Mark Stoops appreciates all those who have contributed to the tornado relief fund. (UK Athletics Photo)
Kentucky football normally seems to respond and play its best when it feels slighted or disrespected. Make UK an underdog in a game the Cats feel they are going to win and head coach Mark Stoops and recruiting coordinator Vince Marrow love that role.
But for the upcoming Citrus Bowl in Orlando, it has been a Stoops-Iowa loveliest. Stoops played his college football at Iowa and so did his brothers. He has friends there and still speaks fondly about the Hawkeyes.
Does he need somebody at Iowa to say something bad about him or the Wildcats to get mentally charged up for the Jan. 1 game?
“I do. I need that. Don’t worry, I’ve got some of my buddies that I played with. They’ll say some stuff to get me going,” Stoops said. “But yeah, I do. I do like going into the game with a chip on your shoulder. You’re right about that.”
However, there’s no Scrooge in Mark Stoops at Christmas — or probably any time. He made sure at his national signing day press conference to thank everyone who helped raise money at the UK Athletics telethon for western Kentucky tornado victims.
“All the people that are helping with the recovery that’s going on right now and people that are constantly stepping up, I really can’t thank you enough,” Stoops said.
“We get isolated in our own little worlds, and it only took a few minutes to watch some of the damage and watch some news and see what was going on to step out of your own little box and try to help in some small way, and so many people have done that, I can’t thank them enough.”
Stoops then rattled off an impressive list of special donors.
“Part of that is (Iowa coach) Kirk Ferentz and his wife Mary and the people of Iowa, the Citrus Bowl folks, (coach) Clark Lee and Vanderbilt University and their football team. Just thank you to all those folks,” Stoops said.
“Really, truly amazing to see the way people respond, and so many more. But it’s been a great tribute to our great people in Kentucky, and we’re all thankful for it, and we’ve got to continue to help where we can.”
