The 2025 season is yet to unfold, but they have already unwrapped the head coaching seats that are going to be hot. Some of them will have a chance to save their jobs, while others may be let go at the end of the season. And in that list, Kentucky Wildcats’ head coach, Mark Stoops, finds himself a confirmed seat. Yes, that’s how ruthless college football is. After all, Stoops has a record of 77-73 over 12 years at the helm, with the 77 wins marking the most in program history. However, he just had one of his worst seasons, finishing with a 4-8 record.
So, we can sense how the ground is slowly moving from under Stoops’ feet. But guess what? He has a safety net worth $44 million. The 2024 season has been an absolute chaos for the Wildcats. Stoops’ defense was already struggling, ranked 54th nationally in defensive stop rate with 1.95 points allowed per drive. They even failed with the offense that ranked 21st in the nation with an average of 12.45 yards per completion. Now, Stoops is left tackling a quarterback dilemma.
He has called it an “open competition.” The fight is going to be between returning sophomore Cutter Boley and an experienced arm in Zach Calzada. But the sooner Stoops clears this mess, the better. After all, the clock’s ticking off for him. On the June 27th episode of The Paul Finebaum Show, guest SEC Mike shared, “I don’t know how he’s still the coach up there, but again, he’s out recruiting Auburn. Somehow, so we’ll give him that, how he beat Lane Kiffin, I’ll never know. I mean that that literally cost Ole Miss a spot in the college football playoff. But I believe the overunder is 4 and a half on Kentucky Paul and I would I would bet the under.”
The analyst continued, “If I was a betting man, so I think it’s another rough year in Lexington, and if Mark Stops didn’t have a $40 million buyout, I don’t think he’d be the coach in Lexington right now.” The Wildcats won 10 games in 2021 and finished 18th in the AP Poll. They finished 12th in the AP Poll after a 10-win 2018 season. But after that, Stoops’ graph had hit a nose-dive. It came with consecutive 7-6 seasons, back-to-back bowl defeats. But the main faceplant came in 2024, engraving Stoops’ name on a hot plate. The 2024 season saw the first losing season for the football program since 2015, nine whole seasons and eight straight bowl games: a 4-8 record. Stoops’ boys had set a sour mood in the very second week last season in their dispiriting 6-31 loss to South Carolina.
Then came the Wildcats’ unpardonable blunder against Vanderbilt. They were flagged 12 times for a robust 105 yards. All this combined might propel Kentucky to start looking for a new face in the head coaching seat. What fanned the heat is the fact that he coach has only 2 top-25 recruiting classes in the last 5 cycles. However, can Stoops count on his $44 million safety vest for long, or is it going to lose all the air?
Mark Stoops leaves Kentucky facing a $44 million double-edged sword
The last time Kentucky signed a brand-new contract extension with Stoops was back in November 2022. With this, he tapped into the list of one of the highest-paid college football coaches. Back then, his buyout was $4.5 million, which further dipped to $4 million and will go further down in July to $3.5 million. Now, that’s how Stoops is falling down on the valuation list, as this is the amount that interested college football programs will have to pay if they want to hire the Wildcats’ head coach. The catch lies on the other side. If Kentucky wants to cut ties with Stoops, it owes him around $44 million. Now, if they are running low on fortune, then they have to pay in terms of time. For instance, if they are planning to pay 60% of Stoops’ salary, the wait will be two more years.
While the program decides on Stoops’ future, the head coach still has avenues open to win back the program’s trust. Here, Paul Finebaum helped him to come out of the maze. As the ESPN analyst shared, “I think there’s a way. I mean, getting to a bowl, especially when you have a schedule like Kentucky’s, is not impossible. If you win the four nonconference games, now that includes beating Louisville, but that should not be impossible to do. You have four wins and all you need is two more … I think a bowl game is possible. I think Stoops just has to show proof of life.” But the question remains, how serious is the head coach for a turnaround?
Coach Shane mocked Mark Stoops’ laid-back attitude. “I think he doesn’t care anymore. You know what I’m saying? He’s probably golfing four days a week. He’s just focused on his bourbon, you know, barrels, and growing that business.” Could he be getting a little too comfortable with that $44M cushion, thinking Kentucky won’t make a move?
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