Kentucky is firing Mark Stoops after 13 seasons, following a second consecutive losing campaign for the program’s all-time wins leader, CBS Sports’ Matt Zenitz reports. Per his contract, Stoops is owed his full $38 million buyout within 60 days of termination, which could make it one of the most expensive firings in college football history.
It’s a steep price to pay for a Kentucky athletic department that is all-in on men’s basketball and getting a late start on a coaching carousel that has been spinning for two months. But amid lopsided season-ending losses to Vanderbilt and Louisville, Stoops lost the goodwill he briefly regained in the first half of November.
Following a season-ending 41-0 road loss to the rival Cardinals, Stoops struck a defiant tone over whether he planned to return in 2026. He said there was a “zero percent chance” he would leave on his own accord.
“I’m going to be here as far as I’m concerned,” he said. “Now, I can’t control what decisions that are made. But if you’re asking me, I said zero. Zero means zero.”
Following a 2-5 start, the Wildcats reeled off three straight wins, including victories over Auburn and Florida. Those wins, combined with the promising play of redshirt freshman quarterback Cutter Boley appeared to offer a path forward for Stoops.
Then came back-to-back listless efforts against Commodores and Cardinals, which ended UK’s bowl hopes and laid bare the program’s shortcomings.
At 9-15 (3-13 SEC) over the past two seasons, Stoops was mired in his worst run since taking over the job from Joker Phillips after the 2012 season. His final record of 82-80 (38-68 SEC) is heavily weighed down by a slow beginning and poor ending. In between came some of the program’s finest moments.
It took four seasons for UK to reach its first bowl under Stoops, but 2016 marked the first of eight straight postseason trips for the Wildcats. Stoops produced the program’s first 10-win season since 1977 in 2018 and did it again in 2021.
After consecutive 7-6 showings in 2022-23, the bottom fell out in 2024 with a 4-8 team weighed down by an offense that finished 114th nationally in yards per game. Even with Boley’s midseason emergence in 2025, the Wildcats failed to produce competitive showings against Tennessee, Vanderbilt and Louisville — all important regional foes.
SEC peers Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, LSU and Ole Miss have already made coaching hires this cycle. Most significantly, the Gators snagged beloved former UK linebacker and defensive coordinator Jon Sumrall — long-coveted by many Kentucky fans as a potential heir to Stoops — from Tulane. When UK hired Stoops, he was the defensive coordinator at Florida State and had never been a head coach. He will depart as the longest-tenured coach in program history.
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