Enjoyable football culture is part of secret sauce for Kentucky football

Mark Stoops is entering year 10 at Kentucky, and the former defensive coordinator at Arizona and Florida State has built a winning culture in Lexington.

Since 2016, Kentucky is 47-29 overall with a .500 mark in SEC play. The Wildcats have a pair to top-20 finishes in the last four years with a 4-2 record in six consecutive bowl games. Stoops has built a legitimate program at a school without a great football history.

Recruiting and coaching make a big impact, but establishing a winning culture is what creates winning opportunities year over year. For transfer quarterback Deuce Hogan, the culture at Kentucky was something that stood out right away.

“The thing that was so attractive about Kentucky was that everybody seemed really happy to be in the building,” Hogan told reporters on Thursday. “I have great relationships at Iowa, and people were happy to be there, but this is a little bit different.”

“They pulled me into a room, and were like we’re never going to ask Deuce Hogan not to be Deuce Hogan. And that was cool.”

Hogan was a four-star recruit out of Grapevine (Texas) Faith Christian in the class of 2020 who chose Iowa over Iowa State and Oklahoma State. Late in the recruiting process, both Georgia and Tennessee issued offers. In two years with the Hawkeyes, Hogan was a part of teams that went a combined 13-4 in conference play with a Big Ten Championship Game appearance and two top 25 finishes. Yet, there was something unique about Kentucky.

“I think there’s two sides to culture,” said Hogan. “I think there’s a lot of programs that try to make cookie-cutter — like a factory — making a certain type of kid. Then there’s other places where everyone just comes in as themselves. I think there’s been two different styles, and a lot of styles have both seen success.”

“I think there can be places where people are more strict, but I think there’s a lot of value in everybody wanting to be in the facility that day. Everybody waking up and wanting to go be with those coaches and wanting to go be in that weight room,” Hogan told the media. “The facility is supposed to be a place where you get to chase your dreams with all your best friends.”

At Kentucky, those dreams are starting to become a reality more frequently. At this year’s Senior Bowl, the Wildcats will have four players participating. Meanwhile, early entrants Wan’Dale Robinson and Dare Rosenthal should both come off the board at the 2022 NFL Draft.

Over the last three years, Kentucky has had 13 players drafted, and there’s a puncher’s chance that could reach 20 in a couple of months. Kentucky is attracting a different level of talent to the program, but the established winning culture has a lot to do with those individuals succeeding in a team setting.

The groundwork has been laid, and the impacts of a positive culture are seen on a day-to-day basis.

“You walk in a locker room and everyone is dancing and laughing, fun music is playing when everybody is lifting,” Hogan said. “Everybody looked like they were having fun.”

Football is a tough sport, and winning is hard. Every program in the SEC has money with shiny facilities. Those resources are nice, but coaching staffs must use them efficiently or it could be all for naught.

That is happening at UK thanks to culture.

“At Kentucky, everybody loves being there. That was super cool looking from the outside in,” said Hogan.