Kentucky insider identifies ‘doomsday scenario’ record for Mark Stoops
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Kentucky radio insider Matt Jones said on Wednesday that he believes the Wildcats football program can afford to pay head coach Mark Stoops a $37 million buyout if Kentucky finishes 3-9 or even 4-8.
Right now, the Wildcats are going nowhere in 2025, with the team off to a 2-3 start that includes an ugly 0-3 record in the SEC. A home loss to Ole Miss followed by lopsided road setbacks against South Carolina and Georgia have left Stoops and Kentucky at the bottom of a very good conference, and there are rumors swirling about a possible buyout of Stoops’ contract.
The 58-year-old Stoops has made this far in Lexington. He’s the longest-tenured head coach in the SEC after taking the Kentucky job in 2013. But after a 10-win season in 2021 and back-to-back winning seasons in 2022 and 2023, the Wildcats limped to a 4-8 record last year and are off to a horrible start in 2025.
Jones made an appearance on On3’s Andy & Ari show on Wednesday, discussing the outlook for Stoops. The $37 million that would be owed to Stoops should Kentucky decide to buy him out would all be due within 60 days, but that’s a scenario Jones said the school is hoping to avoid.
“(A) 3-9 (record) is doomsday. I think 4-8 is pretty close to doomsday,” Jones said appearing on Andy &Ari. “(A) 6-6 (record) he’s fine, and then 5-7 is the scenario that I don’t think anyone would be happy, but they probably just because of the $37 million swallow it and deal with it.”
Right now, they are dealing with a lot of losing at Kentucky, and that’s a doomsday scenario in itself. It doesn’t get any easier for the Wildcats in the SEC. After a bye week in Week 7, Arch Manning and Texas will come to Lexington for a Week 8 showdown, with Stoops once again dealing with the pressures of trying to get that first conference win.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
