J.D. Hall 
Rick Pitino and Mark Stoops
Did we just witness the beginning of the end of the Mark Stoops era at Kentucky? What we saw against Florida was reminiscent of the early years for Coach Stoops at Kentucky. They were thoroughly dominated by an average Florida Gators team, that has their own questions about their head coach. They were also starting a true freshman at quarterback in DJ Lagway after Graham Mertz suffered a season ending knee injury.
The game didn’t get off to a great start for the Wildcat defense, giving up a 40 yard pass on 3rd and 5. It would be a preview of what was to come in the game. Kentucky was able to hold them to a FG, but Kentucky was forced to punt on their opening possession. Then, after trading punts, Florida was on the board again with another FG, 6-0 Florida. Kentucky was able to answer that FG with a 45 yard TD of their own off a flea flicker to Barion Brown. Alex Raynor would mis the extra point, just the second in his career, leaving the game tied at 6. It would be the last time it was tied. There would be a couple of exciting moments left for the Cats fans in attendance, the first being a 99 yard kickoff return touchdown by Brown. A return that happened due to Brown letting a ball go through his hands for an interception that put Florida up 27-6. Kentucky would go into the half trailing Florida 27-13, but they would be receiving the 2nd half kickoff.
Halftime seemed to be a reset for the Wildcats. They were late getting back onto the field, because as Coach Stoops said, “They had a lot of things to talk about”. It seemed to have worked too, because Kentucky took that opening possession right down the field for a 75 yard touchdown drive, capped off by a Gavin Wimsatt run. That was the end of the excitement for Kentucky and as it turned out, the end of all hope as well. Florida would outscore the Wildcats 21-0 after that point, on their way to a 48-20 beat down.
You could, maybe, excuse what happened in this game if it was the Spurrier or Meyer Gators, but these aren’t those Gators. They came into the game 1-2 in the SEC this season and were 14-17 overall the last 3 seasons. Kentucky had won 3 in a row and 4 out of 6 against Florida and won their last 2 trips into The Swamp. All this recent history led to Kentucky going into the game as a 2 point favorite. Kentucky didn’t look like the better team, and outside of 3 games this season, it was more of the same. Dropped passes, poor offensive line play and curious play calls in curious situations.
5 games into the SEC schedule, Kentucky is now sitting at 3-4 overall and 1-4 in the league. Now, more fans are beginning to turn on Mark Stoops. Make no mistake, Mark Stoops deserves all the credit for what he has been able to accomplish at Kentucky, especially after where the program was following Joker Phillips. That’s only going to count for so much in an industry that is all about “What have you done for me lately?”. What has Stoops done lately at Kentucky? The answer, not much. Going back to 2022, Kentucky is now, 7-14 in SEC play. 5-10 in the last 15 games overall and 2-10 in their last 12 SEC home games (4 of those losses coming in games against South Carolina and Vanderbilt that they were favored in).
The rest of the season doesn’t look great either. Kentucky still has road games against Tennessee and Texas. Texas was the number 1 ranked team in the country before falling to Georgia and Tennessee just knocked off number 7 Alabama. They also have home games against Auburn, Louisville and Murray State. The only one of the 5 that Kentucky fans should be confident in winning is the Murray State game. Texas seems to be loaded on both sides of the ball, Tennessee has been beating Kentucky for the better part of the last 40 years and although Kentucky has dominated the Louisville series of late, they just played Miami in a 52-45 game.
It’s very hard to imagine Kentucky getting more than 5 wins this season, ending a bowl streak of 8 straight years. That’s an unprecedented run at Kentucky, but there have been signs the last 3 years that maybe the program is slipping a bit. 2022 and 2023 they started 9-1 combined over the first 5 games of those seasons. In the final 8 games of those seasons? They’ve went 5-11. Add that into what we’ve seen from the team on the field this year and what went on with Mark Stoops in the off season, and it seems like it’s getting to be time for a new voice to lead the program.
It’s complicated though. I’m not sure that Kentucky could get the money to fire him, he’s owed $44 million if they do, because the boosters all like Coach Stoops. Likely, the only way he gets replaced is if he gets another job offer or retires. There probably won’t be another team coming after him after this season, not like Texas A&M did last year. That was a job offer that it seemed like he was ready to leave Kentucky for, until the fan backlash started on X, formally Twitter. A&M ultimately backed out of the offer and Stoops had to return to Lexington. Retirement could happen and is maybe more likely than we think. There have been some rumblings that this would be his last season on the sidelines. His boys are getting older and they’re out in Colorado and he would like to spend more time with them. He’s older than his brother Bob when he retired from Oklahoma and also older than his father was when he passed away. So maybe, he’s thinking about life after football. Maybe that’s why he seems like he doesn’t have the same fire on the sidelines he once did. Maybe it’s why we’ve seen former players like Jaquez Jones come out and say there is a lack of accountability within the program. We aren’t seeing the same level of accountability and discipline we saw when star players like Jordan Jones disciplined for on field issues or star recruits dismissed from the team like Jason Hatcher. Now, we consistently see players like Dane Key and Barion Brown committing unsportsmanlike penalties with very little consequences. Then you have the optics with Jamarion Wilcox only getting 3 carries each of the last 2 games. When asked about it, Stoops said “How about tying your shoes”. It rang hollow to those that heard and saw the answer. Now, there may be more going on, but he’s been the most productive running back when he’s gotten his chances.
This has the feeling of the end of John Calipari’s time at Kentucky. Three consecutive seasons that fell below what was expected. A coach that has been in the position longer than any other coach in the league. One, some fans, feel has fallen out of touch with the fan base. Both coaches had massive buyouts left on their contracts and both were making over $9 million/year. Calipari, for all his faults and mistakes, made the decision to leave Kentucky. He may not have had much of a choice since it’s been reported he violated his contract, but nevertheless, he is now at Arkansas. It became obvious at the end of the last basketball season, and even with the pre-season article from The Athletics’ former writer Kyle Tucker, that it was time for a new voice to lead Kentucky Basketball.
We’re now in a similar position with Mark Stoops. For all the great he has done here as the head coach, it looks and feels like it is time for a change at the top. The fans feel like Coach Stoops feels the same way, since he was looking to leave after last season. Now may be the best time for the change to happen. The program, with recruiting, fan support, administration support, booster support and facilities, has never been in a better position than it is now.
Saturday looked like the beginning of the end for Stoops at Kentucky. Let’s just hope he feels the same way and rides off into the sunset on his own terms, instead of watching the program he built up, crumble back down.
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