Mark Stoops vows to fix Kentucky's issues: "I am not going anywhere"

Expectations were high coming into year twelve of Mark Stoops’ tenure. The Cats had veteran playmakers, (seemingly) reloaded from the transfer portal, and seemed prime to extend the school’s record streak of postseason appearances to nine.

As you know, that did not happen. Instead, Kentucky finished the year 4-8 with a 41-14 loss to Louisville. The embarrassing defeat snapped the Cats’ five-year winning streak in the Governor’s Cup and ended their run of 23 straight non-conference victories. As the Cards celebrated in the visitors’ locker room, Mark Stoops tried to reflect on what went wrong this year, starting with a message to fans.

“I know the year was very frustrating to a lot of people,” Stoops said during his opening remarks in the postgame press conference. “Our fanbase was wonderful and stuck with us all year. I’m sorry we didn’t deliver a better performance today and throughout the season.”

The crowd was not great at Kroger Field today, which you might expect given the mood around the program and the frigid temperatures. It was even uglier online, where fans vented their frustrations. When asked about the latter, Stoops said he gets it.

“I understand the frustrations completely. We’re not very happy as well. So we’ll, you know — I could promise you that we’re going to get back to work. We’ll get it fixed. And, you know, the misery index goes around. It goes around. And for myself, I’ve been around a long time and really concerned and concentrated and excited about the rebuild.

“Fans [have] got to wait a long time. You know, I get to go to work tomorrow, and for that, I understand it, accept it, and could promise you we’ll go to work to get the team back to being a team that they could be very proud of.”

Subscribe to the KSR YouTube Channel for press conferences, interviews, original shows, fan features, and exclusive content.

“I’m not going anywhere”

When he sat down with Tom Leach a few minutes later, Stoops made it clear that he’s not going anywhere, vowing to fix Kentucky’s issues starting with tomorrow’s staff meeting.

“Everybody wants to replace me right now, but I’m not going anywhere. My butt is going to work tomorrow, and I’m going to try and be motivated as hell to get this thing fixed and get better.

“So anybody that’s wishful thinking that I’m not going to be tomorrow got the wrong wish, because my butt will be in my office, and we will, I can promise you we will attack this offseason, and there’s nothing fun or light-hearted about it, but, you know, if you can’t laugh at yourself for a moment, you know what I mean, then heck.

“I know it hurts. I said in my press conference, I so appreciate the fanbase. They’ve been there every game, even through today. It’s been disappointing. I accept that’s my responsibility. I’m sorry I disappointed them and let them down in many ways, but we’ve had a lot of great moments, and I could promise you, I’m pretty optimistic that we’re going to get back to that.”

Take advantage of our KSR+ Introductory Offer to get bonus coverage of the Cats, including game threads, in-depth scouting reports, and the latest recruiting and roster intel. $1 for seven days and 50% off an entire year.