Time as Alabama analyst helped Mike Stoops adapt

On Signing Day in December, Kentucky had just lost co-defensive coordinator Jon Sumrall to Troy, and head coach Mark Stoops was on the hunt for a No. 2 in the defensive room to support defensive coordinator Brad White. Stoops was not hiding from what the program needed in that next hire.

“You’ve got recruiting, you obviously have coaching,” said Stoops. “But for me, it’s also big picture, guys. This game is hard and complicated, and you really have to stay up. You need multiple coordinators on each side of the ball, so you need guys with great experience and big-picture ideas so that position will definitely — that will be one thing if you’re asking one thing specifically I want to make sure I have a coordinator type of big-picture guy that can help us, that can help Brad and help our defensive staff continue to grow and get new ideas and stay up with the times because this game evolves constantly.

Shortly after making that statement, Stoops hired his older brother Mike Stoops to fill that role. A long-time defensive coordinator at Oklahoma and head coach at Arizona, Stoops has spent 24 seasons as a coordinator or head coach in college football. However, the 60-year-old who just left Florida Atlantic for Kentucky is always trying to adapt.

“In football, I think you never stop learning,” Mike Stoops told the media on Tuesday. “You better push yourself to limits and try to see other ways of doing things and if it’s better. And if it’s not, you’re going to die. It happens to everybody.”

Despite all of the experience, there have been many ups and downs in coaching for Mike Stoops. After losing coordinators Sonny Dykes and Mark Stoops following the 2009 season at Arizona, the Wildcats fell apart going 8-11 in his last 19 games. Mike Stoops was fired and joined Bob Stoops at Oklahoma to replace Brent Venables as defensive coordinator.

Things did not go great.

After a solid start that produced a top-15 defense in 2015, Mike Stoops saw his units slowly decrease just as Lincoln Riley began his run with a couple of Heisman Trophy winners at quarterback. Stoops failed to produce a top-notch defense and he was fired by Riley halfway into the 2018 season after a shootout loss to Texas. That Sooners defense would finish the year as one of the worst units in the Power Five.

To regroup, Mike Stoops decided to go to Alabama and spent two years in an off-field role. Working as an analyst under Nick Saban, the long-time coordinator got a chance to learn from the best organization in college football for two seasons. That was time spent allowing the coach to refresh and get some new ideas on how to attack, scheme, and plan if another coordinator opportunity ever came along.

“They push themselves to limits and push their guys to learn and to adjust and adapt and try to put themselves in the best situation for success,” Stoops said about the Alabama coaching staff. “You still have to have great players and great design, but I think you can always learn. I think, for me, taking a step back for two years was good. Things got muddied at Oklahoma, and it was hard. It hurt in a lot of different ways, and I had a chance to be with Coach [Saban] and really just enjoyed my time there. I enjoyed learning, I enjoyed the process of what they go through and what makes them who they are. Every day was fun for me to go to work. It was in a limited role for them, but it never felt that way.

Now Mike Stoops will have a big role at Kentucky. With both Sumrall and quality control coach Greg Manusky departing for greener pastures, White needs an experienced coach in the defensive room to assist with evaluations, personnel decisions, and game plan techniques. Stoops is more than qualified for that role. After one season at Florida Atlantic, the veteran head coach is excited to return to the SEC and show what he has learned since that tenure at Oklahoma ended.

It all starts with a willingness to adapt.

“Just learning different ways to do things,” said Stoops. “How to be adjustable, how to be adaptable, how to do this, do that.”