Nothing Will Change the Loyalty That Crafts Have for Mark Stoops

Kelly Craft hugged Mark Stoops after UK’s win at Auburn and called him a “class act” after he was fired by UK.

No one supported or believed in former Kentucky coach Mark Stoops more than Kelly and Joe Craft, who were two of the biggest financial contributors to the football program during Stoops’ 13-year tenure.

“Mark is a class act. Mark defines integrity and character,” Kelly Craft said after learning Stoops had been fired. “What a witness he is to his players. Always been Mark to me and nothing will change the loyalty we have for Mark.”

She said his decision to restructure his buy-out “put the best interest of his players and the program first” to ease the financial burden on UK.

Stoops became UK’s all-time winningest coach during his 13 years and had two 10-win seasons, a mark UK football had not reached since 1977. He proclaimed himself a “Kentuckian” a few days before his Cats lost 41-0 to Louisville in what turned out to be his last game.

Kentucky basketball coach Mark Pope said he “loved” Stoops and often either talked to him or exchanged texts as he did before and after the Louisville game.

“The way he is, what he’s done for the University of Kentucky, is incredible. By a whole host of measurements, he’s the greatest, most successful coach to ever coach here, and he gave his heart and soul to this place. Just grateful for his friendship and mentorship,” Pope said after Stoops was fired.

Pope said Stoops told him he wanted to spend the rest of his life, if possible, in Lexington where he has developed friendships and business interests.

“I know that the season hasn’t gone the way that he wanted it to, and maybe it’s been a little tough spell, but he is — man, he loves this place,” Pope said. “He loves — he talked to me about how much he loves Lexington, and how he hopes to spend the rest of his life here.

“I’m just grateful for him. On a personal level, he’s been a great friend, and he’s been an incredible coach here. I think he saw that this was just the right time for the change, but just a ton of gratitude for him.”

Pope appreciates the success Stoops had but also the effort it takes to have that success.

“We just all have these windows where we get to do this in life,” the Kentucky basketball coach said. “We have windows where we do things and they’re limited. They’re always limited. So the one thing I know about Mark is he could not have given one more ounce of blood, sweat and tears, or his whole heart and life to this pursuit of making Kentucky football what it was. And so we’re so grateful.”

Kentucky athletics director Mitch Barnhart said UK fans need to remember the middle stretch of Stoops’ eight straight bowl bids and the 10-win seasons UK had in 2018 and 2021.

“We hadn’t seen that ever here. People all get hung up on the very beginning when it was a struggle, and he inherited a program that was really, really difficult, and they want to get hung up on the end, where it was a struggle, and we weren’t doing what we wanted to do,” Barnhart said. “Forgetting the middle (years), where he absolutely gave this program a new set of boundaries, moved the goalposts for us — you can call it whatever you want to call it — he raised expectations. It’s what this place needed here.”

“So let’s not get hung up on what he didn’t do. He did a lot. That really irritates the snot out of me when people take shots. He’s a good man and has a lot of love for this program and this city. Don’t ever walk out of here thinking I don’t have an unbelievable amount of respect for Mark Stoops and what he did here. We all need to be grateful for what he did. He did change expectations here.”