Mark Stoops explains why league coaches want SEC to stay at 8 conference games

Two weeks after returning from the SEC Spring Meetings in Destin, Kentucky head football coach Mark Stoops shared why he prefers the 8-game format when the league expands to 16 teams.

Throughout the week of meetings, administrators and coaches primarily discussed two potential changes to the football schedule when Texas and Oklahoma join the conference in 2025. A proposed 9-game format would give each school three annual rivals, and rotate among the rest of the schools for the remaining six games. The 8-game format reduces each school to one annual rival while rotating between the other seven opponents.

“Where we stand, if we were to take a vote with the football coaches in Destin — I hate speaking for people — the majority was eight,” Stoops shared with KSR. “The reason being, a lot of us have cross-over games: South Carolina and Clemson, we have Louisville and we want to keep that. To play nine conference games and Louisville, that’s tough.”

In addition to Kentucky and South Carolina, Florida (Florida State) and Georgia (Georgia Tech) also end their season against ACC rivals. Stoops admits self-preservation also plays a role in the decision-making process. Adding another conference game will make like more difficult for every SEC head coach.

“Just look at our league. For instance, I go to those meetings, the last time we met in-person in Destin, there’s only four coaches there (returning in 2022). How much money does all these teams have? You’re guaranteeing 50% of our room one more loss. They already fire everybody in this league all of the time.”

The SEC has a small sample size to draw from when considering conference schedule expansion. During the pandemic-plagued 2020 season, SEC schools played 10 conference opponents. The Wildcats finished the regular season 4-6, fourth in the SEC East.

“We were the middle of the pack and I’d consider a bad year,” Stoops said. “I don’t want to win four games. I want to win a lot more than four. But 50% of our league was the same or worse. Is that good?”

Just as Stoops wishes to preserve the annual rivalry with Louisville, he understands why others around the league want to keep their SEC rivalries intact. However, in the new era of college football, there must be some realignment compromise.

“We all enjoy those rivalries and want to keep them. The league enjoys them and wants to keep them,” Stoops said. “There’s give and take with all of this. You’re getting Oklahoma and you’re getting Texas. It’s already an unbelievable league as we know and so there’s gotta be some give, and that’s across the league. That’s with everybody.”