Former Mark Stoops was fired as head coach of the Kentucky Wildcats after a disappointing season, as the program failed to qualify for a bowl game for the second straight year. The Wildcats finished 5-7 overall and 2-6 in SEC play. They finished with a 4-8 record in 2024.
Because he was fired, both parties reached an agreement where he was owed $38 million by the program as part of the buyout clause. The firing ended the head coach’s 13-season tenure with the Wildcats. In his place, Kentucky hired Will Stein as the new head coach. Stein was previously Oregon’s offensive coordinator.
Mark Stoops’ Returns To SEC With Texas
Mark Stoops has made it back to the SEC, considered the most difficult conference in all of college football. He joined the Texas Longhorns coaching staff under head coach Steve Sarkisian as a special assistant.
It is interesting to note that Texas and Stoops almost became a thing as the program was looking to hire him as the linebackers coach. After two years working with Sarkisian at Alabama, Mark’s brother, Mike Stoops, was expected to follow him to Texas and become a defensive coach. The move in itself was controversial because Stoops’ other brother, Bob Stoops, was Oklahoma’s head coach. Oklahoma and Texas were fierce rivals, so you can understand the animosity that was there against Stoops while he was being considered as a linebackers coach.
Sarkisian chose not to hire Mike as he worried about the backlash that could come with hiring him. Now, five years later, he has finally hired a Stoops.
Meanwhile, Mark Stoops’ firing happened after Kentucky’s 41-0 loss to Louisville. Before he was let go, Stoops said there was a “zero chance” that he was going to leave Kentucky on his own terms. It seems the program made the decision for him. At Kentucky, Stoops led the program to 82-80 record, including seven winning seasons.
With Texas, Stoops is likely to spend more time on the Texas defense. Before he became a head coach, he worked with defensive backs. Before taking the job at Kentucky, he was the defensive coordinator of Arizona and Florida State.
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