The Mark Stoops era is reportedly over at Kentucky.
Jeff Drummond of Cats Illustrated and Rivals first reported Sunday night that Stoops had been fired after 13 years as coach of the Wildcats and that he and UK Athletics Director Mitch Barnhart were working on a separation agreement. Final terms are expected to be completed Monday.
The move comes after Kentucky ended the regular season with a 41-0 blowout loss to rival Louisville on Saturday that came on the heels of a 45-17 loss to Vanderbilt in the Southeastern Conference finale two weeks ago.
Stoops is owed $37 million within 60 days of his dismissal, according to his contract. A negotiation would reportedly extend the allotted time frame of the buyout.
Stoops is the team’s all-time winningest coach and compiled an 72-80 record and guided the Wildcats to eight consecutive bowl appearances and four bowl wins from 2016-2023. Kentucky also won 10 games twice under Stoops, which came in 2018 and again in 2021 although those wins were later vacated by NCAA because of violations involving football players being paid for hours they did not work in university hospital patient transport. An investigation found no evidence Stoops knew of the rule violations.
Kentucky slumped to 4-8 in 2024 and 5-7 this season with back-to-back shattering losses to Vanderbilt and Louisville keeping them from becoming bowl eligible.
After the loss to Louisville on Saturday, Stoops said there was “zero chance” he was walking away. But a meeting on Sunday had a different path for the longtime UK coach who has been on the hot season much of the season.
And a possible coaching search won’t involve former Kentucky linebacker and assistant coach Jon Sumrall, who on Sunday was hired to become the next coach at Florida. Sumrall, who has Tulane in line for a college playoff spot, was in the rumor mill most of the year as a potential replacement for Stoops.
Kentucky has no time to waste on finding a new coach and start putting together a roster before the transfer portal opens in January. Current UK players will have an additional a 15-day window to enter the portal beginning five days after the new coach is hired.
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