Mark Stoops Out at Kentucky After 13 Seasons: A Program at a Crossroads
After 13 seasons at the helm, Mark Stoops is out as Kentucky’s head football coach. The move comes on the heels of a second straight losing season and a pair of lopsided defeats to close the year - a 4-8 finish punctuated by a 41-0 shutout at the hands of in-state rival Louisville. Stoops, the program’s all-time wins leader, exits with a final record of 82-80 (38-68 in SEC play), and a legacy that’s as complex as it is historic.
A Pricey Pivot
Kentucky’s decision isn’t just bold - it’s expensive. Stoops is owed a full $38 million buyout, payable within 60 days of his termination.
That figure puts this move among the most costly firings in college football history. For an athletic department that’s long prioritized men’s basketball, it’s a clear statement: football expectations have changed in Lexington.
And the timing? Less than ideal.
The coaching carousel has been spinning for months, with SEC rivals already making their hires. Kentucky is now playing catch-up in a high-stakes market.
The Rise and Fall
Stoops took over a struggling program in 2013, inheriting a team coming off back-to-back 2-10 seasons under Joker Phillips. It took time - four years, in fact - before Kentucky reached its first bowl game under Stoops in 2016. But that appearance kicked off a run of eight straight postseason trips, including two 10-win seasons in 2018 and 2021 - the first time the program had hit double-digit victories since 1977.
For a while, Stoops had Kentucky punching above its weight in the SEC. He built a reputation for physical, disciplined teams that could go toe-to-toe with more talented rosters. That identity, combined with a solid pipeline of player development, brought national respect to a program that had long lived in the shadows of the conference’s blue bloods.
But the last two seasons told a different story. Kentucky went 9-15 overall and just 3-13 in SEC play across 2024 and 2025. The Wildcats looked overmatched far too often, particularly against regional rivals like Tennessee, Vanderbilt, and Louisville - all games that carry extra weight for fans and boosters alike.
A November Reprieve That Didn’t Last
There was a moment, albeit brief, when it looked like Stoops might have turned the corner. After a 2-5 start to the 2025 season, Kentucky rattled off three straight wins - including quality victories over Auburn and Florida. Redshirt freshman quarterback Cutter Boley showed flashes of promise, giving the offense a much-needed jolt and offering a glimpse of what the future might hold.
But that momentum evaporated quickly. A flat performance against Vanderbilt and the blowout loss to Louisville not only ended UK’s bowl hopes but also reignited questions about the program’s direction. The offense, which finished 114th nationally in yards per game, simply couldn’t keep pace - even with Boley’s emergence.
The End of an Era
Stoops' tenure is the longest in Kentucky football history, and his departure marks the end of a transformative chapter. He took a perennial bottom-dweller and made it respectable - at times, even formidable. But in the SEC, respectability has a short shelf life when the results stop coming.
In his final press conference, Stoops made it clear he had no intention of stepping down voluntarily. “I’m going to be here as far as I’m concerned,” he said.
“Now, I can’t control what decisions that are made. But if you’re asking me, I said zero.
Zero means zero.”
Ultimately, the decision wasn’t his to make. And with the program stumbling to the finish line, Kentucky’s leadership decided it was time for a new voice.
What’s Next for Kentucky?
The Wildcats now enter a crowded coaching market already thinned by early movers. Florida, Auburn, LSU, Arkansas, and Ole Miss have all made hires in this cycle.
Perhaps most notably, Florida grabbed Jon Sumrall - a former Kentucky linebacker and defensive coordinator who had long been viewed by fans as a potential successor to Stoops - from Tulane. That door, it seems, has closed.
When Kentucky hired Stoops in 2012, he was a defensive coordinator at Florida State with no head coaching experience. He leaves as the winningest coach in school history and the architect of some of the best seasons the program has ever seen. But in the unforgiving world of SEC football, the past only buys so much time.
Now, with the calendar turning to December and the coaching carousel still spinning, Kentucky finds itself at a pivotal crossroads. The next hire will define not just the immediate future of the program, but whether the progress made under Stoops can be sustained - or whether it fades into another cycle of rebuilding.