UK football mailbag: How did the Texas loss affect Mark Stoops’ job status?

Well, that was at least interesting.

After back-to-back SEC losses to South Carolina and Georgia where the outcome was essentially decided before halftime, few gave Kentucky a chance against No. 21 Texas in Kroger Field on Saturday. So, the fact that the Wildcats were able to force the game to overtime could be seen as something of a moral victory or sign of progress.

The fans who submitted questions and comments for the weekly UK football mailbag are having none of that narrative, though, after the 16-13 loss.

If anything, the fact that Kentucky got so close to the upset but still lost in heartbreaking fashion seems to have increased the pressure on Mark Stoops for that segment of the fan base.

So be warned, what follows is not pretty.

@Meisterbuerger on X: Why is Mark Stoops still a University of Kentucky athletics employee?

Austin Spears on X: Why is Stoops still the coach?

Jay Mallory on X: Can you provide a link to the go fund me page to fire Stoops?

The Goblin on Bluesky: Can Mitch put Mark on a Performance Improvement Plan? Is that a possibility with an athletics coach? Would Mitch want to have that much more accountability for the football program?

So yeah, Stoops is still under fire.

Nothing about the math of Stoops’ almost $38 million buyout, which would be due in total within 60 days of him being fired, has changed, but Stoops indirectly mentioned the prospect of being fired for the first time after the game. When I asked him if he considered taking a shot at the end zone at the end of regulation rather than kicking the game-tying field goal on second down with 14 seconds left, he responded, “If I don’t get the three then do I even walk in here (to the press conference)?”

In his opening statement, Stoops also acknowledged the unhappiness in the fan base while thanking the crowd for the environment it created against Texas.

“I want to thank the fans that have supported us through some tough times,” he said. “And I get it, I really acknowledge that. But it’s about the University of Kentucky, it’s about these players. I understand the position I put people in to make a decision (about support), and that’s on me. I greatly appreciate the support for our team and our players. They deserve an environment like that and, yes, they deserved to win, and I want to do that for them, for the fans.”

That definitely felt like a change in tone in the way Stoops’ status has been discussed, but I still find it difficult to imagine a scenario where Mitch Barnhart fires him during the season (or Stoops decides to walk away). This is shaping up to be a crazy offseason coaching carousel with Florida the latest high profile program to fire its coach, but the fact that Kentucky players clearly have not given up on the season makes it more plausible the Wildcats pull off some upsets in the second half.

Last week, Stoops was listed as a candidate for the open Virginia Tech job by the local 247Sports affiliate website there. That gave some Kentucky fans hope for a John Calipari-like ending to this saga, but there’s no realistic scenario where Stoops finds a soft landing spot like that off back-to-back 4-8 seasons. Fans who want Stoops gone should hope the Texas game was a real sign of progress that can be translated into wins against the softer portion of the schedule in the second half. Then, maybe Stoops will be a legitimate candidate for another job.

Gene Vance on X: Since Barnhart won’t fire Stoops, why does (Bush) Hamdan still have a job?

We’ll get into more of the specific complaints about offensive decisions during the Texas game in a minute, but Hamdan is in an interesting position. The progress redshirt freshman quarterback Cutter Boley and the passing game showed in the loss at Georgia carried over to the Texas game. There is real reason to believe the offense has finally found some rhythm there.

But Kentucky still scored just one touchdown. In Hamdan’s 13 games against power-conference competition as UK offensive coordinator, the Wildcats have yet to score more than two offensive touchdowns in a game. Hamdan has one more year on his contract, but even if Stoops is the head coach it’s hard to imagine Hamdan returns without the offense putting up more points in the second half of the season.

I don’t really see how making a coordinator change during the season helps, though. The offense is showing progress, and there’s no obvious candidate on staff to call plays in Hamdan’s absence. I know people suggest giving chief of staff Eddie Gran the job back, but it’s now been five seasons since he coached at all. Offensive analyst Kevin Barbay has SEC coordinator experience, but his 2023 Mississippi State offense ranked 107th nationally in points per game and his Houston offense last season ranked 133rd out of 134 teams in points per game.

