Brooks hangs it up

As I'm sure you know by now, Rich Brooks called it quits after 7 seasons as the head football coach of the Kentucky Wildcats. I have mixed feelings about it. Usually you see a coach go out on top or on the bottom. Brooks certainly wasn't run out of town, but he isn't exactly riding off into the sunset either. At 68, he had some coaching left in him. He even admitted in his presser that his family wanted him to continue.
In the end, I think a couple of things were in play. First, Brooks is tired, and really did not want to coach any more. If UK had won its bowl game or ended the Tennessee streak, he would have had a very easy decision. Instead, he had to decide if he could make it one more year to try to end on a more positive note. This bleeds into what I believe is the second factor, i.e. that Brooks decided that he has taken UK Football about as far as he can take it. At his age and given what he has accomplished the last four years, he sees himself as a steward for the program as much as a coach. He didn't want to wait around another year because inside he knew it was unlikely the results would be much different.
The reasons for this are open to debate. While otherwise very upbeat and respectful, Brooks basically started his remarks with a laundry list of facility upgrades he felt could move the program forward. His message was clear, the administration can say it supports football, but it hasn't shown the will to make it all happen. A fair point perhaps, but it is only part of the story. The truth is, the same could be said about Brooks.
Before you get up in arms, I actually mean this in a good way. First, Brooks valued loyalty ahead of doing everything he had to in order to win. Just ask Steve Ortmeyer, who should have been replaced as special teams coach two years ago. More importantly, he had too much integrity to lead Kentucky to the promise land of New Years Day games and top 25 rankings (something that almost certainly cannot be done here without cutting a few corners). Answer this, with Mike Hartline waiting in the wings, does Urban Meyer throw Curtis Pulley off his team for a couple of misdemeanor arrests? No way in hell. I don't know that this makes Meyer a better or worse football coach, but it certainly makes Brooks more principled.
In the end, here is what you can say about Brooks. He came here and eventually won games and went to Bowls like Hal Mumme, while being the kind of man Bill Curry was. If you ask me, that is a damned good legacy.
The question now is where do we go from here. Joker and Barnhart will ostensibly hammer out a deal shortly, though I think it very odd Phillips wasn't there today. I've heard at least one rumor of a substantial staff shakeup which turns the focus from X's and O's to recruiting. Phillips will not be a Brooks clone. Like any longtime assistant who has been around, he'll have his own ideas about running things. When he wakes up a week from now, the big decisions will be his.
Before long, Brooks will be waking up in a beautiful home on Oregon's McKenzie River. I hope when he looks out the window he thinks of all the good things he did here and not what might have been.