Mark Stoops trusts system, despite ‘flaws,’ to work for six Cats facing charges
In the opening remarks of a news conference previewing Kentucky’s season opener against Louisiana Monroe, head coach Mark Stoops spent more time talking about an ongoing legal matter than football.
Six Kentucky players were charged with burglary, and one (defensive back Vito Tisdale) with wanton endangerment, on Aug. 19. Those charges stem from a March 6 incident that occurred at a private party hosted by Sigma Phi Alpha. The players, Stoops said previously, were held out for 11 weeks pending a student conduct review by the school, and were cleared to return to team activities in June.
Their cases were waived to a grand jury Wednesday in Fayette District Court. Stoops addressed the charges twice before — once via a prepared statement and again during a previous news conference where he took questions — but volunteered further comments Monday.
“If I had any evidence whatsoever that our players are doing something that needs to be addressed, we have no problem with addressing that, and disciplining our players,” Stoops said. “We’ll continue to evaluate that process and see how it plays out. We’ve been patient. Our players have been patient. You have to trust the system. That gets hard.”
The players — offensive lineman RJ Adams, running back JuTahn McClain, receiver Earnest Sanders, defensive back Andru Phillips, defensive back Joel Williams and Tisdale — have been suspended from the team since the charges were filed. Asked if he was confident enough, as of Monday, to bring any of them back to practice, Stoops paused before saying:
“I gotta be careful how I say this, but I want to. I want to. We’ll see.”
Denny Butler, a former Kentucky state representative and Louisville police officer, during the summer spoke with the team about his work helping people wrongfully convicted of crimes, Stoops said. Butler on Monday appeared on Kentucky Sports Radio, where he said he is now working with the six players.
Stoops said Monday that there are “flaws” in the legal system, but that it has to be trusted.
“But I also stand by our players until I have the evidence that tells me otherwise,” Stoops said. “I hope to have all the players out there, but I don’t know. That’s out of my hands. We’ll see what happens. We’ll go from there.”
This story was originally published August 30, 2021 at 2:03 PM.