The only hope for a second-half turnaround is Hamdan and Boley have figured something out the last two weeks and can find a way to add more explosive plays.

Mike Johnson on X: Kentucky has not won an SEC home game since 2023. Why run it up the middle twice on third-and-goal in OT against one of the best interior defenses in the country?

@OtherJackMcCoy on X: Question to ask Stoops. Why did you think an interior run was a good call against one of the best interior lines in the country after you’d tried that three other times (once in the first half/twice on the two previous plays from scrimmage) and were unsuccessful each time?

@MarkStooped on X: Is Bush “The Ham Man” Hamdan dumb or stubborn? Three up the middle?

Shawn King on X: I’m livid at Hamdan for that goal line series. Not at running, but the formations we ran out of. Stupid to try to go jumbo against that front. Stupid.

For the full explanation from Stoops and Hamdan about the various controversial decisions against Texas, make sure you’ve read my story from after the game, but let’s get into the overtime goal line situation a little more. Kentucky ran essentially the same play on first, third and fourth down: a handoff to Dante Dowdell up the middle with walk-on defensive lineman Kenyatta Hardge serving as a fullback in front of him. All three plays were stopped for no gain.

Herald-Leader columnist Mark Story wrote after the game that for all the criticism Stoops gets for being too conservative, it’s actually been the situations where he was overly aggressive that have backfired the most recently. He pointed to the decision to go for it on fourth downs on the first possession and in overtime as evidence. It does seem like part of the issue is even when Stoops is aggressive, he still does it in a conservative way though. I’m not saying they need to throw a go route on every fourth-and-short like they did at Ole Miss last year, but it feels like in those situations they are sometimes primarily worried about avoiding the worst-case scenario instead of finding a creative way to convert.

@JCrew001 on X: Cutter using his legs makes him 100x better.

Boley was known as a pocket passer in high school, but Hamdan has been adamant the last two years that he was mobile enough to be a threat with his legs too. We definitely saw that against Texas. There’s a reason Hamdan has talked about simplifying the reads for Boley and instructing him to get upfield if the spot the play is designed to go to is not open.

“Obviously, I’m an athlete,” Boley said after the game. “I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t. So I’m definitely not immobile. Yeah, I can make plays on my feet, and that’s something this team’s gonna need, so I have to keep doing that.”

James Macallan via email: Think of the irony. After 13 really long years we were supposed to be where Vanderbilt is, and Vanderbilt was supposed to be where we are. We were promised to be competing with the big boys of the SEC — Alabama Georgia LSU — and it’s Vandy who is beating them while we lose handily to virtually everyone. Now we’re told to be patient so we can rebuild? HMMMM…so we have to rebuild from the same person who destroyed it? BBN is being GASLIT! Clark Lea is only 43, makes LESS than half as much as Stoops and brought a far worse program in terms of NIL $$ and recruiting power than UK. He started becoming very competitive in year 4 and now is at the top in year 5! Why don’t you guys bring this up ever in your articles about Stoops???!

James makes a good point about Vanderbilt passing Kentucky in the SEC pecking order. It definitely has directly contributed to UK’s struggles the last four years.

But there’s a little bit of revisionist history here, too. Vanderbilt was 9-27 in Clark Lea’s first three seasons as coach. There’s probably not another power-conference program where he keeps his job after that kind of start. In Year 4, he was 7-6. This season the Commodores are 6-1 after an upset of LSU.

Guess who else was 7-6 in his fourth year as a head coach? Stoops. Vanderbilt is having virtually the same season Kentucky had in 2018 (Stoops’ sixth season) this year. The Wildcats started 7-1 that year with an upset of a Florida team that finished the season ranked in the top 10 coming in Week 2. Had the expanded playoff existed then, Kentucky would have been firmly in contention.

Vanderbilt’s current success does show the value of making the right coordinator hire, though. Lea essentially brought offensive coordinator Tim Beck and quarterback Diego Pavia as a package deal from New Mexico State before last season. That move turned his program around. If Stoops is back at UK next year, it will be interesting to see if he considers a similar move and abandons the NFL-style offensive system he has been using since 2021.

This story was originally published October 20, 2025 at 6:30 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