After Georgia loss, Mark Stoops calls for disgruntled fans ‘to pony up’ with donations

Kentucky football coach Mark Stoops delivered a passionate response to a fan’s complaint during his weekly radio show Monday following the Wildcats’ blowout loss to Georgia.

In the process, he might have taken a swipe at the current college football landscape too.

“You’ve got to own it, you’ve got to solve it and then you’ve got to go do it,” Stoops said of his team’s response to the 51-13 loss on Saturday. “The other side of that is, if you want to do that, complain, deny or make excuses. And we’re not going to do that. It is what it is.

“Fans have that right. I give it to them. I just encourage them to donate more, because that’s what those dudes are doing. I can promise you Georgia, they bought some pretty good players. You’re allowed to these days. We could use some help.”

Stoops’ ire was drawn earlier in the show when a caller identified as “Jason in Louisville” complained about the Wildcats’ inability to beat the elite teams in the SEC during Stoops’ tenure, citing a stat that was circulated on social media after the Georgia loss that noted Stoops’ Kentucky teams had beaten just two teams that finished the season with a winning record in SEC play.

Stoops took issue with that stat, instead pointing out that Kentucky was tied for fourth in the SEC in wins since 2018.

“Georgia is one for a reason,” Stoops said. “I give them a lot of credit. Would I like to be there, yes? But there’s a big difference between one and everybody else.

“You’re climbing the ladder in the SEC. You think it’s easy? I sat here and watched a bunch of people try to do it. It’s not easy at a lot of different schools. So, believe me, I respect Jason and want his support. I’m not being sensitive about it, but bring it on Jason. See if you can do it.”

Stoops made sure to note in his response to Jason that earlier in the day at his weekly news conference he had responded to a question about whether he saw his team continue to bring full effort despite the score by saying, “I wasn’t satisfied in any area.” Repeatedly during the hourlong radio show Stoops told host Tom Leach that nothing about his team’s performance was acceptable.

Later in the show a different caller phoned in with an extended rant in defense of Stoops, arguing that no team in the country would have beaten Georgia with the way the No. 1 Bulldogs, who have won their last 23 games, played Saturday in Athens.

Stoops began his response to that call by again saying there were no valid excuses for how Kentucky played in the loss before agreeing with the caller’s point that Georgia is in a league of its own compared to the rest of the SEC right now.

“They were geared up, they were ready,” Stoops said. “We had their full attention. They responded. Like I said, in our league it matters, home or away. It can get away from you very quickly. We didn’t do a good enough job handling that environment. It’s the No. 1 thing I talk about.”

After saying his team had to learn from the defeat, he then made the comment about Georgia using name, image and likeness rules to buy elite players.

“That’s what they look like, you know what I mean, when you have 85 of them,” Stoops said. “I encourage anybody that’s disgruntled to pony up some more.”

Next game

Missouri at No. 24 Kentucky

When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday

TV: SEC Network

Radio: WLAP-AM 630, WBUL-FM 98.1

Records: Missouri 5-1 (1-1 SEC), Kentucky 5-1 (2-1)

Series: Kentucky leads 9-4

Last meeting: Kentucky won 21-17 on Nov. 5, 2022, in Columbia, Missouri

This story was originally published October 9, 2023 at 8:31 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