SHANE SHACKLEFORD: Comparing Kentucky Football With Iowa State

Kentucky Coach Mark Stoops at Cat Walk before last Saturday night's UK-LSU game. (SEC Photo)

The old saying goes that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Another one is that history repeats itself.

Usually, when those two quotes are mentioned, it’s usually in a bad or negative way.

These sayings could be a clue as to the rise of the Kentucky Wildcats.

If a current fan is looking for a parallel to the Cats, it just might be found in the midwestern town of Ames, Iowa, the home of the Iowa State Cyclones.

Not too long ago, the Cyclones were a bottom-feeder football program in the Big 12 Conference along with schools like Kansas (always) and the occasional Texas Tech.

Then they made the hire of a lifetime for head coach: Matt Campbell from MAC school Toledo after he led a turnaround there for the Rockets. In five seasons, Campbell won 35 games and two division titles. Many media types and fans thought why would he move to a job as massive as ISU?

In his first season, the Cyclones were a rough 3-9. But Campbell had a blueprint to build what hadn’t been built on the plains of Iowa. A football power to rival the classic power school in the Hawkeye state- the University of Iowa.

He built his squad to be a ball-control unit on offense and a tough bunch of players on defense. His special teams would also be rock solid and not cost him in games.

Within two years, Campbell had ISU winning. Year Five had the Cyclones finish in the Top Ten and win the Fiesta Bowl. Consider:

2016 Iowa State 3–9 2–7 9th 2017 Iowa State 8–5 5–4 T–4th W Liberty 2018 Iowa State 8–5 6–3 T–3rd L Alamo 2019 Iowa State 7–6 5–4 T–3rd L Camping World 2020 Iowa State 9–3 8–1 1st W Fiesta† Now, the Wildcats are on a similar path at 6-0, ranked 11th, and playing the nation’s No. 1 team Saturday in Georgia.

But as a reminder, let’s look at the rise of the program since the hire of Mark Stoops. The parallels are striking: 2013 Kentucky 2–10 0–8 7th (Eastern) 2014 Kentucky 5–7 2–6 6th (Eastern) 2015 Kentucky 5–7 2–6 T–4th (Eastern) 2016 Kentucky 7–6 4–4 T–2nd (Eastern) L TaxSlayer 2017 Kentucky 7–6 4–4 T–3rd (Eastern) L Music City 2018 Kentucky 10–3 5–3 T–2nd (Eastern) W Citrus

2019 Kentucky 8–5 3–5 T–4th (Eastern) W Belk 2020 Kentucky 5–6 4–6 4th (Eastern ) W Gator 2021 Kentucky 6–0 4–0 (Eastern)

Stoops built the program to be tough, hard-nosed, and aggressive with a power run game, an unforgiving defense, and solid special teams to compete in the always rugged SEC. Most fans and media types questioned if Stoops could get it done for… Kentucky?

See the similarities?

History does repeat itself, and it doesn’t always have to be bad.

Shane Shackleford is a regional sportswriter from Speedwell, Tenn. He is a member of the Football Writers Association of America and the United States Basketball Writers of America. Shane is also a football color analyst for WRIL-FM 106.3 Sports in Pineville, KY. He has written and published his first book “Bounce: A Basketball Love Story” which can be found on Amazon currently. You can find Shane on KySportsStyle.com Magazine, A Sea of Blue, The London Sentinel-Echo, The Corbin Times-Tribune, The Mountain Advocate, Harlan County Sports, and The Mountain Eagle. Contact Shane by email at coachshack50@gmail.com and on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok.