Mark Stoops evaluates similarities with Missouri as ‘geographical outliers’ in SEC

The SEC, being a conference based in the southeast has a natural geographic footprint. For the most part, the SEC is a conference of schools in the Deep South. However, geographically, Kentucky and Missouri don’t quite fit that bill. This, in turn, forces coaches Mark Stoops and Eli Drinkwitz to take a different approach to how they build their programs.

During his weekly SEC Teleconference, Mark Stoops was asked if he can see any similarities between Kentucky and Missouri because of their geography. After all, they’re slight geographic outliers in the SEC and often have to recruit different territories.

“Yeah, I definitely think there’s some similarities,” Mark Stoops said.

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“I think, you know, we all understand and accept and embrace the challenges of coaching and competing in this league, and for us and Missouri to be a little bit unique in where and how we have to recruit,” Mark Stoops explained.

“Definitely some similarities.”

Recruiting is clearly the number one difference that Mark Stoops sees in recruiting. At Kentucky, Stoops is closer to Ohio and Pennsylvania than Florida or Louisiana. So, he’s almost recruiting like a Big Ten school. Missouri, meanwhile, comes from the Big 12 footprint and would fit pretty well into the Big Ten West too.

So, while these are both SEC schools, they do share that unique trait. It can make these jobs difficult to do at times. However, it’s a challenge that they readily accept.

Mark Stoops has a message for Kentucky fans

Following a difficult loss to Tennessee, some Kentucky fans seemed to be panicking. However, Mark Stoops has a message for those fans.

“I understand not being happy and the frustration, that’s fans, that’s good fans. There’s some passionate fan bases, we just saw one too and they haven’t always been happy, ours hasn’t always been happy. There’s going to be good and there’s going to be bad… We’re all in this together, we accept that and we own it but we still need them,” Mark Stoops said.

“Anyone that’s going to jump off that quick… Frustration, yes. But come back and cheer again. You can throw darts at me after the next one but just keep on being fans. I appreciate it, they’ve been awesome this year.”