Mark Stoops on sunglasses comment: It had nothing to do with Shane Beamer

Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops sought to clear up confusion about some recent comments he made on the Marty and McGee Show. Some of what he said was taken to be a shot at South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer.

But talking to reporters on Saturday, Stoops said he was referring to himself when speaking about how to change a culture at a football program, versus just changing a “climate.” He has no issue with Beamer, and said taking shots like that is not his way of doing things.

“I’m glad you brought that up, John, because it had nothing to do with Shane Beamer,” Stoops said. “It had to do with me, what I did when I got here. I was the one that changed the helmets, and heck, I wore a blue collar shirt in the meetings, I wore a hard hat, I did anything I could. So I was talking about me. It had nothing to do with Shane Beamer.”

CLICK HERE to subscribe to the On3 YouTube channel today for all of the latest news on college football, recruiting, NIL, more!

Stoops reiterated that it had nothing to do with the South Carolina head coach, and if he really had something to say to somebody, he’d say it directly.

“I like Shane and I have no business talking about anybody else, you know that. We went through this before,” Stoops said. “So I didn’t, I really — that’s just not my style. You’ve known me for 10 years. If I’m going to say something to somebody, I’ll say it. I wasn’t even talking about Shane at all. I didn’t even know what people were talking about.”

Whether Stoops meant to fire off a salvo at the Gamecocks head coach probably depends on your allegiances, but it should at least be another layer of interest when the two squads meet on Oct. 8 in Lexington.