During Mark Stoops’ 45-minute video conference with media members Friday it was very obvious he was deeply worried about his players’ and staff’s safety during this coronavirus outbreak.
He also didn’t hesitate when asked about coaches giving up portions of their salaries or making charitable contributions because of the virus and their sizable income and said all that had has “crossed my mind” already.
Kentucky fans should really appreciate the sincere answer he gave too.
“I’m prepared to give back. (My wife) Chantel and I have been active in this community for a long time, and it’s really important for us to give back right now. But, it’s also important to give back to the university if need be,” Stoops said.
“We haven’t talked about that. I think it’s probably too early for our administration to fully comprehend what’s going to happen the rest of this year … well, they probably have a good idea about what’s going to happen this year (fiscal year 2019-20 that goes through June) … but moving forward, nobody really knows.
“Yes, I would be open to that personally – giving back, helping and helping this university to make sure we have the ability to put the resources into our players, which is most important to me, continuing to develop our players in all areas of their life. That does take a strong financial commitment, and it takes great support from our university that they have given us. ”
Stoops obviously sees this as a chance for him to set a life example for his players.
“We constantly want to do those things to help develop these players and help develop our program. It’s important. What we do on the field is important to Kentucky, to this state. We want to represent this state the right way,” Stoops said.
“We want to continue to push this program in a positive direction, and we all should look at ways to do the best we can to help in that commitment and to help push this program and develop this program, and have it be something that the product we put on the field is something we are all extremely proud of.”
