Kentucky presents Mark Stoops with game ball after record-setting win

In a world of personalities, Mark Stoops seems perfectly content with just being a head footbal coach.

He’s not fancy, he’s not flashy, but he’s given Kentucky football an identity that has elevated the program. Stoops earned his 61st win at Kentucky on Saturday and passed Bear Bryant as the school’s all-time winningest head coach.

For that accomplishment he was presented the game ball from Kentucky’s 26-16 win over Florida. The Kentucky Football official twitter account recorded the moment.

“Honestly it’s on all the coaches and all the players, and it really is,” Stoops said. “I say it to you and I say it to me, none of us can do this without each other.”

Game Ball: @UKCoachStoops, the all-time winningest football coach in UK history.

"We've got something special to prove and do this year." pic.twitter.com/F8WWo1EULy

— Kentucky Football (@UKFootball) September 11, 2022

Stoops is 61-53 in nine-plus seasons at Kentucky. He was 12-24 in his first three years, but the school stuck with him, and he’s led the Wildcats to five winning seasons and six straight bowl games since. Stoops is one of three Kentucky coaches (Bryant, Fran Curci) to lead the Wildcats to a 10-win season and he’s the only one to do it twice (2018, 2021).

Corey Long

Corey Long is a freelance writer for SaturdayDownSouth.com. Follow Corey on Twitter @CoreyLong.