who has been at 13 schools during his 35-year coaching career and was fired as the head coach at Cincinnati - noted that UK showed little loyalty to Phillips. “I've been through what he's been through, and I know how tough this is, and how challenging this is, particularly being an alumnus,” Minter said after Saturday's loss at Tennessee.

Louisville coach Charlie Strong has been part of enough college football rivalries that he was not surprised by anything about the Kentucky-Louisville rivalry during his first season with the Cardinals. “What you would like is for both teams to get better and become an even bigger and better rivalry when we both get better. But it’s good for the state now. Any time you have two schools that are battling and have a rivalry, it’s good for football in the state,” said Strong, who will face Kentucky for the second time Sept.

LEXINGTON - Joker Phillips says it is “way too soon” for him to be contemplating his future after being fired with two years remaining on his contract as Kentucky's coach. “First of all, it's hard to be at a place for 10 years in this business. I've been here for 10 years, and five of those years bowl games, three of them I've been the head coach, five I've been the offensive coordinator,” said Phillips Monday. “That's as much as anybody can ask for. “I left here 10 years ago, or actually 16 years ago and was out there building a nice little résumé for myself and will continue that.

LEXINGTON - Kentucky coach Joker Phillips played 11 true freshmen in 2011 and says there could be that many or more out of the 25 players he signed Wednesday on the field next season for the Wildcats. “Last year we brought in 25, 11 of those got on the field, could have easily been four or five others that could have got on the field. We feel that this is that type of class and might even be better than the class we put together last year,” said the Kentucky coach Wednesday.

LEXINGTON - Joker Phillips isn't worried about the uncertainty surrounding the head coach at Pittsburgh impacting the way the Panthers will play Saturday when they face Kentucky in the BBVA Compass Bowl in Birmingham. Coach Dave Wannstedt, who played at Pittsburgh, resigned under pressure and Pitt hired 46-year-old Mike Haywood, who led Miami (Ohio) to a 9-4 record as its new coach Dec. 16. Wannstedt has yet to say publicly if he will coach the team in the bowl game or if an assistant coach will be the head coach.

LEXINGTON - Kentucky won't open preseason football camp for almost three months, but UK coach Joker Phillips recently shared his thoughts on the starting quarterback battle, his defensive front and what he hopes will be an improved return game next season. Question: Is it good to have two quarterbacks, Morgan Newton and Maxwell Smith, with starting experience along with a highly-touted incoming freshman like Patrick Towles competing for the No. 1 job in August? Phillips: “I think it is a good situation.

Former Kentucky quarterback Freddie Maggard says it's not hard to understand why the verbal commitment the Wildcats got Friday from four-star quarterback Drew Barker is so important to the program. “The significance of the commitment is yet another national recruit that coach Mark Stoops and his staff have been able to keep in Kentucky - first two being (Jason) Hatcher and (Ryan) Timmons (in the 2013 recruiting class,” Maggard said. Barker had basically been ignored by previous Kentucky coach Joker Phillips and his staff - they didn't even know he attended a summer camp at UK - yet Stoops and offensive coordinator Neal Brown convinced the Conner quarterback during the last five months to pick UK over South Carolina and Tennessee.

One reason John Woods was glad his sons, Daron and Zack Blaylock, came to Kentucky was to play for coach Joker Phillips. However, the Georgia twins and their family could not be happier with the way things have worked out since Phillips' dismissal and the arrival of coach Mark Stoops and his staff. “Daron and Zack call quite a bit and seem to love the new coaching staff,” Woods said. “They are very excited. They like (defensive coordinator) D.J. Elliot. They like their position coach.

LEXINGTON - While admitting he has never had a more mentally demanding season than last year, Jordan Aumiller says a new coaching staff and a new offense at Kentucky have rejuvenated him and made football fun again. “Change has been really good for me. Just something new. Like they (the coaches) said, you got a clean slate in spring practice and come out and show what you can do every day. It is spring ball and everybody is wanting to show what they can do. It has been fun. It is tough, but I think we are getting better,” Aumiller said.

While Jason Hatcher waited until Wednesday to make his commitment to Kentucky, Clay County defensive lineman Jacob Hyde was the first member of UK's recruiting class for then coach Joker Phillips and his staff. New Kentucky coach Mark Stoops said Wednesday he was glad to have Hyde in his first recruiting class. “Absolutely, very important to keep Jacob. Big, strong guy I love his accent,” said Stoops. “Just a great person to be around. Big, strong guy and very excited to have him in our program.

He was one of Kentucky's earliest commitments, but cornerback Blake McClain admits he was having doubts about the Wildcats long before coach Joker Phillips was fired. The 6-0, 185-pound McClain, who is from Winter Park, Fla., took official visits to Iowa State and Pittsburgh when Kentucky was without a head coach and turned down a chance to visit Arkansas. However, he went all-in with Kentucky again once Mark Stoops, the former Florida State defensive coordinator, was named the Wildcats' new coach.

Sometimes a coaching change can make a player re-think a verbal commitment given to a previous coaching staff. But when Mark Stoops took over at Kentucky for Joker Phillips in December, Tallahassee running back Khalid Thomas had no second-thoughts about staying firm to his commitment to the Wildcats. “He is ecstatic with the new staff,” Godby High School coach Ronnie Cottrell said. “He just has a tremendous belief in Mark Stoops. Mark recruited this school for Florida State and is highly respected here.

He's still enjoying the recruiting process, but Franklin County receiver Ryan Timmons admits it is “getting tough with all the schools firing out right now” to decide where he will play his college football. He got a scholarship offer from Florida last week and added one this week from Ohio State. Both are schools he's had a long-time interest in and had been waiting to receive scholarship offers. “It's all starting to get really serious right now and I have to think about getting my list down to three or so schools,” said Timmons.

It's not easy for any Kentucky football recruiting to overshadow basketball recruiting, especially when the basketball news involves the top-ranked center in the 2013 recruiting class. Yet Cincinnati cornerback Jaleel Hytchye's verbal commitment to new UK coach Mark Stoops over the weekend seemed to generate a bigger buzz among UK fans than center Dakari Johnson's verbal commitment to coach John Calipari's already dynamic 2013 recruiting haul. “I was a little surprised at just how excited UK fans got,” said Hytchye.

Just as he promised at his introductory press conference, new Kentucky football coach Mark Stoops is not rushing to make decisions about high school seniors who had verbally committed to play for the Wildcats. Stoops said he has talked to players who committed to former coach Joker Phillips and his staff, and he told some of them they might be better off elsewhere. “I've been in communication with all of them and we talked to some of them about possibly letting them look at some other schools.

Former Kentucky recruiting coordinator Chuck Smith believes adding Neal Brown as offensive coordinator will do more than just help UK's offensive production. Smith understands how important having a recruiting base in Texas could be for UK, and that's something Brown has after spending the last three years as Texas Tech's offensive coordinator. “I think that will be really big,” said Smith, who was Brown's high school coach at Boyle County. “He obviously has a pretty good name in Texas because of the things he did at Texas Tech.