Kentucky AD say he still has confidence in Mark Stoops
By Jacob Moss
Published:
The Kentucky Wildcats are once again in the midst of a failing season on the gridiron, and the little patience that UK fans had for head coach Mark Stoops coming into the year is quickly evaporating week by week.
It’s become clear to many in Lexington that Stoops is simply no longer the answer for a Wildcats’ program that desperately wants to take that next step in the SEC pecking order, even if he’s been the architect of their resurgence over the past decade or so.
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Fan support may be waning for Stoops, but according to the Lexington Herald-Leader, the embattled head ball coach for the ‘Cats appears to still have the support of the man in charge of UK athletics, in AD Mitch Barnhart.
“Mark is working hard,” Barnhart said, per Herald-Leader reporter Jon Hale. “…Can I promise everything that everybody wants me to promise? No, there’s no promise. We can play our hearts out and go and have one tough moment that goes against you in a game, and all of a sudden, you find yourself with a loss that you didn’t want. And that doesn’t mean you didn’t give effort; you didn’t work your way through it. But Mark and his guys are working hard at it.”
Barnhart did recognize that the program isn’t where he or anybody else would like it to be, but he also sees improvements under Stoops’ guidance, and that is why he still believes Stoops is the guy to lead Kentucky football.
“I’m thankful that he’s done a lot for us, and I want to make sure that we fight with him and give him the best chance we can to go forward,” Barnhart said.
