Mailbag: What’s next for Mitch Barnhart, Mark Stoops and UK football?

Another week, another Kentucky football loss and more calls for change from disgruntled fans.

The vibes around the UK football program are only getting worse.

While the result at Georgia, a 35-14 loss, was not unexpected, Mark Stoops’ defiant rebuttal to a report he had considered negotiating an exit from the program last year added intrigue to an otherwise forgettable afternoon in Athens. It should come as no surprise then that the majority of questions received for this week’s UK football mailbag had more to do with those comments than the actual performance at Sanford Stadium.

Here’s a sampling of those questions and comments heading into Kentucky’s second bye week of the season.

@RinoTrollCat on X: Stoops was asked about his program’s struggles in the postgame press conference and he responded with, “You gotta have the right pieces in place. We’re not where we want to be, but we’re better than in recent past.” Safe to say there’s a disconnect between his expectations and everyone else’s?

This quote came in response to a follow-up question about whether Stoops still believed he could return the program to the high point of his tenure even as other SEC schools have seemingly passed the Wildcats in recent years after Stoops had insisted there is “zero chance” he would walk away from UK on his own. Unsurprisingly, Stoops said he was still confident that could happen before acknowledging there was work to do. The next line of the quote was, “We’re missing a few pieces, but we’ll keep on working.”

I think the argument could have been made in 2022 and 2023 when Kentucky still went to bowl games but failed to live up to soaring preseason hype that Stoops was a victim of his own success. Fans had grown bored with mid-tier bowls and wanted more, while Stoops wanted more credit for how difficult it was to even get a program with as little historic success as Kentucky to the point where bowls were taken for granted. However, nothing about the last two years has met anyone’s expectations, including Stoops.

The more interesting part of that quote might be what it means for roster construction. Kentucky’s massive winter transfer portal overhaul has gone better than last season’s transfer additions did, but most of the success stories (Seth McGowan, Joshua Braun, David Gusta, Kendrick Law, etc.) have only this season of eligibility remaining. Regardless of who the coach is next season, Kentucky is going to need another big transfer class to fill the holes in 2026. I’m interested to hear more from Stoops in the coming weeks about why he thinks he can add those missing pieces after what seems almost certain to be a second straight losing season.

William Brooks via email: …Stoops has provided UK enough view of winning football with teams of less talent than most SEC teams. The way to sustained winning is not changing the coach. Rather, recruit and extend NIL monies to those players able to compete in the SEC. Do not think Stoops is the culprit. Consider if UK wants to share NIL monies with the football program. Presently, Rupp still holds court over UK athletic program!!

This is an excerpt of a longer email from William that makes the oft-cited argument that Kentucky has not invested enough in football historically because of the men’s basketball program. I think there was a time that was almost certainly true, but it’s very difficult to make that argument now. Kentucky pays its football coach $9 million per season, has state-of-the-art facilities and has approved more investments in the stadium and surrounding area.

Of course, to William’s point, none of that matters in the current era of college sports if the NIL/revenue sharing budget is not sufficient to build a competitive roster. There was much speculation in the summer about how Kentucky was splitting its $20.5 million revenue sharing fund between men’s basketball, football and the non-revenue sports, and UK has declined to reveal those numbers. The men’s basketball program is almost certainly receiving a larger slice of the pie than almost any other power conference school, but that should be the case since UK’s men’s basketball program makes more revenue than almost any other school. Stoops was specifically asked about the revenue sharing split before the season and he said he was confident his roster-building budget was competitive with the rest of the SEC.

Stoops was optimistic this summer that the NCAA allowing schools to directly pay athletes within the $20.5 million cap and eliminating the uncapped NIL collective spending from recent years would benefit programs like Kentucky that lack the donor base of traditional powers. That doesn’t mean all of UK’s historic limitations have disappeared though. If the money is even, players still are likely to opt for annual championship contenders. Kentucky is going to have to overpay for elite athletes, especially on offense given the recent struggles there, which affects the ability to build needed depth within the cap.

I think Stoops is right that this team is improved from a year ago, but the roster still lacks star power. That might be a symptom of the decision to spread the available budget across a greater number of players.

@USNGoblin on Bluesky: Will newspapers be seeking records for how much the college athletes are receiving in (tracked) compensation now that there are both direct payments and a NCAA clearinghouse for third party deals? It would be incredibly illuminating to compare UK’s athletes to athletes from other schools.

While we’re on the subject of revenue sharing budgets, this is a great point. It is impossible to fully judge a coach’s performance without knowing how much his roster cost versus the schools he is competing against. If Stoops has a smaller budget than the rest of the SEC, that should be included in his job evaluation in the same way Mark Pope should be held to a higher standard if the UK men’s basketball roster budget is greater than its rivals.

The problem is while the NCAA is requiring all third-party NIL budgets to be approved by its clearinghouse now, there is no requirement that those numbers be shared publicly. Kentucky, and many other states, have specifically written their NIL laws to exempt deals from public records requests. There is some hope we will eventually get the revenue sharing budget breakdown by sport at each school, but probably only after the fiscal year is completed. UK’s administration has stressed it plans to be flexible year to year based on which sport has greater needs that season, so those numbers might not tell us much about the situation moving forward.

