A surprising area in which UK football is in a stronger position than UK basketball
That element of the Kentucky fan base agitating to show John Calipari the exit door has a problem other than the UK men’s basketball coach’s $40 million contract buyout.
As things stand now, the “coaching succession options” realistically available to UK basketball would not be stellar.
Once you’ve weeded out the “pie-in-the-sky” names — Boston Celtics President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens; retired Villanova Coach Jay Wright; probably Chicago Bulls head man Billy Donovan — there’s really only one coach who would be worthy of the Kentucky job who might be “gettable.”
If Baylor’s Scott Drew said no, UK would be in quite the pickle.
The dearth of “move-the-needle” potential head-coaching options in men’s college hoops has been shown in the past two years as some of the most prestigious jobs in college basketball coaching — Duke, North Carolina and Syracuse — have opened only to all be filled by assistants with no prior college head coaching experience.
Another such position, Villanova, also came available and was taken by a former assistant at the university who had one .500-season of college head coaching on his resume.
Some of those hires are explained by basketball programs with long traditions of only hiring from within their own “coaching families,” of course. Still, that relatively barren field of potential replacements is a primary reason why Kentucky backers should probably be rooting for Calipari, 64, to regain his mojo and extend his coaching run at UK until there are more-promising options available.
The apparent lack of obvious candidates to be the next UK head men’s hoops coach stands in stark contrast with the situation for Kentucky football. For one of the few times in Kentucky Wildcats sports history, the list of logical coaching succession options associated with the Cats football program is longer than that for UK men’s hoops.
It is a tribute to the success of the Mark Stoops coaching era that there have been at least five assistants who have worked or are working for the UK head man now for which arguments could be made as a future Wildcats head coach.
In no particular order:
In his first season as Troy head man, Jon Sumrall led the Trojans to a 12-2 record, the Sun Belt Conference championship, a Cure Bowl victory and a No. 19 ranking in the final AP Top 25. That stamped Sumrall, 40, as one of the rising stars in college football head coaching.
If the arc of Sumrall’s coaching career continues to track the path of his first season at Troy, the former UK assistant (2019-21) and linebacker (2002-04) may become a SEC head coach elsewhere before the Kentucky job next opens.
Current Wildcats defensive coordinator Brad White, 40, is one of the sharpest minds in college football. Since White became UK’s coordinator in 2019, the Wildcats have finished in the top 20 in the FBS in total defense twice (12th in 2022 and 14th in 2019) and have been in the top 26 (26th in 2021) three times.
New — and old — UK offensive coordinator Liam Coen, 37, is another coaching up-and-comer. After revitalizing the Kentucky attack (425.4 total yards a game) in 2021, Coen returned to his prior employer, the Los Angeles Rams, as OC in 2022.
However, after Kentucky’s offense regressed (324.7 yards a game) last season, Stoops wooed Coen back to Lexington. Personable and popular with UK fans, Coen’s stock only rises if he again “fixes” the UK offensive attack.
UK associate head coach Vince Marrow, 54, has been one of the pillars of the Stoops-era ascension of Kentucky’s football fortunes. The brash public persona of the UK recruiting ace and his ability to attract talent to Lexington has played well with a Wildcats football fan base that has, historically, often felt downtrodden.
Former UK offensive coordinator (2013-14) and wide receiver (1998-2000) Neal Brown had a stellar run as Troy head coach (35-16 from 2015-18) after leaving Kentucky. Things have not gone as well for Brown as West Virginia head man (22-25 since 2019). As a result, Brown, 43, is likely facing a make-or-break year with the Mountaineers in 2023.
If Brown “makes it” in 2023 at West Virginia, it would give him the chance to restore the luster to his coaching “name.”
The last Kentucky football coach to depart Lexington with an overall winning record was Blanton Collier (41-36-3 over eight seasons) in 1961. Kentucky’s all-time winningest coach, Stoops (66-59 since 2013) is bidding to be the next to do so.
On July 9, Stoops turns 56. That is the same age the coach’s brother, Bob Stoops, was when he stepped down as Oklahoma head man after the 2016 season. There’s been no indication that Mark Stoops plans to do anything other than coach football at Kentucky into the foreseeable future — which UK backers should be pleased about.
Still, at least as things look now, Kentucky football is better situated for a future coaching succession scenario than UK basketball.
How wild is that?
