Link of the Day: Chuck Culpepper on Mark Stoops and the "Coaching Decision of the Year"

If you’re of a certain age, you remember Chuck Culpepper’s time at the Herald-Leader. Culpepper covered the Cats in the 1990s before his talent took him beyond Lexington and ultimately to the Washington Post, where he now covers national college football and college basketball. This week, Culpepper reconnected with his roots, focusing his spotlight on Mark Stoops, specifically, his decision to go for it on 4th and 8 vs. Ole Miss. Culpepper writes that it’s the coaching decision of the year so far in college football, not just because of how out of character it was for Stoops, but because of what it says about the sport.

Culpepper spoke to Stoops and his brothers Mike and Bob to trace their upbringing from Youngstown, Ohio, where they learned defense-first under their dad, the defensive coordinator at Cardinal Mooney High School; to Iowa, where all three played under Hayden Fry; and to the present, where Mike coaches on Mark’s staff and Bob gets so nervous about Kentucky games he can’t watch. All three weigh in on the 4th-and-8 call, which Mark admits was “uncharacteristic,” but upon further examination, made perfect sense.

It’s just that by these mid-2020s, you’ve got Georgia Coach Kirby Smart telling reporters in Athens in 2023, “I would say historically, teams have been probably overly conservative,” and you’ve got Mark Stoops with an analytics guy standing near him on the sideline even as Stoops refuses to chain himself to analytics’ harrumphing altar. “I went with gut and instinct,” he says, even as the analytics actually ratified his choice. “I also was thinking through it. Here was my rationale: We needed a touchdown anyway. Go for it, and at least I could condense the area where they could have bled the clock.”

Plenty more good stuff where that came from, including some fun stories about the brothers growing up and a final line that will make you smile. Shoutout to the Washington Post for bringing this one outside the paywall.

[Chuck Culpepper: The coaching decision of the year (so far) shows how fourth down has evolved]

Relive the Ole Miss win

The 4th-and-8 call got the KyWildcatsTV treatment yesterday. The UK Sports Video staff released its recap of the Ole Miss win, and it’s well worth your time. Set aside eight minutes to relive arguably the best road win of the Mark Stoops era.

While you’re at it, set aside 17 more minutes to see the trip through the lens of Steven Peake, KSR’s videographer, who takes you behind the scenes, on the sidelines, and out in Oxford as Kentucky fans celebrate the big win.

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