Offensive changes, transfer portal movement and other takeaways from Mark Stoops’ presser

Kentucky football coach Mark Stoops held court with reporters Monday to ostensibly preview his team’s Saturday game with No. 1 Georgia.

But almost all of the more than 30-minute session was spent dissecting the current state of his program after a shocking loss to Vanderbilt rather than looking ahead to the next game.

Here are three takeaways from what Stoops had to say about the state of the offense, recruiting and where the Wildcats go from here.

1. Change is coming to the offense, even if Rich Scangarello stays

Much of the public discourse in the immediate aftermath of the 24-21 loss to Vanderbilt, which featured just six points from four first-half UK drives that reached the Commodores’ side of the field, centered on whether Stoops would fire offensive coordinator Rich Scangarello.

Stoops said after the game he was not ready to consider in-season staff changes. By Sunday evening it was apparent he had stuck to that decision when UK’s media relations department sent out a weekly schedule that included Scangarello’s normal Tuesday post-practice media session.

“As always, I will continue to work extremely hard and continue to evaluate all aspects of the program and constantly learn and try to improve,” Stoops said during his opening statement Monday. “We always accept the responsibility. I’m not going to ever put my head in the sand, but I’m not ever going to have a knee-jerk reaction and overreact to things as well.

“Constantly learn, shift, adjust and do the best we can to put ourselves in a position to win games. Again, there’s no excuses. We need to get better, coach better, play better. We will continue to do that.”

While Scangarello’s job appears safe through at least the end of the regular season, Stoops did signal changes are coming to the Kentucky offense.

Stoops agreed with a reporter’s suggestion that he might need to reconsider his overall offensive philosophy built around ball control and limiting opponents’ possessions after years of Kentucky teams struggling to score points, even before Scangarello arrived in Lexington. He also added credence to the theory that the offense Scangarello brought from the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers might need to be tweaked for college players.

“The things that are confusing or complex or hard, yes, that’s gonna stop,” Stoops said. “We may get beat, but we’re not going to beat ourselves. That’s a philosophy I’ve had for a long time starting day one. You can’t beat anybody until you stop beating yourself and we are beating ourselves at times.”

2. Recruiting reception still positive

Kentucky hosted several important 2023 high school recruits on campus for the Vanderbilt game. Despite the embarrassing performance from their team, Stoops and his coaches were pleased with the reception from those targets during Sunday meetings to close the official visits.

“They brought it up to me how good our players were with them,” Stoops said. “That’s a great sign. That actually picked me up a little bit Sunday.”

Four-star Ohio prep cornerback Cameron Calhoun decommitted from his hometown Cincinnati Bearcats on Sunday after completing his official visit to UK, sending a strong message about the Wildcats’ chances to pull off the flip. Three-star running back Trey Cornist, Calhoun’s Winton Woods High School teammate, also tweeted thanks to Kentucky for its hospitality during an “awesome official visit.”

Asked what message he tells recruits who could sign with a program in just more than a month about the future direction of his offense, Stoops said those players can see the areas UK can build on moving forward.

“I’m not sitting here saying I have my head in the sand,” Stoops said. “I accept it, I shoulder it and we look at things. We’ll get better. We can make adjustments. That doesn’t always have to be with personnel. We have smart, good coaches in here, and there are things we can do. And there are things we do do well. We need to execute a little better.”

3. All eyes on the transfer portal

Stoops was clear that one reason for hope for a quick turnaround from a disappointing season is the transfer portal, which will open to players the day after bowl announcements are made.

“It’s different now,” Stoops said. “The one good thing is there is free agency.”

Stoops pointed to the offensive line specifically as a position that could be boosted by offseason transfer additions, though he did acknowledge with players now allowed to profit off their own endorsements college football’s version of free agency also comes with the caveat that some programs do not have to operate with a “salary cap.” A new collective designed to support UK football players’ name, image and likeness opportunities was launched Monday, but Kentucky has not been as active in guaranteeing NIL deals to high school recruits and transfers to date as many other programs.

Of course, free agency goes both ways, and Stoops did not shy away from the reality that his own roster might be poached from other programs.

“How would you like to operate an NFL team where every one of your guys is a free agent every year?” Stoops asked. “How do you think they’d do?”

The transfer portal has been a net positive for Kentucky in the two years since the NCAA moved to allow most players to transfer once without sitting out a year. The Wildcats have added a handful of star-level players including Will Levis, Wan’Dale Robinson, Jacquez Jones and Keidron Smith. Meanwhile, almost all the outgoing transfers from the program have come from players who were not expected to fill key roles for the Wildcats.

The law of averages suggests that luck will not hold for Kentucky forever.

“We’ve been blessed with guys that have left where I’d probably say 100% was almost mutual,” Stoops said. “Now, that will change. But that’s everybody. That’s reality. That’s the new world. That’s not a knock. That’s OK.

“There are players on our team right now that I absolutely love and I think they down deep love it here, but they may decide to go somewhere else that’s better for them. That’s just the new world. You don’t take offense to it anymore.”

Next game

No. 1 Georgia at Kentucky

When: 3:30 p.m. Saturday

TV: CBS-27

Radio: WLAP-AM 630, WBUL-FM 98.1

Records: Georgia 10-0 (7-0 SEC), Kentucky 6-4 (3-4)

Series: Georgia leads 61-12-2

Last meeting: Georgia won 30-13 on Oct. 16, 2021, in Athens, Ga.

This story was originally published November 14, 2022 at 1:59 PM.

Jon Hale

Lexington Herald-Leader

(859) 414-6776

Jon Hale is the University of Kentucky football beat writer for the Lexington Herald-Leader. He joined the Herald-Leader in 2022 but has covered UK athletics for more than 10 years. Hale was named the 2021 Kentucky Sportswriter of the Year. Support my work with a digital subscription