Will Mike Stoops be the next defensive coordinator at UK

Mike Stoops has a lot of coaching experience and could be a prime candidate if defensive coordinator Brad White leaves UK for any reason. (Oklahoma Athletics Photo)

At SEC Media Days in Atlanta this year Kentucky coach Mark Stoops took the podium on Wednesday afternoon and had an opening statement of about 10 to 12 minutes. Stoops, in his usual close to the vest style, didn’t really supply any earth shattering information about the football team. Not unexpected really.

But during the question and answer session that followed he did say one thing that piqued my interest. He was asked a question about what it was like to have his brother, Mike Stoops, on staff this year. (Mike Stoops is the current inside linebackers coach replacing Jon Sumrall who left to become the head coach at Troy University).

Mark Stoops answered the question by saying it was great to be reunited with his brother Mike after they had both been on staff at Arizona — Mike as the head coach and Mark as the defensive coordinator.

Stoops said that those days at Arizona prepared him well for the rebuilding job he would have to do at UK. He also went on to say that as a pair — Mike and Mark — they took Arizona within two fourth down defensive stops of playing in the Rose Bowl; something that had never happened in the history of Arizona football. Arizona lost to Oregon in double overtime after holding a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter.

Stoops said he learned so much football from his brother Mike because he is a big picture thinker. He said Mike has a coordinator’s mind and that a head coach can never have too many big picture thinkers on his staff.

Stoops then went on to say that Brad White does a tremendous job as defensive coordinator at UK, he always has other organizations approaching him with job offers and it has been difficult to hold them off for four years.

That made me think about the timing of Mark Stoops hiring his brother Mike to be an inside linebackers coach after he had been a head coach at Arizona, an analyst at Alabama for Nick Saban and then the defensive coordinator at Florida International last season. One would think that moving back to a position coach at Kentucky might be considered a step back unless there was a bigger plan in place.

It seems to me that after four years at UK White is probably primed to be a college head coach or maybe a defensive coordinator in the NFL next season. Mark Stoops mentioned on Wednesday that continuity in the coaching staff was huge for him and it would seem that if Mike Stoops could step in as the inside linebackers coach this season he would be in a prime position to take over as the defensive coordinator should White decide to leave after this season.

Of course nothing is written in stone; White could decide to stay at UK for the entire time that Stoops is the head coach but that doesn’t appear likely based on his success as a defensive coordinator at Kentucky. This move by Stoops, Mark that is, appears to be a savvy way to add a quality position coach while also teeing the ball up for a good hire in the future should White get an offer that he just cannot refuse.