By Keith Taylor
Kentucky Today
Kentucky football coach Mark Stoops, now the dean of all coaches in the Southeastern Conference, doesn’t want to get complacent.
“We’re not interested in just existing,” Stoops said during the SEC Media Days in Dallas on Thursday. “I’m not here, I’m not coaching, I’m not back for the 12 years just to exist. We want to find a way to improve, use these rules, whatever it is, to make changes, to make that jump to get to the next level. It’s extremely challenging. I don’t have to tell you all that.”
Under Stoops, entering his 12th season at the helm, the Wildcats have reached the postseason an unprecedented eight consecutive seasons and have won 10 or more games twice in the past six years. Since the 2018 season, only three schools in the conference have compiled more victories than the Wildcats.
“That’s not nothing — we want more, but the consistency that you have to have in this league, it’s difficult,” Stoops said. “There’s some great schools, some great programs that have been up and down, and we’ve been relatively stable. Again, that’s not good enough.”
Stoops admitted a 38-35 setback to Clemson in the Gator Bowl last year and a shutout loss to Iowa in the Music City Bowl weren’t the way he wanted his past two teams to end the season.
“I’m not very excited about – we had an opportunity last year or two to wrap up the season with two ranked wins, and we let one slip away in the bowl game against Clemson,” he said. “No more ifs and buts — we lost. They made the plays and we didn’t. That’s the motivation to go find the ways to do that.”
Stoops credits his longevity at Kentucky to the administration, led by Athletics Director Mitch Barnhart and coaches who have “come and gone” and “worked tirelessly to put us in this position.”
“I feel very fortunate, very blessed,” he said. “I want to continue to succeed.”
The players credit Stoops for his ability to adapt to the changing and challenging times and like Stoops’ ability to be honest on and off the field.
“He is like the uncle you always wished for,” Kentucky defensive lineman Deone Walker said. “He is a great coach and a great person. He is a big loyalty guy. I’m a big loyalty guy. He is not going to lie to you. He is going to tell you the truth no matter if it’s happy, sad, going to make you mad, if it’s mean because he knows — everybody knows that he is saying it from a point of I want you to be the best version of yourself.”
Things have changed along the conference landscape during Stoops’ tenure in Lexington. The league added Texas A&M and Missouri in 2015 and Texas and Oklahoma will make their conference debut this season.
“With Oklahoma and Texas joining our great conference, just makes it that much stronger,” Stoops said. “It’s kind of interesting for me because, as I go to the SEC meetings and we’re down in Destin spending some time, you run into so many good friends, so many good people. I’m so familiar with both Texas and Oklahoma. We welcome Oklahoma and Texas and make us that much stronger. It’s difficult, but we embrace that.”
For Stoops, he simply wants to keep building on the foundation he’s produced during the past 12 years.
“I’ve been grinding at Kentucky for a long time, and very proud of that and want to continue to do that,” Stoops said. “Again, we want more, but that’s not nothing. The SEC has been around a long time with a lot of very good football coaches.”
