Mark Stoops, the winningest football coach in Kentucky history, isn’t happy with how the 2023 season is shaping up so far.

After a genial Stoops appeared at Kentucky’s NFL Pro Day on Friday, Saturday was quite a different story. Rounding out the second full week of spring practice, Stoops paused to speak to reporters. While venting some frustrations, the coach said he was “a little pissed” at his current team.

“I’m a little frustrated, a little disappointed, a little pissed, to be totally honest with you. Been a lackluster past couple of days,” he said. “The guys we got right now, I don’t if they think they’re just gonna roll out of bed and be good, or whatever, but, it’s not the same. We’ve got no leaders right now. No excuse, bullshit, whatever it is.”

Asked what he believed the issue was, Stoops pointed to a sense of entitlement among players. To solve the issue, Stoops believes that the Wildcats should get back to playing how old Kentucky teams played in the past.

“We need to get back and play the way our brand was made, that was by being tough and being physical, playing physical on both sides of the line of scrimmage, run the ball…

“(I’m) grateful for what we have, I just feel like we got a bunch of guys that are entitled and don’t work extremely hard — think it’s gonna happen, or waiting for the next guy to make it happen, and I’m not real pleased.”

We’ll see if Stoops is able to right the mindset of his current team before Kentucky opens its season against Ball State on Sept. 2. The school announced on Monday that there would be no traditional spring game due to Kroger Field improvements.