Who should Kentucky hire to replace Mark Stoops? There are 3 clear choices
My firsthand recollection of Kentucky football runs back to the season when the venue then called Commonwealth Stadium opened in 1973.
In all that time, Mark Stoops has been the best Kentucky head coach.
Over the course of Stoops’ 13 seasons as UK head man — a tenure expected to officially end Monday with his dismissal as Wildcats coach — the Cats won 14 games over AP Top 25 foes.
To put that in perspective, from 1977-2012 the Kentucky program won 13 games total against Top 25 opponents.
Nevertheless, after Stoops completed his second straight losing season with back-to-back blowout road losses to Vanderbilt (45-17) and Louisville (41-0), there was no path forward for Kentucky football without a head coaching change.
Many UK backers are lamenting what they see as the cursed timing that saw Kentucky make the decision to part with Stoops only after Tulane head coach Jon Sumrall, a former Wildcats linebacker and assistant coach, had agreed to become Florida’s new coach.
If you’ve dealt with Sumrall, who is 42-11 as a college head coach in two years each at Troy and then Tulane, it’s all but impossible not to be impressed.
It is entirely possible he will go to Florida and become the biggest thing in college football.
But there’s no guarantee of that.
Fact is, Sumrall’s background as a defensive coach is not dissimilar to that of Stoops.
If you are going to change coaches, then change coaches.
Stoops’ defensive-oriented approach married to a ball-control offensive philosophy made him the all-time wins leader (82-80 in on-the-field results) in Kentucky history.
It also left much of the UK fandom yearning for a bolder offensive approach.
That’s why the next Kentucky football head man should come from one of the three offensive-oriented candidates listed in alphabetical order below:
• Brian Hartline, Ohio State co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach. The older brother of former UK quarterback and current Wildcats offensive quality control coach Mike Hartline has drawn praise this season for his performance as the playcaller for the No. 1 Buckeyes.
Through 12 regular-season games, the Ohio State offense stands 10th in the FBS in scoring (37.9 points a game), 24th in total offense (440.3 yards a game), 25th in passing (270.1) and 57th in rushing (170.2).
As an assistant, the 38-year-old Hartline has built a reputation as an elite recruiter. His background as an Ohio State coach and former OSU wide receiver could allow Kentucky to continue the recruiting reach into the Buckeye State that was so vital to the Stoops era success.
• Dan Mullen, UNLV head coach. People who dismiss Mullen, 53, as a coaching “retread” because he’s already had two SEC head coach positions are way off base.
At Mississippi State, a program that faces many of the challenges competing in the Southeastern Conference that Kentucky encounters, Mullen thrived. From 2009-2017, he went 69-46 at MSU and had a 5-2 record in bowl games.
In 2014, Mullen had Mississippi State — Mississippi State! — ranked No. 1 in the AP Top 25.
Mullen parlayed that success into the Florida job. It turned out, Mullen’s personality — which, from a distance, seems a tad prickly — didn’t fit great in Gainesville.
But he won at Florida during his four seasons (2018-2021). The Gators went 34-15, played in three major bowl games (Peach, Orange, Cotton), had two double-digit win seasons, and reached one SEC championship game.
This season, in Mullen’s first year as UNLV head coach, the Rebels are 10-2 and playing in the Mountain West Conference championship game.
Mullen can flat coach offense. UNLV is 15th in the FBS in scoring (36.7 points per game), 16th in total offense (460.3 yards), 21st in rushing (202.7 yards) and 34th in passing (257.5 yards).
• Will Stein, Oregon offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. Though a former Louisville quarterback, the 36-year-old Stein grew up a Kentucky fan attending games at then-Commonwealth Stadium.
”Section 128, Row 13,” Stein told the Herald-Leader in 2011 of his family’s seats.
Stein’s parents, Matt and Debbie Stein, are UK alumni. At Kentucky in the 1980s, Matt Stein was a wide-tackle-six defensive end for Jerry Claiborne.
There are far more than family ties to the University of Kentucky that recommends Will Stein for the Wildcats’ head coaching job.
Stein’s Oregon attack is eighth in the FBS in scoring (39.3 points), 10th in rushing (22.8.6 yards), 11th in total offense (471.8 yards) and 51st in passing (243.2 yards).
Prior to his hire as Oregon OC in 2023, most of Stein’s coaching career had been in Texas. So his recruiting ties in this part of the country are not as established as Hartline’s.
Still, having grown up rooting for Kentucky and having played at Louisville, Stein knows the landscape of college football in the commonwealth.
So who should Kentucky hire?
Mullen would be the safest choice. Because less is known about them, either Hartline or Stein (again, alphabetical order) might allow UK fans to project greater hope and excitement onto them if hired.
One of these three should be the next Kentucky Wildcats head football coach.
