Coaching Carousel Insider Forecasts 'Assistant Coach Reckoning' for Kentucky Football

The tea leaves continue to point toward a tumultuous offseason for the Kentucky football program. This week an insider on the college football coaching carousel shared another sign that significant change is coming to Lexington this offseason.

Steven Godfrey is a college football reporter that writes for various outlets throughout the season. Where you find him most consistently is on Split Zone Duo, a podcast that also features Alex Kirshner and Richard Johnson of Thinking Out Loud fame. This time of the year is Godfrey’s Super Bowl. He is as plugged into the coaching carousel as any college football reporter.

The carousel’s wheels are already spinning, with head coaching vacancies at prominent positions: Auburn, Nebraska and Wisconsin. However, it may not get too much more chaotic, at least in the head coaching ranks. Godfrey shared an ominous forecast for the University of Kentucky on the latest episode of Split Zone Duo.

“If you don’t have a seismic change happen (among Power Five head coaches), which I don’t know if we’re going to match last season, one thing that I can tell you is going to happen is what has been described to me as a quote ‘assistant coach reckoning’ at the following places: Tuscaloosa, College Station and Lexington. And that’s just a start,” Godfrey said.

Potential Kentucky Football Assistant Coach Departures

When you lose to Vanderbilt and South Carolina at home as a Top 25 team, no one’s job is safe. That’s just the nature of this business. Set aside Kentucky’s on-field performance, some turnover on the staff was inevitable.

John Settle (running backs) and Chris Collins (cornerbacks) have contracts that expire after the season. The initial two-year contract for Anwar Stewart (defensive line) expired over the summer. Instead of receiving the typical two-year extension, he only received one to get through the 2022 season.

“I’m not going to make any knee-jerk decisions without thinking things through properly but I also don’t put my head in the sand,” Mark Stoops said Monday.

He used the phrase “head in the sand” four times during his weekly press conference, a sign that he’s well aware that changes need to be made. Who exactly will go? Aside from Vince Marrow and Brad White, everything is on the table.