Urgency But No Panic Despite Players-Only Meeting

Not sure why Mark Stoops didn’t want to fully acknowledge his team had a much-needed players-only meeting Monday but Kentucky fans can only hope this helps this struggling team.

After a 5-0 start, UK has lost 51-13 at Georgia and 38-21 at home to Missouri Saturday night.

“The players had a great meeting today with themselves that they asked me to have. They did. They’re showing great leadership. They care. They’re working really hard,” Stoops told Tom Leach on his weekly call-in show Monday night.

Kentucky may not have beat itself with penalties against Missouri but it came close with 14 penalties that either negated big plays by UK or extended Missouri drives. In a game with a small margin for error, Kentucky is not going to be good enough to overcome having more penalty yards than passing yards.

Stoops should have been ecstatic it seems to have players wanting to take ownership of what has gone wrong. I believe that is what Kentucky basketball coach John Calipari calls player-driven and Stoops’ team has not had that this season.

“Sometimes the narrative of a players-only meeting, some people make way too much of that — but yes, to your point, it does take some of the older guys and some leaders, some guys on the team to step up and hold the team accountable,” Stoops said.

“We want to be a player-led team, of course. I feed them information, talk to them till I’m blue (in the face), talk all day long, and can give them as much information as possible, but ultimately it’s their team.

“There has to be great leadership and I have seen some of that stepping up right now in a critical moment.”

Stoops insisted there was no panic among players about the season slipping away like many fans feel it might be.

“Even though there’s frustration and disappointment, there is no panic. I think urgency is a good word to use,” Stoops said on the radio show. “I think we all need to make sure we use this work week very wisely and be very urgent to get better.”