Mark Stoops took seniors Alex Afari, Josh Kattus and Jordan Lovett with him to SEC Media Days. (UK Athletics Photo)
Mark Stoops is motivated as the longest-tenured coach in the Southeastern Conference prepares for his 13th season at Kentucky.
He’s also “grateful” to be back with the Wildcats coming off a rare 4-8 season, including a 1-7 mark against league foes. He also had ankle replacement surgery, which put a strain on him personally and professionally.
“Last year was a bear on me physically, (and) I got that fixed,” Stoops said during an appearance at the SEC Media Days in Atlanta on Thursday. “I feel great. That pain is gone when I’m on the field. I’m very grateful and looking forward to this 13th year.”
To learn from last year’s painful experience, Stoops evaluated the program from top to bottom to help prepare for the future.
“There are many of us who had a year off here and there,” he said. “When you do that and have a bad year like that, I had to take a good step back, analyze each and every thing in our program, in our staff, and our players. There’s a lot of work to be done.”
Stoops lost 31 players to the transfer portal, including receivers Barion Brown and Dane Key. Stoops also lost his longtime tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator, Vince Marrow, to Louisville last month. Despite the turnover, Stoops isn’t rattled but the changes, which include 50 new players, 26 of whom were signed through the transfer portal.
“It’s business as usual for us — business as usual for myself,” Stoops said. “… I’m ready to just move forward.”
The Kentucky coach referred to last year’s struggles as ”a fourth-and-one mentality.”
“That moment in a fourth-and-one situation demands urgency, unity, and execution,” he said. “We needed to have a strong off-season.”
The players, including tight end Josh Kattus, said last year didn’t “go as planned” and was a “learning experience.”
We’ve got to learn from what kind of went wrong last year.
“I think there was a lot of good to build off,” he said. “That’s what’s great about football and the transfer portal. We brought in a bunch of new guys who are just looking to go 1-0 when it comes to Week 1.
“That’s what we’re focused on. We’re focused on getting better. We’re focused on going into this fall camp and competing. And we’re trying to move past last year on to this year.”
Jordan Lovett agreed and likes the makeup of this year’s squad.
“We’re a lot more dialed in, especially as a team, especially with all the transfers we got,” he said. “We have to be, chemistry has to be on 10, and everybody has to be dialed in a lot more than we did last year to overcome this slump that happened last year.”
Although adjustments and changes have been made by Stoops and his staff, the overall approach hasn’t changed.
“We will continue to anchor with the core values of our program — that’s attitude, toughness, discipline, and pride. We need to do that with the consistency that’s necessary to make sure that you’re going to get the growth that’s needed.”
12 Responses
A new pay raise and a contract extension would improve the situation.
I have concluded that Mark Stoops is either lazy, unimaginative or bother. Stoops "scripted" speech at media days was uninspiring at best. It came across as if it had been copied and pasted from his previous media days presentation with a few minor changes to "update" the message. Sort of like what a lazy high schooler would to take one paper and reuse for another class.
Haha you hit the nail on the head. He should have done something to liven it up a little. Remember Mark Stoops was going to have someone taze him in a press conference just to cause clicks from everyone. It's like Mark Stoops is almost to old fashioned for today's standards he's too conservative and very boring. It also why he gets the minimum out of his players now. The coach is what the players feed off of they are a mirror of there coach. If the coach is quiet and conservative then the players are too. It seems like we're not fired up for games anymore. I guess his ankle is the reason he couldn't coach. Or maybe because the coach was injured all our players were injured too last year? At one point we had 8 defensive starters injured last year. It was almost unreal. For some reason it seems like we have twice as many injuries every year as even the second to last team with the most injuries. That's in basketball as well. I dont know if the players are babied at Kentucky but I've never seen nothing like it.
Excellent observation, Mr Know it All. With such an impressive tag, anyone who reads your opinions should realize you really know wats happening 😎
Excellent observation, RJohn!
Excellent observation, RJohn
What's crazy is we have a elite secondary. We also have a elite running back room. To go along with a much better offensive line and improved QB play. 6-6 floor 9-3 ceiling.
6 – 6 floor! You're being generous Terry.
Terry is very optimistic. I’ve jumped in that optimist bandwagon for so many years, it’s hard to do it again after the best group of players Stoops ever has at UK ended up 4-8.
6-6 would be a surprise.
9-3 would be way beyond incredible.
Either is possible. I think Terry is basing it on the talent of the 50 new players and some who are returning. This season is a test to see if the coaches can rally the players to give 100% every game.
I have to be careful not to give even a hint that the UK staff and players aren’t just great – I don’t want to stir up any animosity by referencing that 4-8 record that $9 Million produced.
Terry should be asked to give the pep talk before kickoff! Seriously – there is obviously a need to jolt the players to wake them up & fire them up before the opening kickoff. Those first couple of series can set the stage for a productive game or can get UK behind the chains, mentally the rest of the game.
Stoops will set a record never to be broken this year. He will be paid $3+ million for each win this season…assuming that he can win 3 games. It may end up being $4.5+ million for each win.
So sad, but you have made a valid point, I wonder who should help cover those millions for each win – maybe the AD ??? It would be reasonable.