@NoMoreLeaders on X: As far as him saying he doesn’t want to answer questions about his job, the whole thing is bottoming out, so he can’t just comfortably stroll up to the podium week after week and spout the same script that he’s gotten accustomed to reciting.

@RichMadKy on X: I think him looking at you and saying what he did about not answering that crap anymore is about as delusional as it gets. Keep asking the questions. He can decide what he wants to answer. He’s paid to do media and this isn’t North Korea.

I got multiple questions about this exchange, so I want to clear up how I interpreted it, at least.

I was the reporter who asked Stoops about Alan Cutler’s report. I had been told before the game by a source in the athletic department it was not true, but I preferred to get Stoops’ response on the record. I fully expected him to shoot it down the way he did and took no issue with his tone. The comment mentioned in the questions above came after the next reporter had begun to ask a question. Stoops cut him off, looked back at me and said, “I don’t want to address that crap no more.”

I don’t think he was actually saying he wouldn’t answer more questions about his job status. I think he was saying he did not want to address every random social media rumor that pops up. To be honest, my initial inclination when I heard of Cutler’s report was to ignore it myself because I don’t make a habit of responding to every other media outlet’s reporting, but that one was circulated so widely by the time the game started that it was impossible to ignore and needed to be addressed.

I will continue to be fair to both Stoops and fans in my reporting. That’s why I’m very careful to leave open the possibility that the team reverses its fortunes and salvages something from this season. But if the results don’t improve, Stoops’ job status will continue to be a topic that must be addressed. I think he understands that.

Greg Farris on X: Thoughts. When does basketball season begin?

@KentuckyKroge on X: If that’s his approach, fans should cease attending the games and focus on basketball. Watch how quickly Kentucky secures funds when only 15,000 fans show up next weekend. Fans can enjoy watching the game from home just as easily and at a lower cost.

Mark Shelby on X: Apathy. I didn’t go to the game. I didn’t watch the game.

Here is the next challenge facing the program. At what point does the anger turn to the apathy Mark mentioned for the majority of the fan base? In many ways, that’s even worse that people being upset at the results. The start of basketball season with Pope’s team poised to be among the best in the country will only contribute to that feeling.

Considering this year’s season ticket numbers were not down nearly as much as many predicted in the offseason, I’m skeptical we’ll see the type of dramatic attendance drops that essentially forced Mitch Barnhart to fire Joker Phillips in 2012, especially the next two home games when the October weather and Keeneland double will provide more incentive for fans to come to Kroger Field. I’m also open to the possibility that fans shifting their focus to basketball might not be a terrible thing for the football program if it decreases the constant negativity players and coaches are likely hearing.

The only problem with that theory is even in the best-case scenario where a lack of attention helps the team circle the wagons and play better down the stretch, if no one is paying enough attention to see those improvements it is unlikely to build much support for maintaining continuity.

Ed Helinski on X: Let’s be honest. If Mark Stoops is removed as head coach, who is a realistic replacement and at what cost?

I don’t think there is much use speculating on replacements less than 24 hours after Stoops was so insistent he is not walking away, but it would also be foolish to pretend the pool of possible replacements is not contributing to some of the calls for change.

Former Kentucky player and assistant coach Jon Sumrall is 4-1 at Tulane with wins against Northwestern and Duke, one year after going 9-5. Kentucky native Will Stein, who played for Louisville as a walk-on quarterback but grew up a UK fan, is calling plays for one of the best offenses in the country at Oregon. Both coaches are certain to be in the running for head coaching jobs in the power conferences this winter, and Kentucky would be a realistic landing spot for either. There is real reason to worry for UK fans that the Wildcats might miss their shot at either coach if the job is not open in December.

But because of all the improvement in football investment and the growing financial gap between the SEC, Big Ten and rest of college sports, Kentucky should be able to attract impressive candidates whenever the job opens next. I would be surprised if UK’s next football coach makes as much as Stoops does currently, but the investment will need to be significant, which adds to the list of reasons that the school is in no financial position to pay Stoops’ buyout now.

Tim Robbins on Bluesky: Fire Mitch for giving Stoops and Cal the most coach-friendly contracts imaginable. Fire Stoops and negotiate his buyout. Worst football program in the SEC. Stoops doesn’t know how to adapt to current rules/style of NCAA football and hasn’t had more than 2 seasons with a competent offense.

Not a lot of new ground here, but I do want to note the growing sentiment that Barnhart also should be held accountable for the current situation. You can read my story from 2024 (during the post-Oakland calls for Calipari to be fired) about those contract decisions, but it certainly is worth revisiting. Our next chance to talk to Barnhart will likely be after the October Champions Blue Board of Governors meeting, so it will be fascinating to hear his latest assessment of the football program.

This story was originally published October 6, 2025 at 6:00 AM.

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