Erick Smith, USA TODAYMon, December 1, 2025 at 3:43 AM UTC·1 min readThe college football coaching carousel keeps spinning in the SEC with the latest victim being Kentucky coach Mark Stoops.
The school is parting way with Stoops after 13 seasons with the school, according to multiple reports on Sunday, Nov. 30. The move comes one day after the Wildcats finished their season at 5-7 with a 41-0 loss to rival Louisville.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementStoops, the school's all-time winningest coach with 72 official victories, brought unprecedented success to the Kentucky program with eight consecutive bowl appearances from 2016-23. Ten of his victories in 2021 were vacated due to NCAA rules violations. The Wildcats have gone 9-15 the past two seasons and did not qualify for a bowl game.
According to terms of his contract, Stoops is owed a buyout of just under $34 million.
Stoops started at the bottom at Kentucky, inheriting what was then the SEC's most woeful program. He posted losing records his first three seasons before the Wildcats returned to the postseason in 2016 in a 7-6 season that culminated in an appearance in the TaxSlayer Bowl.
During the run of eight bowl games in a row, Stoops had 10-win seasons in 2018 and 2021 to account for two of the four double-digit victory campaigns in school history. An NCAA investigation into impermissible benefits erased one of those seasons.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementTroubles at the quarterback position and good defense was the theme for latter seasons of Stoops' tenure. The Wildcats ranked worse than 100th in scoring offense in three of the last four campaigns as they won seven games in 2022 and 2023 before slumping in 2024 and 2025.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Mark Stoops out as Kentucky football coach after 13 seasons
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