HOOVER, Ala. – Any thought of Kentucky athletics usually conjures up the image of the eight-time national champion Wildcats’ men’s basketball team led by legendary coach John Calipari. 
“That atmosphere they set, Coach Cal, what he does to help me and help our program, the recruiting, just the environment of that arena,” Kentucky football coach Mark Stoops said. “We may bring a prospect in for the first time and bring them to a game, and they see our fan base…. [that] goes well beyond the basketball team.”  
In his third season, Stoops hopes to build his program into a similar powerhouse from the ground up by learning from past mistakes and improving the team’s facilities with the renovation to Commonwealth Stadium. 
After two full seasons without a conference win, Kentucky finally ended the draught in 2014 with back-to-back wins against Vanderbilt and South Carolina. 
Despite starting off 5-1, the Wildcats dropped their last five games and fell short of reaching their first bowl game since 2010. 
Heading into the season, senior safety A.J. Stamps said he is using the end of last year as fuel for improvement in the offseason. 
“By the way the season ended last year… we’re using that as motivation and that adds hunger to the hunger we already have to go out and prove to the world that we are capable of winning games and keep up as a team,” Stamps said. 
When Kentucky opens the 2015 season on Sept. 5 against University of Lousisania-Lafayette, the Wildcats will debut its $120 million expansion to Commonwealth Stadium. 
Stoops and company are looking forward to opening the season in what he calls “basically a brand new stadium.” 
“I’m kind of on the same side as Coach Stoops,” said senior nose guard Melvin Lewis. “I just can’t wait to see it. We’re very excited about it. We really can’t wait until we’re able to play in there on September 5 against Louisiana-Lafayette.”