Mark Stoops just signed Kentucky’s best recruiting class in program history ahead of the Wildcats’ visit to a New Year’s Day bowl game with the chance to reach double-digit wins for the season. With UK on the rise, one ESPN analyst has high praise for Stoops.

ESPN’s Tom Luginbill recently called Stoops the best program builder in college football.

“I think Mark Stoops is the best program builder in all of college football right now,” Luginbill said. “I think he’s a great developer of talent and they’ve built that thing into a program now where he’s sitting there on the cusp of a top-10 class and it’s real. Because when you get better and you get good, you’re going to get the attention of top level players that you didn’t have access to before and so in that regard, I think he’s done as good a job as anybody.”

While many prominent Power 5 schools entered this year’s coaching carousel looking to rebuild their programs, Stoops stayed at Kentucky, signing an extension.

[H/T 247Sports]