It would cost UK almost $38 million to fire Mark Stoops after another disappointing season. (Vicky Graff Photo)
By LARRY VAUGHT
It was a question that had to be asked, and Lexington Herald beat writer Jon Hale was not afraid to ask it after Kentucky was embarrassed by Louisville for the second straight year. This time it was 41-0 Saturday, an even worse beatdown than coach Jeff Brohm’s team put on UK last season in Lexington.
Hale asked Stoops if he might consider stepping away from the program after UK went 4-8 in 2024 and followed that with a 5-7 mark this year, including blowout losses at Vanderbilt and Louisville to end the season.
“Come on. I mean, I don’t want to be disrespectful to you. You think I’m going to walk away? Are you kidding me? No. Zero means zero. Zero percent chance I walk away,” Stoops laughed and said.
He wasn’t done.
“I’m going to be here as far as I’m concerned. I can’t control what decisions are made. If you’re asking me, I said zero. Zero means zero. Zero percent chance I walk away.”
If UK fired Stoops, he would be owed 75 percent of his remaining salary for the rest of his contract term — almost $38 million. And it would have to be paid within 60 days of his termination, according to the terms of his contract, and no way is Stoops walking away from that. Who would?
“I’ve got a pretty good contract; it would be pretty easy for me to give in. But there’s zero of that in me. None. That’s not in me. I’ll never submit, I’ll never cave, I’ll never flinch,” Stoops told The Athletic last week when his team still had a chance to earn a bowl bid with a win at Louisville.
Instead, Kentucky was dominated. A team missing its top three running backs and top receiver still amassed 440 yards. For the second straight year, the Cardinals had two backs run for over 100 yards. This time, walk-on Braxton Jennings of Ashland gained 113 yards on 20 carries, and receiver Shaun Boykins had 101 yards and one touchdown on 22 attempts.
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Kentucky’s 41-0 loss to the Cardinals was the worst in Governor’s Cup history and the first time the Cats failed to score against the Cards since 2004. Kentucky was outscored 86-17 in its last two games and trailed Vanderbilt and Louisville by over 40 points in each.
Kentucky played Saturday like a team ready for the season to be over, not one that needed a win to become bowl eligible, something that used to be a given under coach Mark Stoops.
During his postgame interview on the UK Radio Network with Tom Leach, Stoops said, “I have bosses,” but repeated what he told Hale — “I’m not going nowhere on my account, you know what I mean? I’m gonna work my tail off and get this program better.”
Stoops said Monday that the team was better this year. If it is, it sure does not look that way.
“I know it’s not at all the result we want, in particular, these last two weeks. But we have the core, and we have the nucleus of good players in our program to get it rebuilt the right way,” Stoops told Leach. “And in this era, you can do it quicker if you have the resources, which we are getting, which we’re doing, and hopefully, we’ll put it into the program and get better.”
Not sure the program can regress any more, and not sure Stoops can keep that from happening. Kentucky has made horrible decisions in the transfer portal over the last few seasons. Think about the best players on this year’s team, and most were already at Kentucky. Receiver Kendrick Law, running back Seth McGowan, and defensive lineman David Gusta were transfers who made major contributions this year. Still, many more did not, including quarterback Zach Calzada, the highest-paid free agent, who was a huge fizzle.
Kentucky lost the Big Blue Wall with John Schlarman’s passing in 2020. However, he was more than UK’s offensive line coach. He was the team’s inspiration, and players believed what he said. He connected with players, fans, and coaches.
Long-time associate coach and recruiting coordinator Vince Marrow left the UK staff in the summer to become general manager of the Louisville football program. He was obviously not happy with the shift in recruiting philosophy Stoops now has in the transfer portal/NIL era, and a 9-15 mark the last two years backs up Marrow’s belief.
