‘Not interested in just existing’: Why Mark Stoops sees more at UK after Texas A&M saga

It took 13 minutes into Mark Stoops’ session in the main meeting room at SEC Media Days to get the question he had to know was coming.

“Were you offered the Texas A&M job?”

With the conference moving its annual summer showcase to Dallas as part of the welcome of Texas and Oklahoma to the league and Texas A&M scheduled to participate as the same day as Kentucky, it was clear the events of Nov. 25 would be a topic of conversation.

That morning began with reports that Texas A&M was pursuing Stoops for its coaching opening, just hours before the Wildcats were scheduled to close the regular season against archrival Louisville. After upsetting the top 10-ranked Cardinals, Stoops sidestepped a question about his involvement in that search but several hours later reports emerged from College Station that he was expected to be offered and then accept the job.

An uproar from a vocal portion of the Texas A&M fan base unhappy with the potential hire followed on social media, and just after 1 a.m. Stoops tweeted he was staying at Kentucky. Stoops has since pushed back at the belief he was on the verge of leaving UK, but multiple reports in Texas have suggested it was the Aggies that decided to move in a different direction after the fan pushback.

“I was pursued pretty aggressively by them, and we’ll just leave it at that out of respect for everybody involved,” Stoops said Thursday. “… It was very brief. I was pursued. I had a job to do.”

Texas A&M eventually hired Duke head coach Mike Elko, who had previously served as defensive coordinator for the Aggies. Stoops quickly transitioned back to building Kentucky’s 2024 roster and has since been faced with hiring an offensive coordinator for the fourth consecutive offseason.

It was easy to see why Stoops would be interested in Texas A&M, a traditional power with extensive NIL resources, but it also raised questions about whether he felt Kentucky had reached its peak and could maintain the success he built in the new-look 16-team SEC.

In a session with local Kentucky media and his main media room press conference, Stoops went out of his way to refute at that narrative.

“We’re not interested in just existing,” Stoops said. “I’m not here, I’m not coaching, I’m not back for the 12th year just to exist. We want to find a way to improve, use these rules, whatever it is, to make changes to make that jump to get to the next level. It’s extremely challenging.”

The retirement of Alabama legendary coach Nick Saban made Stoops the longest-tenured SEC football coach.

Stoops noted he is one of just 19 coaches in SEC history to last that long at one school. He made multiple mentions of Kentucky’s streak of eight consecutive bowl berths — a streak matched by only Alabama, Georgia and Oklahoma in the SEC — as proof of the consistency his program his produced before emphasizing he wants more.

And with the A&M saga behind him, Stoops insisted he is still confident more can be achieved at Kentucky.

“You either exist, you either exit or you explore new ways to be innovative and to make the best of it,” Stoops said. “I want to live in that world of exploring the best way. How do we make that next jump?”

The challenge facing Stoops now is different than the one he faced while building Kentucky from 2-10 in his first season in 2013 to eight straight bowl berths that included two 10-win seasons, something the program had not done since 1977.

Now losing stars to the transfer portal is an ever-present threat to a mid-tier program like Kentucky. The traditional powers can flex their might more than ever in the form of NIL collectives. The SEC’s decision to abandon the two-division format with 16 teams means Kentucky will no longer be able to rely on the weaker SEC East slate.

More change is coming, too.

Legal settlements by the NCAA will bring revenue sharing with players to college sports next year. Yahoo Sports reported Thursday many SEC programs are planning to allocate around 75% of the $20 million annual revenue sharing payments to football players. The settlement will also abolish scholarship limits, meaning programs that choose to invest could fund upwards of 100 scholarships per year.

Is Stoops confident Kentucky is willing to invest in football to the same extent the traditional SEC powers will in that format?

“Absolutely,” Stoops said. “We have no choice. You have no choice. You want to compete in this league, you got to do it. … You could just hang around and you could leave or you can continue to invest more. And it’s, it’s super important.

“The SEC says it just means more, right? Well, so, we need to. We need to continue to pour into it, and I continue to ask for help.”

Stoops, 57, is now a year older than his brother Bob was when he unexpectedly retired after 18 seasons at Oklahoma. As evidenced by multiple mentions of his bourbon company, RD1 Spirits, during his media days appearance, he has interests beyond football.

But Stoops did not sound like a coach considering walking away from the new challenges facing college sports.

“Is there some frustration in there? Sometimes with all that,” he said. “Is there some more work and some different things? New meaning to the job fundraiser. It’s new, it’s challenging, but it’s also exciting.

“How could we explore this avenue to help us make that jump and and compete and be relevant? I work for our players. I raise money for our players. And that’s just a new part of it.”

Star defensive lineman Deone Walker, one of three players representing Kentucky at SEC Media Days, watched the saga of Nov. 25 with a vested interest.

As he scrolled through Instagram to see the reports Stoops was leaving UK for Texas A&M, he began to panic.

“I called him, asked him,” Walker said. “He was like, he hadn’t really taken anything yet. I was like, ‘Coach, can you just tell me? You feel me?’ So, I can get my stuff in order. He was like, ‘I told you ever since you get here, I’m loyal to you, I’m loyal to you all.’

“He told me that he was going to stay, so I feel like transferring wasn’t even like in my wavelength, so that showed me how loyal he is to me and our university and our team.”

Now Stoops has perhaps his deepest roster yet at Kentucky. If Georgia quarterback transfer Brock Vandagriff and new offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan pan out, there is a clear path to the type of special season Stoops led Kentucky to in 2018 and 2021.

But the schedule is harder too with Ole Miss, Texas and Auburn swapped for Mississippi State, Missouri and Arkansas on the previous 2024 SEC slate. It would not be a surprise if Kentucky is noticeably improved from back-to-back 7-5 seasons but still unable to better that record.

That is the landscape Stoops now faces.

“We know the world that we’re in,” Stoops said. “We all are getting used to it, we all are adapting to it, but we want to be extremely demanding and we want selfless players and we want to play better for each other.

“And yeah, we want to enjoy going to work. I love this team, I love going to work, I love the challenge of this season. It’s going to be fun.”

Why Bush Hamdan’s former Boise State QB expects Kentucky football players to love new OC

UK football lingering questions: Can Barion Brown and Dane Key back up years of hype?

UK football lingering questions: How good can top NFL draft prospect Deone Walker be?

Kentucky football lingering questions: Should fans be concerned about running back?

As Texas, Oklahoma join SEC, a look back at league’s original 1933 constitution