Stoops talks record, Youngstown State on SEC Teleconference

Mark Stoops was a little late to his scheduled appearance on this week’s SEC Teleconference, but after the week he’s had, who can blame him? Kentucky Football’s all-time winningest coach answered questions about what it was like to break Bear Bryant’s record vs. Florida, how many friends and family members he’s expecting this week for the Youngstown State game, his defense, and much more. Listen to the replay on our YouTube Channel or check out a full transcript below.

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Opening Statement

I apologize for being a few minutes late today. I think it’s the first time in 10 years. But anyway, really excited to get back home and play against Youngstown State, a team that I’m very familiar with growing up in the Youngstown area, watching them for many years. My uncle coached for Youngstown State with Coach [Jim] Tressel and won some national championships. My brother Ron spent some time coaching there for three, four, or five years and so very familiar with them and a lot to build on. Obviously very excited about coming off the game last week at Florida. It’s big, coming off a conference win on the road so early in the season, so I feel like there’s a lot to build on and we just want to keep it going and continue to improve.

On what it was like to break Bear Bryant’s all-time wins record and whether or not his family was at the Florida game…

Well, it’s obvious it was really big to accomplish that feat in such a big game, especially against Florida, which we all know when I arrived, to our fan base, it had been a long time [since Kentucky had won]. So that was really important.

The family is coming this weekend. Just being on the road, there’s no getting around it, it’s just so hard. My mother is failing just a touch in her health and she’s getting up there in age and on the road is extremely difficult, especially when we get done about midnight. That not a lot of time to spend with family when you’re on the road. So, the plan all along was to come in this week versus Youngstown State and again, such a big game for my community, for us being from Youngstown. And we play a noon game so we’ll be able to spend some time with my mother, Bob and my brother Ron and sisters Reenie and Kathy. Everybody’s coming. So half of Youngstown will be here this weekend which will be will be a lot of fun.

On how many tickets he requested for family…

This is a rough one. Yeah, it’s in the hundreds. It’s 120-130, somewhere like that. Who knows how many people got tickets from Youngstown, their allotment, as well. But yeah, we’ll have quite a few people here which, you know, it’ll be good. We all love the night atmosphere, but in this case, this game with so many people being here, it’ll be nice to play at noon every once in a while just so I can get home — hopefully get the victory, and then get home and watch somebody else sweat and stress out for the night. Maybe enjoy myself for a few.

On Arkansas’ defense and the importance of defensive line rotation…

Yeah, I think it’s extremely important. You know, twofold. I think it helps you during your current year to keep guys healthy, keep them fresh, be productive at the end of games, which we all know there are so many close games in this conference. I think it also helps develop because if you’re rotating seven eight guys, there’s a good chance there are some underclassmen in there and so I think just the development of the youngsters, so you have those leaders stepping in when others depart.

And I do want to say I just caught bits and pieces of Arkansas but I always communicate with Sam [Pittman]. I think he does just an amazing job. He’s always very supportive and complimentary of myself, but I feel the same way about him. I’m just really impressed with what he’s done and that team and the way they play and it’s probably a good thing we don’t play on this year because they look pretty darn good.

On his defense’s effort vs. Florida, specifically JJ Weaver…

I think it was really a great effort. And I was very pleased with their preparation and the way they played all week and in practice. You mentioned JJ [Weaver], I agree. I thought he was outstanding. And then of course Jordan Wright, getting him back and making some impact plays himself and he’s kind of the energy guy. He brings a lot of energy to our team but to be able to play that team on the road as well as we did just says a lot about our coaching staff. Coach Brad White, my defense coordinator and the rest of the defensive staff and players really just did an outstanding job. They were well prepared. They were very confident and played extremely tough in a hostile environment against a very talented quarterback, so hats off to those guys, to the defensive. coaches and the players.

On whether he shares any traits with the Youngstown State program having grown up in the area…

Yeah, without a doubt. Youngstown had a great deal towards shaping myself, my brothers, my family, so many others, the great coaches. And not just coaches, there are so many other successful people that have come from there, it’s really impressive and Youngstown has a lot to do with it. I think it’s just the really strong blue-collar mentality that people have there. When I was growing up, the steel mills were in full kick and full force and, and a lot of people just had blue-collar jobs and it was very tough area. It really was. It just taught you at a young age that you had to go work for it, what you get. Nothing’s going to be given to you, nothing’s promised. Go make your own way. That’s a lot of people in Youngstown and it’s a great place, great people. It has a tendency to get a bad rap here and there, but there’s just a lot of impressive people that come out of Youngstown, and that still live in Youngstown.

On Kentucky’s mentality in close games…

There’s definitely a no-panic [mentality] within our program. It’s about making adjustments, not making excuses. Like, what do we need to do next. Our team is very much like that. We’ve been like that for years. They’re very resilient. We have very strong leadership. And, they may not always be pretty, but we’re gonna do the things necessary and that’s what we try to do. We’re not 100%, and we’re not perfect, but I love these guys and the way they compete, the way they prepare. They always have that no-flinch attitude. There’s not much that’s going to ruffle our feathers around here.