Stoops got the Kentucky job after fans quickly became disillusioned with coach Joker Phillips, and the program was not competitive. Stoops came 13 years ago as a highly respected defensive coordinator at Florida State and did what few believed was possible. He had 10-win seasons in 2018 and 2021. He went to eight straight bowl games. He not only made UK fans feel the Cats could win but also raised their expectations.
Times change, though, and Stoops seems to have bottomed out. Fans have lost hope — just check social media during and after the Louisville game. But athletics director Mitch Banhart may not be prone to eat a $37 million buyout and don’t forget high school players can sign with teams starting Wednesday. That’s not a good time to be without a coach or to have a coach in limbo. The transfer portal officially opens on Jan. 2 for two weeks, and if a coaching change is made, it has to be made quickly — again, not a normal routine for Barnhart.
But something has to change.
“This is an embarrassing loss the way they got manhandled and at the end of the game (Louisville) fans were chanting ‘SEC’ and that hits you in the gut,” UK Radio Network analyst Jeff Piecoro, a former UK player, said.
28 Responses
He's not going to forfeit a pile of cash. I don't blame him. But that wasn't even a ballgame. Can you look any less engaged than UK did? What did they do all week in preparation? Apparently nothing that mattered. Does it matter to Barney that his Head football doesn't resonate with his respective football team. 41/0 ? How many million does he get for that?
We beat a bad Auburn team. We beat a rudderless Florida team and Tennessee Tech. Some fans (Jimmy) we're so excited that they peed their panties.
I told everyone 3 weeks ago that WE were going to eat Cocoa Puffs of a plate because WE AIN'T GOT A BOWL
Very colorful remarks, WildWest !!!
Ww and LB I have a message from Stoops and myself. You Can Kiss Our Ass Crybabies!
I guess you dont want to loose your alimony Mrs. STOOPS.
Nasty little boy cries again.
I did not make any direct comments because you exhibit serious instability & lack the ability to communicate sensibly with anyone on VV.
Most teams at least play respectably vs their rival. Not us.
Entire staff needs to be gone – total rebuild. Non-aggressive, predictable offense, soft defense and poor special teams cannot win in modern day college football.
This game was a last chance / final exam for Stoops in my opinion. He failed miserably. Lack of improvements, no in game adjustments are both further indications of coaching malpractice.
We cannot keep any part of this staff and team if we are pretending to be the least bit competitive in football. Yet there’s $37 million reasons why nothing will change.
We blew it. We should have hired Sumrall now he's going to Florida and he will destroy us every time they play us. We could have easily got him after last year. Mitch didn't want to pull the trigger. Remember Stoops was a eye lash away from being the head coach of Texas A&M until all the boosters and fans went nuts on the athletic director. Stoops should have left Kentucky on top after the 2023 season. He could have pretty much chose whatever lower budget school he wanted to go to. Like a Rutgers or Kansas state. He is not a SEC level coach since NIL and the transfer portal started. We used to get low 3* players build them up for 2-3 years with a redshirt and then he would get them 2-3 years of on field experience. Now the 3* guys will transfer after one or two years if they dont crack the rotation. This has destroyed the Mark Stoops recipe. The defense we run you have to be big and super athletic. To run a proper 3-4 or 3-5-3 you have to have huge lineman that can also move and are agile. Your secondary to play a zone have to be super intelligent. I'm not trying to ruffle any feathers but why do we never have any white boys on the defense? Kash Daniel is the only one I remember that actually played. Playing receivers isn't hard. It's like we get the same size receivers. They are also all possession receivers. There is no speed. Rodriguez is going to be a NFL tight end. Boley has a chance to be a NFL QB if he improves every year. He played terrible but you can't blame him our offensive line couldn't block Louisville. The same team that SMU shut down and scored 30 something points against Louisvilles defense. Stoops has turned into a shadow of his former self. He has ruined the legacy he created for himself. If he would have left after 2023 Kentucky would have always loved him for all the memories he brought. All those memories are fading. Kids that are growing up now only know Stoops to lose. Since 2021 we have went down hill every year. It's about to be 2026. In 2022 we were supposed to have the season to take Stoops and Kentucky to the top of the SEC. Levis came back. What happened to that team? We had no offensive line. That has been the trend the last 4-5 years and its going to get worse. I see a mass exodus after this year. Everyone will jump in the portal because other schools pay more money to have them and that is what college sports have turned into. I think gambling plays a big part of a lot of this. I guarantee it. Money is controlling college sports. People will throw games to make money. That's just the way it is. Im to the point where I might stop watching Kentucky football all together. Basketball too. Yes it's something to do when I'm bored but these athletes nowadays make me sick. They are nothing but sissys.
