Vicky Graff Photo
Zach Yenser was not expecting the news he got Thursday when he met with Kentucky coach Mark Stoops Thursday.
Yenser has been UK’s offensive line coach for the last two years after leaving the San Francisco 49ers to return to college and his contract was extended through the 2024 season in December.
However, Yenser was told by Stoops he was no longer on UK’s staff.
“I was a little surprised. That was the first I heard of it. Coach said he was going to make a change,” Yenser said. “The timing is a new one for me. I signed an extension in December and got whacked in January. But nothing in this business totally surprises me.
“Mark told me he was doing this for the future of the program and he didn’t like how we played in the bowl game and how the future of the room was going. He didn’t initially tell me he was bringing Wolf (Eric Wolford) back. I just assumed he was because Wolf was no longer on the Alabama staff.”
Eric Wolford was UK’s offensive line coach in 2021 when the Cats won 10 games — and UK had five future NFL players on offense — but he bolted for Alabama. He took the job while he was on a UK recruiting trip, something that did not go over well with Stoops and other staff members at the time.
Yenser got the news about his firing from Stoops at lunchtime and met with his offensive linemen around 5 p.m. to tell them what had happened.
“I told the Cox brothers (Eli and Marques), or that’s what I call them when I found out. They are the heartbeat of that room and I told them, ‘Here is the deal. You have got to keep the room together and keep moving forward. It is a business. You guys are going to deal with it next year in the NFL when changes happen.”
Yenser grew up in northern Kentucky. He was not only a fan of former UK quarterback Jared Lorenzen but was a graduate assistant under John Schlarman at Troy University before Schlarman built the Big Blue Wall at UK.
“I enjoyed being here. My boys love it here. That was the hardest part telling my boys and wife (about being fired),” Yenser said. “The boys have their friends here now and that’s the hardest part.
“My oldest is 11 and the youngest is 8. But they will rock and roll. It was tough telling them the news Thursday when they came home from school but that’s just how this business works.”
21 Responses
Jeez, that’s a heartbreaking story to start the day – I assume that extension will be paid in full easing his family stress a bit. Is what it is.
I feel for the man and know it has to be very hard on him. I hope he goes somewhere else has tremendous success.
I’ll be blunt here. Coach Stoops and Kentucky didn’t handle this situation well IMO. Wolford is a great coach, but how long will he stay at Kentucky before he bounces for the first big opportunity he receives? Oh, and not tell anybody, even his own football team. Stoops can do what he wants, and there may be more we as fans don’t know. I suspect that is the case here, but this looks pretty sorry.
You don’t treat people like coach Yenser just got treated, especially after UK just renewed his contract. Stoops, in this latest move, proved something to me that I have suspected for awhile now ever since his Texas A&M fiasco. Like coach Yenser said, it’s the way big time college sports business is conducted today. This development quite frankly is pretty sorry leadership from a head coach who I thought at one time was extremely loyal to the bone, especially after a contract has been extended. The time to fire Yenser was before the contract got extended, especially if Stoops didn’t like the job he was doing. To me there are some things that are more important in life than football. I say this will hurt the Stoops’ image in time. Stoops is starting to lose some of his "shine" and big time college sports is getting to "big for it’s britches" these days.
Well I definitely wouldn’t send him out anymore recruiting trips.
How could he Stoops so low ? Easy! That is who he is.
He’s right. It’s a business. Never forget that. There is no loyalty from coaches, players and soon it will trickle down to the fans. I respect the work he did here. I hope he’s able to find something close by so his kids can stay. It’s hard on the families of these guys and the timing was pretty bad. I don’t think I like this new era of college sports.
Terrible treatment of Coach Yenser, And His Family from Mr Stoops, my Hope is Mr Barnhart takes notes from this situation And the Texas A/m situation Stoops Accepted that job But the Board Of regents and Money Boosters Refused the Hire not pressure from fans on Social media stoops Clearly doesn’t want to be At KENTUCKY going forward plus he just gave away what 650.000 bucks for nothing yensers salary for next year this is unacceptable from Stoops he’s just taking Advantage of Kentucky and he’s grossly overpaid for his career here yes he’s won a few games But who’s he beat from top twenty. A down Florida ,Louisville , imo show him the Door After 2024. He himself has stated I didn’t get them ready to play same with Coan . Time to put up or shut up for these Coach talk is not Cheap right!!!!!
They should have let the OC go. Their play calling sucks and they can’t seem to finish an opponent off.
That is a fact. Coen tried his best to get out of Dodge but street value not as high as he thought. Stoops has not had good year and he and Coen need short leash if performance not there in 24.
Hate this for coach Yenser!
I’m glad to see coach Stoops putting the program first!
This is how winners get to win!
Alabama or Georgia would do the exact same thing if it was what was best for the program!
We want to be in the playoffs and have a chance, right? Then we have to do the hard things that are not comfortable.
finally a cogent point….the fans demand wins and are too quick to blame stoops ….yet when he feels that pressure and adjusts staff to upgrade the most key aspect of an entire offense the fans boo….so the fans create the crisis and then hate the crisis response ….
I think it might be more that some fans and others, including me, don’t quite get the logic of this move based on past results/contributions by the new OL coach who left the UK OL room in not so great shape and then also drew the wrath of a lot of Alabama fans during his time with the Tide
It wasn’t the O Line that lost the bowl game….the defense turned to a prevent defense the last 2 minutes and basically gave their QB forever to get the ball to the end zone. With 3rd and 18 from the 50 I might add. Stoops is a moron.
Stoops has to place the blame on somebody for the Clemson loss. He isn’t going to admit the buck stops with him. Poor Ky has two of the most overpaid head coaches in BB and FB. All Stoops does is beat up on small colleges and down and out bottom feeders in the SEC. Look at his record against the top teams. Any mediocre coach could do what he does for 500,000.00 a year, and call him great. Geez!!!!!!
PS It’s called simple Texas A&M research. The fans there were ready to hang him in effigy before A&M pulled back. Against stiff competition, Stoops has nothing to hang his cap on.
I’m with you, Steve Hensley! In football, we build a record by winning our first five games against nobodies, then hope to win a couple more against lower SEC teams for a mediocre bowl game…..which we generally lose. In BB we have a coach that has lost his ABILITY to coach….he was once a GOOD coach, never great. Now he’s a fair coach at best, with an uncanny knack for taking great shooters and turning them into bums. I sincerely believe that the man would ruin Michael Jordan and Seth Curry!
Unfortunate for Yenser and I wonder how much Liam had a say because he said before he really liked coach Wolford. I didn’t think Yenser was really what Mark wanted but extended him because he didn’t know what was going to be out there until Wolford was not retained on the Bama staff. Jury is out on Wolford and who knows when he might bolt next.
From what I heard he would be paid out full regarding the extension so that’s a silver lining.
Good points Andy
Fired the wrong guy should have been the Defensive coordinator
Someone might want to tell UK’s website that Yenser is not the current OLine coach:
https://ukathletics.com/sports/football/roster/coach/zach-yenser/
Good point Hail Mary