Saying ‘this is where my heart is,’ Mark Stoops renews his vows with Kentucky
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On the day Mark Stoops became the third-winningest coach in Kentucky Wildcats football history, he sounded like a guy planning to be in Lexington to continue to climb up the UK all-time wins list.
Early Saturday, a 24/7 Sports report said the Kentucky coach met with Florida State representatives last week in Cincinnati about the Seminoles’ vacant head coaching position.
In the days after the Seminoles announced the firing of Willie Taggart, Stoops, a former FSU defensive coordinator, very much left his options open in his public comments about the Florida State job.
After Kentucky obliterated Tennessee Martin 50-7 Saturday at a rain-drenched Kroger Field, I asked Stoops what he wanted UK fans to know about his interactions with FSU.
“Florida State, I had a great experience there,” Stoops said. “It afforded me the opportunity to be here. I love it here. I’ve been very fortunate. We’ve got a great administration. Dr. Capilouto (UK President Eli) and (Kentucky Athletics Director) Mitch Barnhart, they have been so good to me.
“This is where my heart is. It’s where I want to be. I’m going to be at Kentucky.”
No one should blame Stoops for speaking with Florida State. Whatever level of dysfunction has gripped the Seminoles program in recent years, it remains a school with multiple national championships located in one of the prime recruit-producing states.
While declining to specifically discuss his talks with FSU, Stoops said the linkage of his name with the Seminoles job had reached the point that he was fielding a lot of questions from players Kentucky is recruiting.
It had become “too many questions,” the UK coach said. “I just felt like it was time to answer those questions directly, to be honest with them. This is where I want to be. So this is what I want to do.”
Stoops has been and is a really good fit at Kentucky. He’s doing a quality coaching job in what has long been one of the Southeastern Conference’s most football-challenged locales.
The win against overmatched UTM made Kentucky (6-5) bowl-eligible for a fourth straight season.
A year ago, Stoops led UK to its first 10-win season in 41 years and its first New Year’s Day bowl win in 67 years.
Kentucky entered this season without program icons Benny Snell and Josh Allen, as well as without its entire starting defensive backfield from a season ago.
Before the year began, UK lost one of its top returning defenders, safety Davonte Robinson, for the season to injury.
The Wildcats then lost starting quarterback Terry Wilson for the year to an injury in the second game, and saw their only experienced backup QB, Sawyer Smith, rendered ineffective by multiple injuries as well.
Yet UK mixed and matched and moved its most explosive offensive player, wideout Lynn Bowden, to QB.
With Bowden displaying surprising acumen as an option QB and a youngish Kentucky defense exceeding expectations, the Cats have won four of their past six games. UK will play in the postseason regardless of what happens this coming Saturday against archrival Louisville in the regular-season finale.
Stoops “did a remarkable (coaching) job last year,” UK offensive coordinator Eddie Gran said. “But what he’s done this year, you take away two plays (in excruciating losses vs. Florida and Tennessee) and he should be governor.”
On Saturday, a chilled, wet crowd announced at 41,495 saw Kentucky set a school single-game rushing mark, rolling up 462 yards on the ground against UT Martin.
The win moved Stoops (42-44 at Kentucky) past Blanton Collier (41-36-3) and Jerry Claiborne (41-46-3) into sole possession of third on the all-time UK coaching wins list. Only Bear Bryant (60-23-5) and Fran Curci (47-51-2) have won more football games for the Wildcats than Stoops.
Stoops will also join Rich Brooks (2006-09) as the only UK coaches ever to lead the Wildcats to four straight bowls.
At Kentucky, the margin of football error is always thin. It’s possible we’ll someday look back at the narrow losses to Florida in 2017 and 2019 as the point where the Stoops era missed its chance to really explode upward.
But it’s equally realistic that Stoops has Kentucky on a slow, sustainable climb.
While most expect Bowden to enter the 2020 NFL Draft, Kentucky will return a plethora of impressive young defensive players next season. The Cats will also bring back four starting offensive linemen and all their running backs.
If Wilson comes back healthy and UK can find some additional dynamic playmaking at receiver, the Cats could be real interesting in 2020.
“We’re building,” Gran said. “We’ve got a great (recruiting) class coming. We’ve got a lot of good stuff ahead of us, I believe.”
All that is why UK football stakeholders should relish Mark Stoops’ pledge Saturday that he wants to be at Kentucky.
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