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Mark Stoops has had a 13-year run as a head coach at Kentucky to make him the dean of the Southeastern Conference coaches.
Kentucky had six straight losing seasons before Stoops had a winning year in his fourth season. The Cats had seven winning seasons over the next eight years before the bottom fell out last season when Kentucky lost six of its last seven games and finished 4-8. However, one of the wins was a huge upset at Ole Miss, and UK lost only 13-12 to Georgia.
Even though most UK fans are pessimistic about the upcoming season and UK has been picked to finish near the bottom of the SEC, ESPN’s Chris Low noted that only Alabama, Georgia, Ole Miss, and Texas A&M have a higher winning percentage in the SEC than Kentucky (41.7 percent) over the past five seasons against ranked opponents.
Stoops was asked at SEC Media Days in Atlanta on Thursday about his tenure at UK and what he could do to “have a long a runway” as he wanted at Kentucky. Here is what the UK coach said.
“It’s a real challenge. When I got to Kentucky, as I mentioned… Listen, I might as well just stay away from that. I was going to say something. I say things tongue-in-cheek, and it gets taken way out of control. When you lose, you got to watch what you say,” Stoops said.
“Truthfully, when we got there, there was so much work to be done. I’m proud of that run. Maybe one other one with Bear Bryant, going back to the ’50s. There’s an eight-year run there where we’ve been as consistent as anybody in the history of our school. Our local media were asking me this morning. Each coach that stands up here, we go back a little bit, but we’re really concentrating on this year, what’s ahead of us.
“When you have a down year, you have to stand up here, own it, face it, talk about the things you’re doing to address it, then move on. I’ve stood up here after two 10-win seasons. That has only happened two times in the history of our school. I don’t want to talk about that year; I want to talk about this year. There’s a fine balance there.
“For me, it’s just exciting. I’m really just excited about the opportunity, really diving into the challenge that lies ahead of us and embracing that and having fun with it. This shit’s hard. You might as well go enjoy it, dive into it. There’s a lot of people that can’t do it and didn’t do it for 12 years, didn’t do it for 13 years, not at Kentucky. You look at the history of what we’ve done, there’s a lot of great ones that didn’t make it very long.
“I’m proud of the run that we have. I want to use last year for us to learn from and to grow from and to get better, and to get back to who we want to be. That’s something that our program deserves. That’s something our fan base deserves. The great people in Kentucky, the administration. We’re all in and we’re excited about this next season.”
5 Responses
In twelve seasons against SEC competition, Stoops has had two years in which he won games than he lost.
Folks, how you measure success is debatable.
Just remember, it's Kentucky Football. Nothing is expected, therefore no disappointments.
Interesting observation.
12 seasons with 2 above 0.500 in the SEC.
Can’t expect much.for “only” $9 Million.
Stoops is a genius at stating the obvious.
I agree that Stoops is getting over paid, But he has done some things that no other coach has be able to do. The football program always has its ups and down seasons since I been following them since late 60;s. With the strength of SEC teams has gotten better I don't see for that to change as far winning the SEC title that many hope for. I been saying this for years KY football doesn't belong in the SEC.
Stoops has hit his ceiling and is spiraling downward. Ever since Texas A&M snubbed him, he just hasn't been able to get over that. Many are predicting Kentucky will finish at the bottom of the SEC this year. His buyout is ridiculous thanks to our idiot AD, so he should just retire and give the University a chance to try to rebuild again. The problem is he knows he won't be welcomed at any other program even at 10% of his current salary. Stoops will milk this cow dry leaving our program in the cellar for years to come.