Kentucky fires Mark Stoops

Jamie Rhodes-Imagn Images

By Chris Marler

A sixth SEC coach has been fired. This time it was the longest tenured coach in the conference, Mark Stoops.

Stoops had been head coach in Lexington for 13 seasons. He led the Wildcats to two ten win seasons in 2018 and 2021 including their first since 1977. He even had the program ranked as high as No. 7 in the country in 2022. However, disappointing back-to-back years of 4-8 and 5-7 sealed his fate as the head coach, and on Sunday he was fired.

“It is critically important that we are competitive and successful in football. That is our goal. That is our focus. We intend to be successful,” said Kentucky AD Mitch Barnhart.

Sometimes, it’s just time. But I hope #BBN fully appreciates what he did with that football program. 8 straight bowls. Real SEC relevance. Ask Calipari if Stoops at least “challenged” the “basketball school” mentality of UK.

Great man, great job at Kentucky. Pleasure to… https://t.co/vIO8OdafPh

— Dari Nowkhah (@ESPNDari) December 1, 2025

Stoops’ firing is one that will be interesting to watch, specifically with his buyout and whoever the next hire is. He was making over $9 million per year, and his buyout of $38 million is owed in full within 60 days of his termination. Many thought that the large sum being immediately owed was one of the main reasons he would not be let go.

It will also be interesting to see who replaces him at the position and what kind of resources he will be given. Kentucky’s NIL split saw $22 million go to the basketball team, which is by far the highest of any team in the SEC. The amount of money set aside for building their football roster has not been made clear for 2026, but it will be a major selling point to the new hire if they want to compete in the SEC.