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:
2016Iowa State 3–9 2–7 9th
2017Iowa State 8–5 5–4 T–4th W Liberty
2018Iowa State 8–5 6–3 T–3rd L Alamo
2019Iowa State 7–6 5–4 T–3rd L Camping World
2020Iowa 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 number one 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:
2013Kentucky 2–10 0–8 7th (Eastern) 2014Kentucky 5–7 2–6 6th (Eastern) 2015Kentucky 5–7 2–6 T–4th (Eastern) 2016Kentucky 7–6 4–4 T–2nd (Eastern) L TaxSlayer 2017Kentucky 7–6 4–4 T–3rd (Eastern) L Music City 2018Kentucky 10–3 5–3 T–2nd (Eastern) W Citrus1112
2019Kentucky 8–5 3–5 T–4th (Eastern) W Belk
2020Kentucky 5–6 4–6 4th (Eastern) W Gator
2021Kentucky 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.