Report: Kentucky’s Stoops out of the picture for Florida State
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Kentucky football head coach Mark Stoops is out of the running for the same position at Florida State, according to a report from 247Sports on Saturday.
Josh Newberg in a post for Noles247 wrote that Stoops met with FSU officials in Cincinnati last week.
Newberg cited an unnamed “source close to Stoops.” UK could not confirm Saturday that a meeting occurred with the Seminoles.
“Although the interview went well, a week later, a source close to Stoops tells Noles247 that he does not consider himself a candidate for the job,” Newberg wrote. “According to a source, Stoops did not know which direction (FSU President John) Thrasher and (Athletic Director David) Coburn are headed with their search, but he did say he feels FSU is looking to go ‘big game hunting’ with the upcoming hire.”
Thrasher met with fans during a luncheon on Thursday. In a report for The Tallahassee Democrat, Byron Dobson and Wayne McGahee III described a video featuring potential candidates (and joke “candidates”) that played prior to his opening remarks. Mark Stoops was not specifically mentioned by the reporters.
Thrasher this week reached out to boosters with the goal of trying to raise additional money for FSU’s coaching search, which began three weeks ago when it fired Willie Taggart. In a letter to boosters shared by Ira Schoffel of Warchant, a Rivals site specializing in FSU coverage, Thrasher wrote that he and Coburn were in the midst of conducting a nationwide search.
“Director Coburn and I are asking each candidate to share his vision for Florida State football,” Thrasher wrote. “Our goal is to find the right fit for our student-athletes, the university and all Seminoles.
Stoops, who is in his seventh season at UK, was an assistant at Florida State from 2010-2012. Kentucky is his first head-coaching job; he is 41-44 overall and has the Wildcats on the verge of their fourth straight bowl game.
The Wildcats were to host Tennessee Martin on Saturday, after which Stoops was likely be asked about the report.
This story was originally published November 23, 2019 at 10:50 AM.
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