Mark Stoops talks Florida, John Calipari on The Paul Finebaum Show

Former NFL Pro Bowler turned SEC analyst Roman Harper made headlines across the state earlier this week when he referred to Kentucky as “soft” ahead of Saturday’s showdown against No. 12 Florida. Harper made his comments on The Paul Finebaum Show, which didn’t take long for the national media to pick up on it. He later added that he hopes it “motivates” head coach Mark Stoops and his Kentucky football team.

Well, Stoops made an appearance on Finebaum Wednesday afternoon to talk about Harper’s remarks, along with some other pre-Florida questions. Stoops actually said he hadn’t even seen the clip until the SEC Network showed it to him while he was waiting to go on the show. In typical Stoops form, he brushed it off completely.

“Your people were so kind to play it as I was waiting for you to jump back on after the commercial break so that’s the first I heard of it,” Stoops said with a grin. “I’m not worried about that. I understand that comes with it. Heck, I wasn’t real pleased with certain facets of the game this past Saturday but I certainly don’t need anybody to motivate us to get prepared for Florida.”

Finebaum then went to ask the next burning question on everyone’s mind: what’s the deal with Chris Rodriguez Jr.? As he’s done for weeks now, Stoops said there’s way more to it than simply asking if Rodriguez is available or not.

“I try to be very open and honest with that Paul when I know,” Stoops said. “I tell the media certainly here locally — and I don’t know right now, therefore I can’t say anything.”

But Finebaum wasn’t going down that easily. He pressed Stoops on the issue once more.

“It’s really something that I can’t comment on,” Stoops added. “There’s layers to it, let me just put it to you that way. If I knew, if it was my decision, I wouldn’t be hem hawing around about it but that’s all I should say. There’s layers to it. There’s layers to what’s going on and I just have to let it play out.”

Eventually, Finebaum moved on to some actual football talk, asking Stoops his thoughts on the Florida Gators. The Kentucky head coach was very complimentary of UF, saying they deserve the recognition they’re receiving after beating a top-10 Utah program. Stoops also said his team will have their hands full against Florida QB Anthony Richardson.

Near the end of the seven-minute interview, Finebaum decided to poke the bear another time, but this time taking the John Calipari angle. As most of us know by now, Calipari’s “basketball school” comments from last month did not sit well with anyone in the football program. But as far as Stoops is concerned, that’s all water under the bridge at this point.

“That’s old news. That’s all good. I’ve commented on that more than I’d like to,” Stoops said. “But like I said, we moved on very very quickly. You understand that, how thick your skin better be, and it was addressed and we moved on very quickly. I got really important things to do around here and it’s hard enough, believe me, getting ready for the likes of Florida. So that’s all my concentration is.”

Listen to the full conversation below.