I'm not sure Sumrall would have come here and hope he doesn't take the Florida job. He may wait and see how our situation unfolds, but in my opinion Stoops will be here next season.
Kentucky is the college version of the Tennessee Titans. Who in their right mind would want to be the coach of either train wreck?
He didn't wait. He took the Florida job.
I'm going give my two cents perspective and I'm not here to protect Stoops. Yes, there's should be some pointing fingers at his coaching abilities and all the sideline coaches' changes that occur the last 4 or 5 years didn't help to develop our players and second of all i blame Mitch of not getting on the ship on the NIL situation while most schools were taking advantage of it That's been our downfall since then. That's been said with the nucleus we got coming back on both sides of the ball and it's my understanding most are planning to come back i like what the future holds. Folks we may not win the SEC division or be the SEC champs as long we have a winning season and go to bowl game is good. We have lack behind to our stronger schools as Alabama or Georgia and have been for years that's not going to change.
Any word on which bowls are considering UK ???
Only five wins correct?
Yes, but surely some bowl wants to guarantee a certain wins, so who would be a safer opponent than UK with an HC & OC so out of touch
I know it’s only 5 wins, but some were so sure it would be 6 or 7, maybe there is a mistake – is 0-41 enough to call the game over without any overtime?
Just kidding!
toilet bowl.
That’s the one I was expecting to hear
A 5'10" walk on running back ate Stoops and crew for breakfast
Sad – just beyond pathetic!
He only gained 50 yards last year against Corbin Highschool.
1. Stoops ain't leaving, at least of his own volition. $37 million – I wouldn't either. In the words of the immortal P.T. Barnum, "never smarten up a chump and never give a sucker an even break".
2. UK is in a real pickle; of their own making I might add.
3. At the age of 77, I won't live long enough to see this situation resolved. Sadly.
How a major university can put such a pathetic product on the field is beyond me. UK doesn't give a hoot about pride. It's about the money coming in.
At 77, we’ve the best and the worst than can be fielded. 2024 & 2025 rank right down there with chjoker!
This will not get any better until Barnhart is gone. Now that our football season is mercifully over, it's time to find out if Pope has the wherewithall to get our basketball team back on track. That won't happen until JQ is on the floor.
Besides cashing checks to hire faculty that can't teach, where is the President of UK in all of this?
Barney has some kind of no pressure admin job locked up at UK. In biblical terms he gets to “ wash his hands of this “. He’s recommending a couple of his minions to replace him !?
That’s all we need – little Barney clones taking over. Would take the state Governor to make a clean sweep of things ( LSU style ) – and I don’t think he’s of that ilk.
Stoops Did great at kentucky his first ten years yes, But it's time to GO WHY, it's not Entirely His Fault UK Administration, UK Athletics Board, Athletics Director Are all responsible why NIL Not getting on Board, Now we Are Way Way Way Behind everyone that Bbn is not Stoops Fault, But Preparing,Recruiting, Coaching is on Him…. Not Sure Kentucky Can Remain in the SEC Moving forward with inadequate funding. NIL
that's funny BUT TRUE.
Strange that the sport that generates the most revenue is terrible, while practically ALL other sports at UK are doing Good, Very Good, or GREAT !!!